Welcome to Gaia! ::

It wasn't a question he was expecting and certainly not exactly in this setting. He felt his mind whirring, his heart thumping nervously once more, and he battled the nervous stuttering with all he could muster. He'd been doing better when she got upset and he couldn't help wondering why that was.

The albino young man went underwater again, letting the ocean water cool his renewed flush, before he came back up.

"I guess I'm afraid of messing up. Or ... I dunno, maybe you will think I'm as goofy as I think I am. Or.. I don't know.. I'm not cool enough to hang out with again?" Bix shrugged. "Or being too agressive and scaring you off.. or sharing too much with you and then THAT scares you.. or moving too fast and you think I'm some perv or.." He shook his head. "This whole rambling thing I am doing where I just blab out everything that comes to mind without a filter."

He looked at the water instead of her face, his hands waving through the clear ocean around him.

"Alright.. okay.." Bix flushed when she laughed but finally relaxed. He stopped treading and started to drift, pushing his hips up to float on his back, which he did, paddling up next to her so he could tilt his head and watch her. He was relieved that she had similar worries and he felt like they were on a common ground.

"Well I promise I won't scare you anymore. I don't like seeing you cry." Bix's drifting brought him bumping into her when a wave came in. "Seriously for a guy, it's ... probably the worst feeling when a girl cries because of something he did."

The waves drifted out, separating them again, so he finally lifted himself upright once more. "Anything else I should no about? No tickling.. no scaring.."

"It doesn't make me happy to get you upset." He floated in front of her and under the water his hands drifted to her waist. It was almost as if they were dancing again drifting along in the water. He just rested them there, held steady so the tide didn't keep playing with their orientation.

"You're happiness is important." He nodded to her seriously. "You don't always have to do what other people want, okay? If there's ever anything you really want to do or say.. you can. With me anyway." He shook his head. "Sorry I probably sound cheesy and stuff but I do think that's important." He wasn't used to girls being so forgiving of him and dismissive of themselves.

Bix found himself almost as bad when it came to girls, of course, but in addition he was usually bad at taking compliments. Did you say thanks or.. dispute it.. or? He just floated there awkwardly and didn't know how to respond. The silence stretched for a minute as Molly looked at the seaweed and he looked at her.

Suddenly the white noise of unnecessary contemplation in his mind was broken by a demandingly alluring cry.

DO IT, FOOL!

Didn't we just reinforce his inability to say no to women, especially demanding ones?

Bix moved on automatic response, pulling Molly's waist to him with one hand and the other lifting her chin so he could place a soft kiss onto her lips.


And then his mind exploded because he panicked. The panic of the initiation, the tiniest blink of a moment where you waited to find out if the other person shoved you away or returned the sentiment.

Bix found himself not disappointed. Maybe he was just grateful not to be rejected outright. He pulled back after a moment and released his hand from her chin and moved slightly backwards. His cheeks had flared crimson again but he hadn't moved his hand from her waist. He just... moved back.

"Sorry.." He mumbled now head bowed a bit just so his bangs hung in his eyes. "Too soon? Too much ahh... " He drifted back further until his fingers drifted back off of her waist. "You don't have to say anything. It's okay."

He kind of felt stupid, awkward obviously, but once again he was glad to not be rejected.

"It's alright.." He sounded unsure that it was but he was trying to be positive. He splashed some water on his face swam in a circle. It was easier than staring at her face and feeling disappointed. "You could have slapped me." He then laughed. It wasn't forced at least.

"Should we head back?" He drifted towards shore. "I.." he twisted his lips as if he was thinking and then just nodded as if he'd agreed with himself on something. "will still want to hold your hand. Maybe we'll just start there huh?"

Maybe he was taking a page from her positivity book. He seemed a little more awkward than her but he didn't want her to think he was very upset about it.

Bix waded to shore, pants sticking to him awkwardly when he rose from the water. He fetched the pieces of his suit flung on the shore, slipped his feet into the squeaking sneakers, and took a short jog up onto the pier to grab all of their belongings. We'll just assume he handled everything safely and it was all dry.

When he jogged back to the beach he held his hand out for her, all set to go.

"Just make sure you tell me.." He gave her a wiggle of eyebrows. It was a tease, meant to make her laugh. "If you ever wanna do that again...." he made some funny smoochy lips. He looked goofy but it was helping him to be stupid and open about it, and making jokes let him adjust to the awkwardness.