In Waves | ✔️

15 | sand angels

"You're not even pressuring me," I argue.

He looks thoughtful. Skeptical. "Nah, Rob will kick my ass if I corrupt you. Have you seen my brother? I'd like my face to stay intact."

I set my bottle on the railing ledge. "Trust me, Rob might actually thank you. He's the one who wants me to let loose and have more fun. Being corrupted by you could be pretty fun."

He gives me a measuring look, his mouth slowly curving. "All right, but only one hit. I don't want you thinking your legs are paralyzed or something."

My brows knit together.

"I might've smoked too much my first time and thought my legs were paralyzed," he mumbles. "While I was standing."

I let out a nervous laugh. Please let me walk away from this with functional limbs.

Nate passes me the joint. "Okay so I'm going to light it, all you gotta do is take a deep pull, down your throat, not just your mouth. And then hold in the smoke for as long as you can. But you're going to cough, so it won't be too long."

"How do you know I'm going to cough?"

"Shiny untouched lungs? You're gonna cough."

He holds the flame to the tip, and I follow his guidance, the paper crinkling to ash as I suck in. It tastes weird and earthy, and it takes approximately five seconds for me to let out that inevitable smoky cough. My chest tightens, my heart feeling as if it's banging into my bones with every cough I'm failing to suppress.

Nate takes the joint back and puts it out on the side of his beer while I grab my own, swallowing a gulp to ease my burning throat. The fizziness makes it burn harder.

"You okay?" I hear him ask.

I clear my throat. "Never better."

He laughs quietly, and I freeze when he reaches over and wipes a tear from my cheek. I've got a headrush and my heart is still thumping, but I don't know if it's from the weed, the coughing, or him. He doesn't linger, but the prickling on my skin does.

"Feel anything?"

"No," I say quick, breaking from his eyes to look out at the sea. "I mean... maybe. Kind of."

"Maybe kind of. Well, that's something."

We stand in silence for a while. I don't know how long. It feels like my sense of time might be a little warped, but I've been staring at the sand dune in this unknown stretch of time. With the way the moonlight hits it, you'd almost think it was snow.

"You said Rob wants you to have more fun." Nate brings my attention back. "Is that part of the promise you made to him? About getting out of your comfort zone?"

"Yeah. He thinks I need to make more memories... put myself out there."

"And you don't think that."

I blow air out my cheeks. "Keeping to myself, predictability. I like it. But I think I like it too much sometimes. When I look back in ten years, nothing will stand out because it's all the same. That's why I made that promise to him in the first place. I know he's right."

Nate turns to me, resting his elbow on the rail. "What makes the cut for a good memory, then? Learning to surf?"

"Oh, most definitely." I smile. "Anything out of the ordinary of my very ordinary life."

"What about tonight, is it extraordinary enough?"

"I don't think I'll forget smoking weed for the first time with Nate Miller."