We Met in the Dark | Sam Pottorff

Everyday, my best friend and I go down to the beach, which is only a walk through my backyard away. That means summer is practically the best time of my life. I don't want to brag or anything, but having a private beach is literally the coolest thing ever.

"Hey Maggie! We going swimming today?" asked Erin, my best friend. "When do we not?" I laughed back. It was the second week out of school and we had already spent a lifetime at the beach. The best thing about the beach is that my neighbor Kian was super hot and quite frequently went outside. Sometimes Erin and I would just lay on the sand and watch him secretly... or better yet, spy on him through my bedroom window, which has a perfect view of the magnificent Pacific Ocean. "Okay, well I'll meet up with you near the water, see ya." Erin said before ending the call. I couldn't wait to get to the beach today. It was the Fourth of July, which meant there would be a lot of people out swimming and having barbecues. And then later at night there are at least 10 fires going on at the same time along the shoreline. Tonight was only the second time that my dad was letting me host my own bonfire. I invited a few of my close friends, but last year, random people joined in and it just added to the fun. Maybe this year my attractive neighbor will come over.

I opened up my bathing suit drawer and peeked inside. Then I remembered that I went to the mall yesterday and got the cutest bikini ever! I ran to the Hollister bag next to my bed and pulled out the bright pink bathing suit with white polka dots. I put it on and grabbed a towel before I went out to my balcony and ran down the stairs to the beach.

"Hey Maggie." said Erin as I walked up next to her towel and spread mine next to hers. "Happy Fourth of July!" I responded eagerly. She pulled her sunglasses down under her nose as her eyes gleamed up at me. "The only reason this day will be happy is because of Kian." She was totally obsessed with my neighbor. "That is true, but remember, I'm also having my fire tonight! And you know that anyone could show up!" I tried to sound overly enthusiastic since Erin didn't find this particular holiday as exciting as I did. "OH MY GOSH MAGGIE YOU'RE RIGHT! It really is a good thing we went shopping yesterday. Because if I wore my old tankini in front of your neighbor, I think I would die." Her old tankini actually was, in reality, quite horrible. It was neon orange all over and had little blue cartoon dolphins all over it. Happy that we both got new bathing suits and finally perfected our tans, we ran into the water and cooled off until we got too cold and went inside my house.