Serendipity

It's really nice

"Really?" I give him a small squeeze to emphasize my words. "But we live like, half an hour away from here."

He sighs. "My parents never have the time to go. And they don't like it, anyways."

I roll onto my side so I'm facing him. "So what do they do for holidays? Just stay at home?"

"We don't do holidays," He says, almost bitterly. "We just eat like we normally do and Mom works like she normally does and Dad stays in his office all day like he normally does..."

"And what about you and Lina?"

"Well, I stay in my room most of the day, and I'm not sure what Lina gets up to."

"What about the trip? Are you going to be allowed to go?"

"The trip?" He frowns, then nods. "Oh, right. Yeah, I'll be able to go. My family just doesn't do stuff together."

"If..." I pause, trying to formulate a better way to word it. Sydney opens his eyes and looks at me curiously. "If my family were to invite you to our holidays, would you be able to come?"

He blinks, as if the idea had never crossed his mind. "I suppose I might. I wouldn't know, since I haven't had many friends for a while."

"What about Tai?"

"His parents don't like me," He reminds me. "He's tried, but they always say 'no'."

"Oh, right," I nod. "I'm still confused about that though— what's there not to like?"

He sighs. "It's complicated. I didn't do anything recently... it was something that happened years ago."

I raise my eyebrows in a way I hope implies I'm still listening.

He opens his mouth to keep talking, but at that moment, Kiki comes racing back over to where we lay, skidding to a stop and shaking sand all over us.

Sydney coughs, sitting up and trying to spit the sand out of his mouth while I scrub at my eyes with the least sandy part of my arm.

"Kiki!" I scold, reaching out and ruffling her sandy fur. "We've talked about this!"

She snorts, unbothered.

Sydney makes a noise as if to try to contribute to the conversation, then coughs and spits out another several bits of wet sand.

As we splutter to get the sand out of our bodies, a particularly large wave crashes along the coast. The sound reminds me of a vital part of going to the beach, and it only takes a second for me to stand up, offering a hand to Sydney to help him up.

As soon as he's standing, I start tugging him in the direction of the water, a walk turning into a jog, and a jog turning into a sprint. The sand in my eyes makes them water, but I can still see well enough to run.

No words are required for him to understand the assignment, and I can hear him running behind me as my feet clap against the cold ocean-touched sand. Kiki barks energetically alongside us, then swerves away so she can disperse a crowd of seagulls.

I change my gait to a half-running half-jumping combo as the water starts reaching my calves, splashing wildly.

"Tim!" I hear Sydney call, and I pause mid-step. "Wait up! How deep are you gonna go?"

"Don't worry about Kiki, she can swim better than either of us!" I shout, over the sound of the crashing waves, washing over my thighs.

"I actually wasn't worried about Kiki!"

"Then why are you worried?"

"I— I'm not!"

"Then come on! I'll hold your hand if you want!"

"Thanks!"

I hold out my hand, squinting through my watering eyes at the blurry shape of Sydney clambering over the waves trying to knock him over.

Then I feel him grab my outstretched hand, and I give him a reassuring squeeze before tugging him out farther.

I wade through the water until it reaches my upper stomach, then pinch my nose closed and duck under the water.

The world goes silent.

The sounds of the startled seagulls are gone, replaced with the sounds of water filled with sand and gravel and fish.

I can't hear the fish, but I can feel the sand whipping across my face as a wave passes over me.

I resurface, inhaling deeply and shaking my hair to get it off my face.

"Tim!"

"Yes?"

I look at Sydney, who suddenly looks panicked.

"There's a big wave coming!"

"What?"

I glance at where he's pointing and see it.

It's not huge, but it's bigger than the waves that make us bob up and down.

I smile at him.

"Don't worry! We'll go through it!"

"What?" He asks, then splutters as a wave slaps across his chest, spraying salty water into his face.

"You've never done that before?"

He doesn't have time to give me an answer before I hear the wave approaching.

"Hold your breath and close your eyes!" I call, then inhale and hope he does the same before I pull us both under.

A rush of water pushes us back, forcing us to tumble along the low sandbar as grit speeds past us, whipping at our closed eyes and our exposed skin and trying to pry apart our linked hands.

I feel Sydney's grip on me tighten, and a string of seaweed slaps against my leg.

I shake it off, then notice how we're no longer being thrown through the ocean and decide it's time to resurface.

I kick off the sandbar towards the surface, and the moment my face meets the air is like heaven.

Cool air rushing back into my lungs makes me cough, and I hear Sydney gasp for air beside me.

"Holy—" He starts, then spits out some seawater. "That was—"

I glance around to orient myself, then see Kiki frolicking in the shallows, not far from us.

"Come on," I say, squeezing his hand and pulling him in Kiki's direction. "We can talk about how amazing the ocean is when we get back to Kiki."

She spots us a few seconds later. She barks and leaps towards us, navigating the wavy water with ease.

"Hi girl," I say affectionately. "Momma's gonna kill me for letting you get so wet."

Her tongue lolls cheerfully.

We finally splash our way back to the area we were at before, and Kiki leaves us to keep playing in the water.

Sydney sits down on the sand, groaning.

"That was horrible," He moans. "I never wanna go back out there."

"We just won't go that deep next time," I promise, sitting next to him, careful to not touch the sand with my hands. "I've had plenty of fun crouching in the shallows."

"Yeah, I'll stick to the shallows, thanks," He runs a hand through his hair.

I glance at his shirt, which now clings to his thin frame. It's also mostly see-through, and I pat my cheeks to try to avoid blushing.

As I turn back to watch Kiki, I feel his eyes on me.