HELLOOOOOO BFFS
thank u SOOO SO SO MUCH for 2.5k reads on the story!! forever grateful that so many of u are still loving itttt <33
n e wayy this chapter is definitely way shorter than the last but still totally worth the read i promise ;)) HAPPY READING LOVE U SO MUCH
ENJOYOYOYOYO -katie <3
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b r i e l l e
It's been just about two painfully long weeks since school started, and things are still as miserable as they were on the first day. JJ seems to have reconnected a bit with John B though, the bond the two boys have clearly unbreakable. I'm not upset about it in any way. If anything, I'm actually glad that the two of them are talking again, cause they've both begun to seem a lot happier. I know JB was having a pretty rough time with not really being able to spend time with him, and I'm sure JJ's glad to have his best friend back.
I still haven't really talked to J since all the shit went down at the kegger, but as awkward as it may sound, we haven't necessarily been avoiding each other anymore. We've crossed paths at school several times and smiled at each other in class, but things just still aren't the same.
I've been trying to formulate a plan in my head for how to talk to him, cause I feel like if he really wanted to reach out to me, he would've done it by now. But then again, JJ Maybank is easily the world's biggest chicken when it comes to stuff like this, so maybe he's still freaking out about it as much as I am. I also feel like maybe I shouldn't be the one to initiate a conversation since he's really the one to blame for our hiatus. Well, I guess it's all Rafe's fault if you trace the events far back enough, but hopefully I'll never have anything to do with him ever again. I just really, really miss JJ, and I don't know how much longer I can wait for him to say something.
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j j
The fact that it's already been two weeks since school started serves as nothing more than a reminder of how much longer it's been that I've been sitting on the opposite side of every classroom than all of my friends. Two more weeks and I still haven't said a single word to any of them. Two more weeks and I still haven't build up the courage to talk to Brielle.
It seems like things are starting to get a little less awkward between me and Brielle, but it's still so far from normal. Every plan I come up with in my head sounds good at first, but I immediately doubt whether or not she would last more than a second without wanting to run away from me. I guess maybe she wouldn't mind though, cause we've stopped avoiding each other at all costs, but I just cannot fuck this up again.
One good thing that has come out of the past few weeks though, is that John B and I have sort of started to hang out with each other again. We were both out for a surf at the same time one night recently, and he pretty much just came over and started talking to me like usual. I did find it a little weird, I won't lie, cause ever since we met Brielle he's always been pretty protective over her, and it almost seemed like he wanted me dead that day at the Chateau. But to be honest, I think we just both missed each other so I chose not to ask questions, and we've been spending some time together every few nights at the beach or his place, and it's been really nice to have a friend again.
I know I probably could if I just asked, but I haven't been spending the night at the Chateau, just hanging there for a while after a surf or something. I'm still crashing at my dad's house, which I know is probably a terrible idea, but I've sort of figured out what times are safest for me to get in and out without encountering him, and so far it's working. I'm just still a little scared to like, be back in everyone's lives, so I'm still trying to keep my distance until I know I'm actually welcome. I missed my bedroom anyway, so I've liked being able to sleep here, but there's another room that I'd much rather be hanging out in right now. Hopefully soon, if I can manage to get my shit together.
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b r i e l l e
"Dad, we're home!" I shout into the house as Sarah and I walk through the door after another painfully long day at school. We leave our shoes at the door and drop our bags on the vacant couch, wandering further into the house after receiving no response from dad. I call his name again, and venture down the hall when I notice that the light in the laundry room is on. I peek my head into the room and simply wave at dad to let him know we're home to avoid speaking over the loud noise of the washer and dryer.
Sarah and I make our way back to the kitchen, hungry after six hours away from any sort of real food, so I open the fridge and pull out the big container of watermelon that we try to keep full at all times. I slide the container across the top of the kitchen island to where Sarah is already sitting, and pour two glasses of pink lemonade for us to enjoy with our fruit.
Neither of us say anything for a few minutes as we recover from the exhausting day we just had, and I watch as Sarah takes a cute photo of herself while holding up a piece of watermelon for the camera, and her cheeks immediately go pink at the sound of my suspicious giggle. "Who's that going to?" I ask her even though the answer could not be more obvious.
"No one." She fibs, putting another piece of fruit into her mouth to hide her guilty smile.
