1980
An 11 year old Michael runs through the sand of a beach, Sam and his parents watching as they set up their towels. Sam lightly bouncing his heels waiting for his parents to stop bickering so his mom can put on his sunscreen, anxious to play in the waves.
Micheal stumbles a bit in his excitement, he had completely missed the small sandcastle being built in his path.
"Hey man, watch it!"
Micheal turns his head, and sees a boy around his age, maybe a year older, hugging a younger boy, no older than Sam, on the verge of tears over his now smushed castle.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't see it"
"That took us half an hour"
"We can fix it! Mike's good at castles!" Sam runs up, stopping a few feet from his brother, looking up excitedly for his response.
"Are you?" The younger stranger looks to Michael, the sadness leaving his eyes and the green irises lighting up with hope.
"Um yeah, I can fix it" Truthfully, Michael didn't want to, he had grown out of sandcastles when he was 9, but when he looked to the older brother, [he assumed the two were brothers, both had similar faces, same curly dark hair , skin tones, though the one his age had brown eyes], he just couldn't stop himself from agreeing. The older boy dropped his glare and quickly replaced it with a lopsided grin, the younger boys face quickly followed, a straighter smile appearing.
"Well I'm, I'm Micheal, you can call me mike, and this is Sammy"
"Sam" the blonde quickly interjected, not appreciating the nickname.
"Hi Mike! I'm Nash and this is my older brother Orion!" The young boy all but yells, startling Mike and Sam, but judging by Orion's reaction, this is a common occurrence.
Orion gives a small nod before moving a bit to give the new boys room to sit. Mike, sitting next to him, begins to speak:
"So Orion huh? Your parents like that stuff too? I was almost called Moonbeam."
Orion turns his head, looking him over
"I could see it, guess I'll have to call you moony then."
The boys turn back to the sand, focusing on rebuilding the castle previously trampled and got to know each other. The Emerson family is visiting California from Arizona, while the Cole brothers are stopping there for a week before the continue their lives on the road, traveling between states without a destination in mind.
As it gets later in the day, the 4 kids are told to go home, planning to meet again tomorrow. When they Return, they play in the waves and after the parents got to talking, they continued this routine for the rest of the trip. On the last day, micheal and Orion decided that since they would be living so far apart now, they should pick out seashells for eachother, and promise to keep them safe, Mike gave Orion a white and brown Tulip shell, small enough to fit in his hand.
"Thanks Mooney, it's real cool! Lemme get yours!"
Orion ran to his mother, waving his hand wildly as she laughed and handed him what looks like a necklace, before racing back to his new friend.
"Whats that Ion?"
"I had my mom put it on a string so it won't be lost!" The black haired boy grins, dropping the necklace in his Mooney's hand. Mike inspects the shark eye shell, it's cream color turning a faint yellow in the setting sun.
"I'll wear it all the time" he slips on the necklace looking to his new friend, trying to delay the goodbye he knows is coming.
"Well I'll mi-"
Micheals father grabs his shoulder and pulls him away, muttering about how he wants to go home as the two boys look at eachother, saddened they didn't say goodbye, deep down knowing it wasn't needed.
