Beach Tracks

Ariella- A Girl Next Door

Dear Diary,

    Hey, it's me, Ariella. I know it's been a while since I written . . . okay a long while, but I just had to let you know how my life is. I'm still the girl next door to . . . well two girls next door now- HA HA HA HA HA! I crack myself up sometimes. So, I have a boyfriend, and his name is Cash! Yes, that Cash and-

    "Oh my God, Ariella, Shut up!" Breeze shouts from the window across from Ariella's home, "I can hear you all the way over here!"

    "Oh hey girl," Ariella calls out with a big smile on her face, "I'm just writing in my diary."

    "I know, I can hear you," Breeze says unhappily as she turns back to her bed and flops on it. There is no way Ariella, or anyone for that matter could understand the anxiety she had about that night. Tonight was the night that she was giving Gauge a a romantic, candle lit dinner on the beach. It would be reminiscent of their first true date, which was a lunch date that Gauge had prepared. She remembers it as if it wasn't that long ago. The sandy beach, the sandy food, the sandy drink, Coastal Beachton lit up while they stood on THE peer. Breeze will never forget how it felt to have Gauge's arms wrapped around her. He was the only person to understand her. Breeze also remembers the carelessness of Aunt Vanessa not checking the weather before her fourth of July party that eventually led to Gauge almost dying, so Breeze was proactive in checking the weather.

"What is the weather going to be like tonight?" she asks her phone.

"Cleary, breezy with a high tide warning effective from 7PM to 7AM," her phone replies.

"Uhg," Breeze snorts, "I am not doing laundry tonight." Tonight was going to be the best night of her life, no matter what happened and she wasn't going to let anyone, including Wendy stop her.

Down the hall, with her cell laid on her bed and a picture of Gauge with Cage's motorbike saved as the background, Wendy sits with her Tide Pod container and a small bowl.

"One, two," she counts as she puts the pods in the small bowl, "one for me and one for you." It does not take the small bowl long to feel up. "Tonight is going to be a special night for you and I," she says to her cell phone as she ceran wraps the bowl.

    That evening, as he takes a break from working on his dead best friend's motorbike, Gauge picks up the Tide Pod that Wendy had given him in the hospital. He opens his mouth and moves the move towards it, as if to eat it.

    "What are you doing, Gauge?" Uncle B calls out from the door. Gauge quickly drops the Tide Pod and turns to his father.

    "Nothing, I'm just . . . working," Gauge replies and goes back to work on the motorbike. Uncle B approaches him.

"I know your friend would be proud, son," Uncle B tells him.

"Yeah," Gauge scoffs, having no interest in speaking to his father.

"Listen son, I'm going to be . . . out late tonight, will you . . . will you be okay on your own?" Uncle B asks, "Vanessa, she is really something and we-I mean I think I love her son."

"I have plans," Gauge says, resisting the urge to grunt. 

"Good, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Uncle B seems relieved and begins to walk away.

"Whatever, Uncle B," Gauge replies.

That Night . . .

    As Breeze sets up her dinner picnic she looks around, frustrated and then looks to THE peer which serves as the background. Her phone rings and she answers it.

    "Where are you?" she demands to know as she speaks on her phone.

    "I can't find you," Cash answers, nearby wandering around on the beach. Her wears his typical boating outfit, boating shoes and sunglasses, even though it is night. Breeze sighs and hangs up the phone, marching over to him.