FIND HER (short story) ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡

Chapter Two / Tequila

I breathed in the summer air while I flipped to the first page of "Stay Sweet" by Siobhan Vivian. The beach is the only place where I feel fully relaxed. The sun kissed my skin, giving me a light tan to go with my summer freckles.

"Kaylee, get your ass in the water," Brynn ordered, her hair dripping with saltwater and a large scrape visible above her knee from her wipeout.

"We just got here; I want to relax," I sighed. She held out my aqua blue surfboard, already waxed and ready to go. I wasn't even on the second page of my book. I rolled my eyes, but grabbed it. She smiled and walked back to the shore leaving size 7 footsteps in the sand. I dove into the water and waited to catch a wave, a good wave. I looked below the clear surface, so clear that you could see the schools of fish getting chased by turtles.

As I sat on my surfboard, facing forward, I turned to Brynn. "How do you think junior year of college will be? We only have two weeks left of summer." The mention of junior year brought a shadow over our conversation. Merriam College, nestled in the heart of Pacific Cove, was still healing from the tragedy of my sophomore year.

She submerged her body under water, then came back up. "I don't want to talk about it."

I tried to think of something different to say, hoping that the topic of last year wouldn't ruin our time together. I met Brynn the first year I moved here, and we became inseperatble ever since.

"Look, there's a good wave", I pointed out to the shore. There is something about waiting for a wave to come to you so you can surf it; it's sublime, therapeutic, and exciting. Brynn dives deeper and heads towards the wave, I followed. This is what I needed right now.

After surfing for an hour or so, I grabbed my surfboard and bolted to Brynn's banged up Subaru. I gulped down some water while she started the car.

"It's hot as hell, huh?", she said, after throwing our boards in the trunk. The sand from the beach fell to the car floor as the trunk vibrated when it closed.

"Indeed", I wiped the sweat off my forehead. My sun kissed skin turned more into a tomato paste color. I rubbed my eyes which were burning and bloodshot from the salt water. I was in deep thought and tired from the sun until I realized that Brynn pulled into Zara's driveway. The sun got to me.

Zara waved as she exhaled a mouth of thick smoke from her joint. "Flower power?", she asked, handing the joint to me. I took a hit and the smoke filled my throat, providing me with a sense of relief.

All three of us live just about a block away from each other in our quaint little town of Pacific Cove. It's one of those places where the houses all look the same, the palm trees and tropical flowers in the front and back yard, the coastal colored houses, and sky high windows...despite the uniformity of our surroundings, the familiarity never really bothered me. After all, it's been us three since my family made the big move from Massachusetts to California. They were the first people my age that came to our bungalow to welcome us to the neighborhood. Our bond goes beyond mere proximity, from navigating the ups and downs of high school to exploring the beaches and hidden coves along the coastline, we've been through it all together. In a way, Brynn and Zara are like an extension of my own family. My girls.

"Needed that", I responded, handing her the joint back. She pops on her flat screen to the news channel. Zara is such a big news person, never got why. Reminds me of my dad. Every morning, right at the crack of dawn, my Dad wakes up and plops himself on his spot of the couch. With his phone in one hand and a black coffee in the other, he watches the news. He's all about staying woke with the newest headlines, a way to ride with wave with what's happening in the world that day. It's a familiar sound, hearing him creep out into the living room at that hour. I have memorized the sound his footsteps. Heavy, and quick. When he leaves for work, my mother always turns off the TV, says the energy of the news channel fucks with her aura or something.