Serial Dating

Winter Vay-Cay

13:56 RUSHIL: Lmao I'm just pulling your leg

13:56 RUSHIL: So this is about Felix? Wasn't he, like, super into you?

13:57 MILO: Yeah D:

13:57 MILO: I also... never apologized for that time you walked in on us making out...

13:58 RUSHIL: Yeah tell that to my therapist when you pay for my next appointment 🤲

13:58 RUSHIL: I'll consult with Lee

13:58 MILO: THANK YOU

14:00 MILO: And tell him that Felix kissed me and that I imMEDIATELY told him I just wanted to be friends. I doubt Felix is ever gonna talk to me again tho D:

14:00 MILO: He made a lot of good memes imma miss em

14:01 RUSHIL: Yeah Felix's memes were pretty fire

14:01 MILO: Who will be my meme dealer now D:

14:03 RUSHIL: LMAO Lee's got lit memes too bruh

14:03 RUSHIL: Guess you guys never talked memes tho huh 👅🍆

14:04 MILO: Fuck off 😆 I'm an angel excuse you 😇

_____

Lee had his lips around the straw of a Long Island ice tea mixed by one of Rushil's moms. He reclined back in the low beach chair he had pulled from the back of the Patels' jeep. With the sun on his sunscreen-lathered skin, he felt like he was in Heaven. The pulse of heat along his arms had him ascending into a blissful, calming sigh as he tipped his head to look at Rushil.

Rushil, with his partially Hispanic genes, had the olive skin tone that made for easy tanning. He was lying in the sand on his stomach, his head and arms perched on a rolled-up towel. Rushil blinked open one eye at him and smiled. "This is the dream, huh?" Rushil said.

"I can't believe you grew up here," Lee said. "This is..."

"Amazing."

"Yeah."

They lulled into silence. The ocean waves were crashing in and washing over Lee's muddled mind. He let it all fade away until Rushil asked, "Where did you grow up then?"

"Portland, Oregon," he replied, clearing his throat. He pulled his knees up so that he could pinch his ice tea between them. The alcohol made his head swim a little when he turned to face Rushil. He needed more water but was too relaxed to get up for it. "Rainy all the time and cloudy. Pretty much sums up my family."

"Damn. Pretty area, though. Branch off of the Rockies, national forests... the works," Rushil said.

"I guess, yeah. My family's always been big hikers, so... I really got to know the trails in the area," he confessed. He shook his head then, frowning. "But I hate being so close. I'd rather be on the East Coast, I think. I wouldn't mind going to school in Seattle if it wasn't so damn expensive and if my parents didn't have a firm there."

"So you've been to Seattle?"

"Oh, yeah, I spent a lot of my summers there," he confessed. He adjusted the rim of the sunhat Rushil's mother gave him and smiled. "Kiki and I would just hang out at Pike's Place all day long. Spent my summers at the first ever Starbucks, you know. People watching."

"Now that is the dream. This here? Basic bitch dream," Rushil said, gesturing to the beach. Lee laughed, looking out over at where the back of the jeep was propped open and Rushil's mothers watched from afar. They were to far to hear them cussing.