[Contains NBM/MBM elements, and terrible flirting]

...bounce...whomp...whomp...

"Oops! Sorry about that, didn't mean to hit ya." A blonde bundle of energy came into Bryson's peripheral view, just beyond the edge of the pages of his book.

"No worries. You barely missed me."

"Well, if it makes it any better, it was my friend who hit that ball. I'm just a bad catch," she said with the kind of voice you'd use when you nearly spill wine over a date, something in between excitable awe and flustering embarrassment. He raised his eyebrows with a grin as she continued to fill the air, "nice shorts by the way!"

"Oh, thanks! I like yours, too."

"Aw, really? They're a little baggy on me, they'd probably fit you better." Clearly flirting was her way of smothering awkwardness...

"Hmm, pink doesn't suit me, really."

"Don't knock till you try it... I love that color green you've got on, it reminds me of pistachio ice cream!"

"Really? Perhaps I should wear it more often."

"I'd be careful doing that, you'll get people trying to lick ya!"

"Ha... would hardly be the first time..." his voice remained steady as the girl was quietly laughing into herself with blushed face, visible even under her slight sunburn.

"giggle...giggle... Is that what it takes to get my ball back?"

"What, lick me? I'll give you a pass for being so nice."

"Damn, you're kind too? I surprised there isn't a queue behind me..."

"Maybe everyone else has already come by... here, take your ball, looks like your friends are waiting for you..."

"Oh, you don't have to get up! You can throw it." The girl opened up again, turning towards Bryson and holding her hand up as he shifted off the towel laying across the sand. Naturally, he didn't want to point out the obvious here, and it would be rude to ruin the mood of the moment.

"Are you sure?"

She raised her eyebrows and pouted, "what, is it the arm?" She wriggled the 3 inch stump on her left side, perfectly flat and pale-skinned (being fully turned away from the sun unlike the rest of her) as if it was meant to come off at that point.

"When you put it that way..." His voice trailed looking for the rest of his reply.

"No need to be so PC about it dude, I'm used to it. I crack jokes about it all the time, even if I need a hand with some of them..."

"Ok, fair enough, the last thing I want to do is offend people, especially if I end up hitting them with a ball. I guess you're playing volleyball with those girls over there?"

The group in question turned to them, one of them waving over with the girl waving back, beaming her pearlescent teeth. "I'm actually pretty good," she gestured with her hand, and then her stump, "just can't defend as good as I used to, as you witnessed just now."

"Used to? So this is a new thing?"

She laughed harder, a little too hard, at his question. "Haha... yeah, you won't believe me when I tell you."

"Go on, surprise me."

His mouth was more curved now, a harsher grimace almost, but not as much as her blatant shit-eating grin... "I got bitten by a shark."

He sat up and crossed his arms with a mocking sarcastic tone. "Oh really?" His inflection was as turbulent as the waves crashing on the shore, pointing out her fib by targeting his gaze at the flatness of the remainder of her arm "a shark left that behind? Did it gum your arm off?"

"Not quite the whole arm, and no, it had lots of teeth and they left a really ugly bite mark, so I trimmed it down and I'm left with this cutie..." she turned it to him with a wriggle wriggle...

"Was it a big shark?"

"Um, no? If it was I don't think I would be here, silly! It was one of those little sharks that swim in shallows coves and such... it happened just over there by those rocks!"

She posed and pointed and bit her lip as Bryson tried to stifle his giggling. Even if it was a terrible gaff, she was committing to it. "So was this a recent thing? I've lived around her most of my life and I've never heard of a shark attack happen."

"Well, uhm... I think you'll find it happened this very early this morning when I went for my routine bathe. I always do it when no is around - so relaxing being on my own. That's why you haven't heard about it."

"So a shark just swam up and ate your arm?"

"Pretty much. I was gonna tell you that it was a Great White and I wrestled in it the waves, but it looks like I lost, so it would be pretty lame."

