Life's A Beach

Watermelon Gum

 I apologize for the long wait. I was on vacation but now I'm back! Yay. Anyways, check out a photo of the new character in the media! He's hot.

Life's A Beach: Chapter 20: Watermelon Gum

 I gingerly folded the guarded note back up and pressed my finger along the sharp edge. The Arctic cold waters captured my toes and I breathed in simply gazing at the scenic horizon. The choppy ocean was a deep dark blue lit up by the terrestrial view of twinkling stars hanging in the sky.

No matter how twisted people's lives were the stars never failed to shine and the tide never stopped kissing the dry shore.

I pressed my lips into a line and dropped down in the damp sand with my clothes soaking up the icy liquid. It was abnormal for me to miss someone so much to the point where I had an endless ache in the pit of my stomach where it was almost nauseating.

My sand covered palms rushed up to my prickling eyes and my chest shook as I let out bottled up emotions. Salty tears mixed in my hair and I rubbed the raw skin under them as I sobbed for who knows how long.

It was great to know that Luca was okay, but it was hard to see him move on without me in the picture.

I just missed the sound of his voice or the dumb bickers that we had. His caring spontaneous ideas just to make me smile, his wise stories, our random beach visits, the way he always seemed to rescue me, and our dumb little bucket list.

Everything.

"Marley, are you okay?" I heard a meek voice peep

I took in a husky breath and glanced up through stinging blurred eyes. Her shiny raven black hair spilled across her shoulders and her pistachio green eyes glimmered in the vivid moonlight. Cori silently made her way over as she spotted a disgruntled me crumpled in the sand with a meaningful letter clasped in my fingers.

She folded her legs neatly as she sat beside me.

Cori was just there.

No words were exchanged and it only made me cry harder, but it was like she knew. Like she knew everything. Like I was an open book she'd just read so easily and understood me one hundred percent. Just her being there kept me from doing anything I would have regretted. Her company was all I needed.

Cori's warm thumb gently brushed the top of my hand in a comforting way.

Just like Luca used to do.

~~~

A Week Later:

"Lift with your legs not with your back." my new evil boss barked at me while cruising past a trembling me 

I gave her a death glare when her back was turned and I wanted to rip the purple hair right from her scalp.   Who manages a snack bar on a beach with bright ass purple hair? Oh, did I mention my tiny boss was a bitch.

"You could at least help me." I grumbled under my breath as I felt my face burning red from lifting the crate

This time it wasn't the apples I was assigned to do. Nope, not at all. This time they were potatoes. I never thought potatoes could weigh so much. I guess it was some sort of promotion, but my body was not trained for such activities.

"Excuse me?" my boss Paula paused with fire in her eyes

My face washed cold and I cursed under my breath. Right there she looked like the devil herself and for a second, I swore her hair turned red.

Shut up, Marley. You have such a big mouth. You're going to get yourself fired.

"I was talking to him." I lied while gesturing to a random guy flipping burgers with his back to me on a sizzling grill