6/1/07

Untitled

It was getting cooler now that the sun began to vanish behind the edge of the ocean’s horizon. A purple and orange kaleidoscope reflected off the distant water and glazed our eyes like Fourth of July fireworks. We sipped our fake-ID-purchased beers and watched. It was beautiful.
I slipped a casual glance toward Nicole and saw the last of the sun’s radiance on her face. She was gorgeous. Her head began to turn and her eyes caught me as I turned away as quick as possible (whiplash never felt so good). I turned back and our eyes met. We looked at each other for a brief moment before turning away again. My stomach fluttered.
Fresh beers from the cooler were passed around and someone got a fire going using scavenged driftwood and we began to huddle around. The cool breezes and the warmth of the fire made a nice and cozy combination. I looked across the dancing flames at Nicole. She looked back at me and smiled. I smiled back like a goofy teenager in love, but that wasn’t a surprise cause that’s exactly what I was. I gently bit down on my lip and reminded myself to be cool. It wouldn’t do to look like a complete idiot in front of this girl that I considered the most beautiful creature that ever lived.
As the night wore on, we traded stories around the fire as the portable radio played in the background. We talked mostly about stuff that had gone on during the past school year--our senior year. Robbie told about the stink-bomb that was set off during the second week of school, and about how the smell was so bad that Principal Davis threw up right in the middle of the hallway. Jamie brought up the pep rally when the cheerleaders’ pyramid collapsed and Amy, the head cheerleader, broke her collarbone. And John, ever the popular athlete, recalled his own winning shot during the regional basketball championship. He wasn’t really a braggart, just very enthusiastic about his accomplishment. We reveled in it all, knowing that college and the rest of the world was looming before us at the end of the summer.
As the stories were winding down I was feeling good, a little buzzy. Three beers made me feel magical. I dropped the last bottle and plopped my back in the sand. I looked up at the stars and was overwhelmed. I closed my eyes and felt the ocean breezes blowing across my face. I heard some movement and then voices began to drift off into the distance. There was a shift beside me and someone sat down next to me. Some sand splashed against my leg. My heart began to beat fast as I recognized the perfume.
“Hi,” Nicole said.
I opened my eyes and sat up. We were alone. I turned my head frantically and saw everyone else walking off down the beach, back toward the cars.
“Where’s everybody going?” I asked. Those buttholes, I thought. I wondered how long they had been planning this: to leave me and Nicole alone.
“Nowhere,” Nicole said. “They’re just getting ready to go back, but I don’t think they’ll leave us.”
“They better not,” I said. I lay back down. Nicole lay down as well.
We lay in silence for a few seconds.
“So how’s it going?” Nicole asked.
“Pretty good,” I said. “How are you?”
“I’m cool.”
More awkward silence and then both of us spoke at once.
“So are you looking forward to college,” we both said at the same time. There was another moment of silence and then we both laughed.
“You first,” I said.
“Nah, let’s talk about something else,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know either.”
Yet more silence and then the conversation really kicked in.
“Ummmm,” she said. “Doooo you like anybody?”
“Do I like anybody?”
“That was the question.”
“Um, yeah, I like somebody.”
“Who?”
“Who?”
“Yeah, who?”
“I don’t want to say.”
“Why not?”
“I’d feel stupid.”
“I’ll tell you who I like if you tell me who you like,” she said.
“Why do I have to go first?” I asked.
“Because I asked first, silly.”
I was sure that I was as red as Superman’s cape and that even under the dim moonlight she could see it, but I was loving every second of this. I propped myself up on one elbow and she did the same. We faced each other. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering madly and I think even then I knew this was a moment I would replay in my head over and over for the rest of my life.
“Well,” I finally said. “I kind of like someone on this beach.”
“I kind of like someone on this beach, too,” she said.
“Yeah, who’s that?” I asked, playing the game out to its fullest.
“Look around,” she said. “Do you see anyone else on this beach?”
I feigned looking around for someone else and then turned back to her.
“No,” I said. “Just me and you.”
“Well, what do you plan to do about that?” she asked.
“Just this,” I whispered.
On the portable radio, Pearl Jam slipped into the main solo of their song Alive and I leaned in and kissed Nicole. Her lips were soft and moist and I tasted her lip balm--strawberry. We kissed gently for about a minute, lost in sweet euphoria, flying to the moon, and doing back flips over and over in my mind, and then a honking horn brought us back to reality.
“I guess we better rejoin our friends,” Nicole said.
“Yeah,” I said in a daze. I wasn’t sure when I would come back down from this natural high and didn’t care if I ever did.
Nicole picked up the radio and I kicked some sand onto the last of the burning embers of the fire. We walked back to the others in silence. Nothing either of us could have said would have made that moment any better. It was perfect just the way it was.
We rejoined our friends at their cars. Nicole got in with Jamie and Shelly. I got in Robbie’s car with John. I watched Nicole through the back door windows of the cars. She smiled and I smiled back. I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw that the car full of girls was already beginning to talk. Robbie closed the door and started up the car. John turned around in the passenger seat and looked back at me.
“Details,” he demanded with a smile.

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