"You'd lie about the fib?"

"Hey I'm not fibbing! This little guy minding his business swimming around me, so I wasn't gonna get all scared for no reason, but next thing I know, I hear a CHOMP and my left arm's gone."

"So a shark, which don't exist around here, swam up to you, ate your arm, and no one knows about it, not even the hospital? I'm assuming you went there, right?"

"pfft... What are they gonna do, stick it back on? Not like I can ask for it back? I just shrugged and walked it off, and when I got back to my place I found a pen knife and tidied it up, and now I've got this..." She showed of her handiwork again, holding it out to the side.

"Good thing it didn't eat your leg, then?"

"Oh, haha... very funny. So, can I get my ball back or what?"

"Since you put so much effort into your story, I guess you can," The ball went pmbf from his fist and straight into her chest, letting her take it in with her hand, "it was almost as good as those practical joke videos online that those Lego people do..."

"Lego people... really? I think you'll find I'm a modular girlie, thank you very much!"

She pouted again and posed. Her hips were wide enough to support the ball, and then some, covered by those weirdly baggy pink shorts, still short enough to reveal bronzed thighs and legs tapering off beautifully to the golden sand, supporting a trim waist and generous breasts held in by a flattering bikini. Her face was just as pleasing - soft and feminine with a heart-melting smile, yet it gave the impression she could probably out drink you and still walk in a straight line. Bryson simply lay there, taking her in, letting her have her fun so he could be in for a chance, too.

"So you are fibbing!"

"Just because I can come apart doesn't mean I wasn't eaten by a shark..."

"Didn't think sharks ate plastic, Lego girl"

"I'm not Lego, dufus! What ever I'm made of, I must be delicious..."

She bit her lip again as she rolled the ball across her trim waist, both of them letting the comfortable silence sit amongst the waves and the people as they looked at each other, the girl being the first to flutter her eyes and look away.

"What's your name then."

"My friends call me Bea. You?"

"Bryson."

"Nice to meet you, Bryson."

"And you. Heading back to your volleyball game?"

"I was," she turned to face an empty net not too far from where they were flirting, "but I think my friends have made their way to the bar. I better go find them to get my arm back... Ooop... I meant, not my arm. My... phone?"

"To be honest, you weren't very convincing in the first place."

"It was worth a try, though. I've fooled a few people before."

"I'm sure you have. So, did you take your arm off and 'miss' just to tell me a practical joke, or are you really a bad catch?"

"You really think I'm like that, ey? Nah, I played volleyball at college, so this... wriggle wriggle... is my 'handicap' so I don't win as much."

"That's a much more interesting answer. I suggest you keep to it and leave the sharks for the discovery channel." A gust of wind blew whisps of hair from a messy bun into Bea's face. Bryson took this as a sign to get up and spend his afternoon doing something more interesting than read and getting sunburn. He stood on her 'empty' side and pushed the hair behind her ear. "Let me take the ball, I can't let you struggle with it all the way back to the bar with one arm."

Bea smirked as she passed the ball, "why thanks. I was hoping you'd offer eventually."

"I'm a guy, we don't do hints very well."

"Hehe... in that case, my friends seem to play hide and seek with my parts all the time, I have no doubt I'll need some help finding my arm."

"That's more like it, and sure, I'll help."

"Aww, thanks, you're such a cutie!" She really beamed time, buzzing where she stood, almost, as she put her arm around Bryson and getting a feel for his broad shoulders. Sunlight reflected off her near-fluorescent teeth and scattered into her ocean eyes. Her demeanor changed, and was more bubbly and sweet now she got what she wanted, "do you think they have pistachio ice cream? I really want some now!"

Sure, he also got his little piece of fun, but he was just as happy that food was now involved. "So do I, as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg."

"I can spare a leg, so at least I get some."

"Good one. I doubt that's the first time you've heard that."

"Only the second time today."