"'No one' my ass, Sarah Cameron!" I call her out in a funny accent, the two of us breaking into a fit of loud laughter after six hours of quietness at school. "When are you just gonna ask him to be your boyfriend?" I press, only half kidding, and she simply shrugs in response as a dreamy look comes across her face like she's just witnessed the most beautiful sunset on earth.
"I dunno," She begins after a moment, shrugging again to express her uncertainty. "Is it weird for me to ask him? Should I wait for him to ask me?" I can tell that she's becoming increasingly nervous, but this seems like a question that she's had bottled up for a long time, afraid to ask, so I answer without pulling any more jokes.
I shake my head as I finish the piece of watermelon in my mouth. "I don't think so. I mean, it's pretty obvious that you both like each other, and I guess he's proving to be more of a chicken than I thought, so I say go for it. Not like there's a rule or anything." Sarah doesn't say anything just yet but nods her head in agreement, so I decide to propose a solution. "I'll talk to him about you and get a read on him if you want." I tell her genuinely, willing to do just about anything to get the two of them to finally confess their feelings.
"Will you really?" She asks with a twinge of hope in her voice, her eyebrows shooting up and the pink tint of her cheeks returning.
"Course!" I tell her happily. "Can't promise he'll give me anything to work with, but it's worth a shot."
"You can't tell him we schemed this, though! You can't."
"I won't." I say confidently, but at the same time I grab my phone and open my message with John B, quickly typing up a sarcastic message before showing Sarah my screen.
john 🐝
hello john booker routledge are you in love with sarah yes or no be honest i won't tell her she is not sitting next to me right now
Sarah only lets out a nervous squeal at my joke, causing both of us to laugh hysterically again as I erase the text without sending it. "I would never!" I assure her, despite the many pranks I'd like to pull just to get the two of them to admit that they're head over heels for each other.
We go quiet for a few minutes as we finish our snacks and catch up on anything we might've missed on our phones during school, until Sarah puts hers down soon after and clears her throat before speaking. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah, course!"
"Was it awkward with... with you and JJ?" She asks delicately, hesitating a moment to say our names in the same sentence as if it might physically damage me. The genuine curiosity in her voice tells me that she's still searching for some advice, so I don't mind discussing this topic. Besides, the night JJ and I started dating was one of the best out of the whole summer, and it's something I haven't thought about in a while, so the memories come back fondly.
"I wouldn't say it was awkward. Well, JJ was a little awkward about it, but that's just- he's just not that good at conversations." The two of us laugh quietly again, knowing my words are true. "I mean, I guess it was a little awkward only cause we were both super nervous, but it was- I feel it was just a matter of time at that point, so he just asked after the beach one night, and we both freaked out a little. Well, a lot, but it ended up just being like, really nice." I realize that I've begun smiling to myself at the mere thought of that night, nearly forgetting that things aren't quite as perfect between us now as they were then.
Sarah giggles, likely still thinking about just how terrible at conversations JJ can be. "How'd he do it?"
I can't help but laugh myself, trying my best to recall the exact series of events, though my nerves didn't allow for many memories to be made at the time. "I'm pretty sure he was like, 'What's going on with us? We've just been like, kissing.', cause at that point that's all that was happening between us. And I was like, 'You're right!' and I didn't really know what to say, cause I kinda knew what was about to happen. And he asked if we should do something about it, and we just kept saying 'yeah' back and forth like a couple of idiots, and then he asked if I wanted to date." That conversation could not have been more on brand for my relationship with JJ. "And I'm pretty sure I had to clarify like, 'Date, as in... I get to be your girlfriend?' And he said yeah, and we freaked out, then we watched Tangled." Another smile tugs at my lips but it soon fades as I think about how that was one of the last times we got to watch the Disney movie together, and it's been sitting in my room collecting dust ever since.
"So, what I'm getting from this is that it was pretty awkward." Sarah says with a laugh as she realizes that I wasn't being entirely truthful in telling her that it went smoothly.
"Yeah, I guess so." Our giddiness eventually dies down, and the energy between me and Sarah turns a bit more serious as I prepare to give her the best pep talk I can muster up. "But I feel like no matter who you are, it's gonna be a little awkward when the person you love that much asks you out. Which means, when you and John B get together, you just have to get past the first few days and then it'll be like, perfect. But I don't want that to scare you out of making a move, cause it happens to just about everyone. And plus, you're already shy as hell around each other, so maybe there won't be an awkward stage at all once one of you asks the other out!"
Sarah shakes her head and looks down at the countertop with a huge grin on her face as both of us take in the past five minutes of relationship advice that I had no idea I even knew. "I'll work on it." She says with a small smirk, grabbing her phone to check John B's response to the watermelon selfie she sent him, which only causes her grin to grow larger.
At the same time, dad comes in from the laundry room and steals a piece of fruit from the container in front of us and messes up mine and Sarah's hair with his hands. "How was school today?" He asks as he grabs his laptop from its place on the counter where he left it to charge.
"Good." Sarah and I say simultaneously, giving dad the same answer as every other day since school started.
"That's good." Dad replies, grabbing his mug and computer before heading over to the couch to work for a bit. Sarah and I sit quietly at the counter for a few minutes which makes room in my mind to think about how I've been feeling a little disconnected from dad lately, and it just feels like there isn't much for us to talk about anymore. Maybe it's because he isn't a teenage girl dealing with boy problems, but it wasn't too long ago that we were going to the beach every other day just to talk about anything that came to our minds, and now there's hardly enough for us to say to hold a single conversation.
I shake my head to rid it of these thoughts and asks Sarah if she wants to go over to my room, and we grab our backpacks from the couch and walk down the hall, figuring if we get our homework done now we'll have a ton of free time later tonight to spend however we want.
Fiadh is curled up on my bed when we walk in, her head resting comfortably on Jackie. The sight is almost too peaceful to disrupt, so Sarah sits carefully on the edge of the bed so as not to wake her. She stirs awake a few minutes later anyway and stretches, and Sarah falls back on the bed and plays with her for a few minutes, talking to her quietly in a high pitched voice.
Once we're settled in, I connect my phone to my speaker and turn some Taylor Swift on, going to sit at my desk to start my work while Sarah grabs her backpack from the floor and brings it up on to the bed with her.
I put my math notebook on my desk and open one of its drawers in search of a pen, cause it's always more fun to do your homework in pen than it is in pencil. Until you make a mistake. Then you're screwed. I rummage through the random stationary supplies in my drawer until my eyes focus on something scribbled on the top sheet of my sticky note pad that I've never noticed before.
I take it out and see that it's a pencil drawing of a couple of stick figures, and upon further observation it becomes clear to me who the people are supposed to be. The figures stand in front of a strangely realistic ocean with a sun in the upper right corner. The tall one sports an over exaggerated six pack with a surfboard under his arm, and the one on the right is slightly shorter with high tops on her feet and her own surfboard next to her. In the bottom left is the date that the drawing was created and the initials of the artist, alongside a poorly scribbled heart that closely resembles the one on the lifeguard tower.
8/8 ♡ J.M.
I stare at the neon pink sticky note a moment longer as a small smile appears on my face, picturing JJ sneaking the drawing while I wasn't looking and hiding it in my desk for me to find. I pull the masterpiece off of the pad of sticky notes and attach it to the wall in front of my desk before finally starting my homework, Sarah and Fiadh sitting contently on my bed with no idea of what I just found.
After a few more Taylor songs, Lover comes on through the speaker, and Sarah doesn't hesitate a single second to switch to the next song in an attempt to avoid bringing back any memories of Midsummers and the night we spent with our friends at The Wreck. Neither of us say a word about it, but it's obvious that the same thoughts just ran through both of our minds.
After some time, I start to lose focus as my mind travels to topics that could not be farther from the trigonometry in front of me. I find myself spinning back and forth in my chair, glancing out the window and around my room as Taylor continues to accompany us in the background. Sarah stops working a few minutes later as well, grabbing her phone and scrolling on it for a break from school. She looks over at me when she notices I'm no longer hunched over my desk, and I feel a few nervous butterflies erupt in my stomach, hoping she won't draw attention to my lack of focus.
"Y'okay, babe?" She asks me after shutting her phone off, concern plaguing her voice. I snap out of my trance and have to take a second myself to contemplate whether or not I'm okay before responding.
"Yeah! I'm good." I tell her only half truthfully, hoping my words are believable enough so I won't have to elaborate.
"What's going on, love?" Am I that bad of a liar? Sarah pats the space next to her, inviting me to join her and Fiadh, so I immediately abandon my math homework and go sit on the bed with them. "You can tell me." I know, but I'd rather just avoid talking about it. It's easier that way.
I mess with the tag hanging from Fi's collar, avoiding eye contact with Sarah out of fear that the look on my face will be a total telltale of my thoughts. I only shrug at first, unaware myself of what's going on with me. "Just worrying." I admit with a sad laugh. "About everything."
It seems as though Sarah doesn't know what to say either, the silence between us making the music coming from my speaker become clear. I'm able to make out the sound of Starlight, and the two of us tune into the lyrics which could not have come on at a more perfect time.
Look at you, worrying too much about things you can't change.
You'll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way.
We both smile a bit at the pure irony of the situation, and Sarah taps my leg with a giggle. "See? Even Taylor Swift said it, so it must be true, right?" I can't help but laugh at how pathetic I feel right now, and let out a half-assed 'yeah', thinking about how Sarah and Taylor are probably right and I really should quit worrying so much. Things will work out eventually if that's what's meant to happen, right?
"What's on your mind?" She continues, knowing that I was obviously holding back details in my last response.
I hesitate a moment, feeling like I'm always the reason that the mood of any hangout inevitably goes downhill. But, I know that Sarah wouldn't be asking if she didn't actually care, so I give in and let the conversation continue. "I just can't stop thinking about him and I don't know why." I tell her shyly, not needing to say the name of the 'him' in question for her understand.
"I think I know why." My head snaps up and I glance up at Sarah as if the next words waiting on her tongue might hold the key to life on earth. "You still love him. And that's okay." She says in the sweetest of voices, not trying to call me out but rather trying to validate my feelings, which is something I've been needing for a while.
"There's nothing wrong with that." Sarah continues calmly. "And I know it probably doesn't feel like you should after everything that happened, but it really is okay. I promise. And I know you love him, cause he's still on your mind and you still care about him more than anything. You're a good person for that." I give a sad smile in response to her words and mess with Fiadh's soft fur, and watch as Sarah's phone screen lights up with a text from JB. She doesn't respond to it after seeing the notification though, and flips her phone upside down to keep her attention directed towards me.
"Can I tell you something?" She asks, sounding somewhat afraid of the possibility of me saying no. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who's more deserving of being happy than you. It's all gonna work out soon, I know it is." She says softly, leaning forward with a small smile on her face. Her words sound sincere and it's hard for me to hide the warm and fuzzy feeling that has just filled me. Sarah leans in again and wraps me in a tight hug, and this gesture alone suddenly makes me feel like everything's going to be okay.
When we pull apart, I make eye contact with my favorite girl in the world and wipe a few tears from the edges of my eyes before they sneaked onto my face. "Thanks," I say quietly to avoid a voice crack. "I love you."
"I love you too. Feeling up for a little more math?"
"No," I giggle, forgetting that we were in the middle of doing our homework before our second therapy session of the afternoon commenced. "But if we get it over with now, we can watch Netflix or something later!"
I return to my spot at my desk and glance once more at the stick figures that are supposed to be me and JJ on the sticky note before putting my trigonometry worksheet back in front of me, doing my best to complete it without getting too frustrated. When I'm done, I take twenty more minutes to complete a few questions based on the book we're reading in English class and shut my laptop, spinning around in my chair to face Sarah who sits quietly with her phone in her hand and Fi on her lap, waiting patiently for me to finish my work.
At the same time, dad's voice can be heard from the kitchen, calling Sarah and I for dinner. Ever since we became close enough to hang out at each other's houses, it's sort of been an unspoken rule between the two of us that we don't really have to ask to stay over for dinner. Nor do we have to ask before borrowing each other's clothes, which is one thing I adore about my friendship with Miss Cameron.
The two of us pack up our homework in our bags and each give Fiadh a kiss on her head before making our way out of my room. To no one's surprise, Sarah breaks into song as we slide in our socks down the hardwood hallway, and we enter the kitchen in the middle of our rendition of Picture To Burn.
Dad laughs a bit and claps for us once our performance is over, inviting us to bow proudly after Sarah's extra guitar solo. I hand a couple of treats to Fiadh who has since joined us from my bedroom as dad passes us two bowls full of my favorite strawberry salad with two forks and glasses of lemonade. After taking one glance at the beautiful weather out the front window in the kitchen, Sarah and I decide to take our food out to the porch and eat quietly together, enjoying the cool breeze with the sounds of the waves and happy beach goers across the street.
Once we're done eating, we sit outside together for a few extra minutes until the mosquitoes start coming out for the night, so we take our bowls and cups and head back to the kitchen to clean up.
We eventually make our way back to my bedroom after grabbing a few cookies from the box dad bought at the grocery store the other day, and we set up Gilmore Girls on my laptop. Sarah asks to borrow some nail polish and sits at my desk to paint her nails while we watch and I sit comfortable with Fi in the sunlit portion of my bed, and we spend the next few hours gushing over season 5 Rory and Logan as if we've never seen it before.
I think we lose track of time after several episodes, and by the time we come back to reality it's almost completely dark outside. Remembering that we have school again tomorrow and we'll never turn Netflix off if we don't do it now, Sarah grabs her backpack from my floor and kisses Fiadh again on her head before the two of us head out of my room and to the front door.
Dad turns around from his place on the couch when he sees us enter the room and waves goodbye to Sarah after she thanks him kindly for having her over for dinner. She slips into her trademark white low tops by the door, and stands up to open her arms wide for a hug before she goes.
"Thanks for the therapy session tonight." I tell her with a quiet giggle as I lean into the hug. She puts a hand on the back of my head and the two of us sway back and forth until we naturally pull apart, and I follow her out to the porch where the disgustingly humid and sticky air hits us like a ton of bricks.
"Thank you for the advice!" She says sincerely, taking one of my hands in her own and squeezing it. "I'll let you know if anything more happens with us." The nervousness in her voice tells me that nothing more will happen with her and John B between now and when I see her tomorrow morning, so I give her a suspicious 'okay' in response.
"I'll see you in the morning, okay? Try to get some sleep. I love you!" Sarah tells me at a volume just below a shout as she heads down the porch steps to her car. I wait until she's backed safely out of the driveway to head back inside, and I do so quietly, walking past dad and going right back to my bedroom for the night.
After thanking my past self for getting my homework done at a reasonable hour tonight, I decide that it's officially time to wind down after a fun afternoon with Sarah. I change out of my current outfit and into a pair of pajama shorts with a bunch of seagulls on them that dad gave me for my birthday a few years ago and JJ's Jeep t-shirt that I was never able to give back to him.
I replace my bright bedroom light with the softer Christmas lights hanging around my room and situate myself comfortably in my bed with Jackie under my arm and my Gatsby book in my hands, and I spend the next while reading quietly, adding several times to my tally of times I wish I could punch Tom Buchanan square in the face, until my eyelids become too heavy to hold open. I place my book on the table next to my bed and my phone on top of it and flick the lights off, shutting my eyes and reminding myself of the things Sarah said to me today in hopes of maybe getting a good night's sleep for once, but not counting on it.
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j j
"Surprised the waves are still so good," John B mentions as we make our way over to where we left our stuff on the sand after a few much needed hours worth of surfing. "It's October soon."
I don't say much in response, my mind extremely occupied tonight with things that have nothing to do with surfing or waves. JB and I lay back on the sand just as the bright colors in the sky provided by the sunset turn to dark blue and most of the people on the beach clear out for the night. We spent the next few minutes quietly, recovering from the last couple of tiring hours, until I get up from my laying position to sit with my ankles crossed and my hands propped up in the sand behind me.
John B sits up a few minutes after me, and out of the corner of my eye I can see him turn to look at me, but I choose not to acknowledge it until he speaks up. "Y'alright, dude? Been weirdly quiet tonight." I was hoping he wouldn't notice.
I turn to look at him now, thankful that he can't see my face in the darkness, and take a second to prepare my response. "Yeah, I'm good. Swear." Liar.
My answer clearly wasn't convincing enough, cause John B smacks me lightly on the arm with a quiet laugh before pressing for more information. "Did you forget we've been friends since the third grade? It's not hard for me to tell when something's up with you. Somethin' happen?"
"Nothing new, no." I shake my head as I say this, not for John B to see but rather in an attempt convince myself that nothing's wrong, even though that couldn't be farther from the truth.
"Dude, talk to me."
We sit silently for a minute while I contemplate whether or not I should share my thoughts with John B, cause it's been so long since we talked about anything important, let alone our feelings. "It's just Brielle." I admit quietly. "It's just like everywhere, literally everywhere I go, shit reminds me of her. I can't stop thinking about her, and I don't know why." I most definitely do know why, but maybe he'll believe that I don't.
"Seems to me like you still love her, dude." JB tells me in a matter-of-fact tone, and I can see his silhouette shrug as he talks. "Nothing wrong with that."
"I do still love her. You're right. I just- it just feels- I dunno." I'm surprised more people don't tell me that I have such a way with words, cause I executed that perfectly.
Thankfully, John B senses that I'm at a loss for words right now and continues as he throws his hoodie on and slips into his high tops. "I mean yeah, you fucked up pretty bad, I won't lie, but it's not something you can't fix with a conversation or two. Just talk to her." Ouch. I guess it's true though.
"Easier said than done."
"Yeah, but I don't think Bri's the kinda girl to run away from you if you try to talk to her, so it's probably worth a shot. I dunno."
"Says the guy who's too chicken to even make eye contact with Sarah half the time." I quickly change the subject, causing both of us to break into a brief laughter before John B fails miserably at defending himself. I thought I was a chicken when it came to Brielle, but he takes it to a whole other level with Sarah. I keep telling him that if he just makes a move, things will be so much less tense between them, and I think he knows I'm right but he still refuses to take my advice.
"Okay, no. This is not about me!"
"It's true, though! She'll look at you for like, three seconds, and you fold. I've never seen someone more whipped in my life."
"Oh, really? Cause I'm looking right at him." I stick a middle finger in the air, completely unwilling to admit that he might be right about that. "I'll ask her eventually, just- I'm just waiting it out a little longer." Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it.
The topic of our girls eventually fades away and we hang out quietly on the sand for a few more minutes, and John B checks his phone for the time as we realize that it's much later than we thought.
"Comin' to crash tonight?" He asks me, taking a few steps backwards in the direction of the main road, and I begin to walk slowly in a different direction to make it seem like I have somewhere to go.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, all good. Promise."
"Kay, well, you know where to find me if you need me, alright?" JB assures me before we say our goodnights and he heads off back to the Chateau. I keep walking aimlessly until he's out of sight, and put my stuff right back down on the sand. I know I could've just gone with him, but I'm still trying to play it safe when it comes to boundaries, so I just hang back at the beach, not really wanting to go back to my dad's for another night but not wanting to concern John B about my whereabouts.
Even though it's not the safest choice, I grab my board and head back into the water for a while by myself, completely unfazed by the fact that the water and sky are both pitch black, surrounding me in pure darkness. When I decide to get out, I return to my backpack and don't move for however long it takes me to completely lose track of time, at peace for once with the fact that I'm entirely alone for the night.
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b r i e l l e
I find myself awake at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night, all of my blankets and Jackie tossed to the floor in my restlessness. I really haven't been getting much sleep the past few weeks, inevitably stressed with school but also due to the absence of a certain blond idiot that I've hardly had any sort of communication with since August. There really doesn't seem to be any point in trying to fall back asleep right now, does there?
With a strange amount of energy for 3 in the morning, I get up and put on the yellow hoodie that sits at the end of my bed before carefully picking Fiadh up from her spot on my pillow. I take her quietly out of my room, stepping on my blankets and teddy on the way there, and let her jump out of my arms and into dad's room, shutting the door so she doesn't escape into the dark house. I walk out into the kitchen, yawning once and trying my best to rub the sleepiness out of my eyes.
I stand in front of the open refrigerator for a few seconds, not looking for something to eat but rather trying to wake myself up a bit with the cold air and bright light. Once I can't take it anymore, I close the fridge and slip blindly into my untied high tops that I left by the door and sneak quietly out of the house, making sure to leave the door unlocked for my return in a few minutes.
The walk to the beach is a special kind of peaceful in the middle of the night. It's totally silent and especially dark, but I know this walk like the back of my hand so I don't need the sun to make it safely. Even the waves seem to be sleeping tonight, and I feel totally at peace right now knowing that I'm the only one for a few miles all around who seems to be awake.
That is, the only one for a few feet who's awake.
As my sneakers sink into the cold sand and I make my way closer to the shore, I see the silhouette of what appears to be a person sitting with their knees pulled close to their chest on the sand. I prepare to walk past them with caution, not wanting my beach walk to be over yet just because I'm sharing the sand with another person, and stop immediately in my tracks when my brain processes the familiar messy head of hair and sharp side profile in front of me.
I stumble back a few steps, suddenly willing to cut my night a bit short to avoid the conversation that I know will happen if we recognize each other's presence. Just as I've begun to walk back towards home, the only voice in the world that has the power to send a million and one butterflies soaring through my body speaks up.
"Brielle?" God, I've missed hearing that.
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HEHEHE
NO FURTHER COMMENT I LOVE YOU ALL TALK TO YOU SOOOONNNNN <33