Evan’s POV:
“Hey dad!” I called.
“Yeah? In the kitchen!”
I followed his voice and
found him cooking eggs and bacon for our breakfast.
“Hey! I was just wondering if you wanted me to wake the boys up. They are still snoozing away in there.” I informed my dad.
“Yeah sounds good. You can tell them that breakfast will be ready in about 15 minutes, okay?”
“Sure thing, dad.” I smiled at him and left to wake the young ones.
“Hey guys! Time to get up!” I said as I entered Tommy and Jack’s room.
Both boys groaned and rolled over as they covered their heads with their blankets. They were stubborn every morning but I knew something that would get them up.
“Come on you two! If you don’t get up now, dad said he wouldn’t let you go to the beach today.”
“He wouldn’t say that!” Jack disagreed. He had sat up in his bed though to argue with me.
“Yeah! He told us we could go to the beach every day!” Tommy sided with his twin, also sitting up on the top bunk.
“Well I guess you can go take it up with him then!” I told them walking out of the room. Needless to say, they were up and dressed in 5 minutes. My dad assured them they could go to the beach and they gave me gloating looks as if they had won something. It didn’t matter to me, I had won too. They had gotten up.
After breakfast and a few texts with my friends back home I saw it was almost 9. I still had a while until I was going to meet Maria on our daily jogs. Maybe I could just leave early and walk down the beach. I could always turn around if I thought I went too far, and that way I was sure to see Maria. I changed into my running shoes and headed down to the sand after waving goodbye to my dad. Somehow I think he knew I was seeing Maria simply in the way he nodded, but maybe I was just imagining things.
I headed down the beach and headed away from the lighthouse which was to the left. I took my time, taking in the sights and enjoying the fact that I wasn't home, I was in a completely different states a couple hundred miles away. As much as I loved my hometown, I loved McClellanville too. I had only been here a short time but I could see its appeal. It was quiet and serene. You could relax and enjoy the water without being bothered by the city noise or strain of a busy life. As I walked along the compact sand by the water I remembered what had happened only 24 hours before. I had been looking out at the ocean and admiring how the sunlight off the water made it sparkle when I turned and saw a girl jogging right toward me. I didn't even have time to think about stopping before I ran right into her. I remembered how I had openly stared at her beauty and how she had blushed and looked away. She seemed self conscious but at the same time she would be daring and bold like when she asked me if I wanted her to show my "lost and confused butt" around town. She intrigued me and I hoped she thought the same way about me.
I continued my walk and was just about to pass Pinocchio’s when I saw that Maria's friend, Rachel was working. I decided to go talk to her.
"Hey Rachel." I called as I walked up to the stand. There weren't too many people out on the beach yet so the business wasn't that that busy. Rachel turned around with a confused look on her face. She then spotted me and her face lit up like a child on Christmas.
"Heyyy!" Rachel called, once again talking louder than necessary.
"Hey, how's it going?" I asked her.
"Good good how about you? Are you liking it here?"
"Yeah it's a nice place."
"So..." Rachel walked out from Pinocchio’s and motioned to me to come sit with her at a table. I wonder where this was going to go. We sat down next to each other on the bench facing the water. We sat in silence for a while before Rachel finally said "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure" She hesitated and squinted her eyes at me as if trying to figure out if I would answer. "Seriously ask away. I promise I'll answer whatever it is" I told her.
"I was just wondering if you are the type of guy to be in a relationship? Like a serious one."
I thought about Ashley and then Maria. Then I wondered why Rachel would ask me that. I decided to just tell her the truth.
"Yes I would consider myself someone who is a serious relationships kind of guy. I would never just mess with a girl's head if that's what you mean." I told her sincerely. "Why do you ask?"
"I just don't want anything bad to happen to Maria after....Well simply said she is my best friend and I can tell when she likes a guy. And trust me, she likes you a loooooot. Probably more then she should...but hey I see the appeal." Rachel told me, turning into her old bubbly self again after the serious tone in the beginning.
Maria liked me. A lot according to Rachel. This was good news, unexpected but I'll take it.
"Well I don't plan on hurting her. I like her too by the way." I confided in her. I turned to look her in the eyes so she would know I was being serious. I could tell by the look she gave me back that she knew I was being sincere.
"Good. Trust me when I say that somehow I think you two were meant to be together. She told me how you like kids and that is a rare trait among guys, at least around here anyway...Do you guys have plans today?"
"Yeah, we do. I'm supposed to meet her on her jog today."
"That's good. Tell her I said hi. I think I should probably get back to work." She smiled at me and walked back to the ice cream hut.
That conversation was nice and completely unexpected. I went to talk to her to see if she would tell me some info about Maria, which she did but it wasn't what I had expected. I got the feeling that Maria had had a past relationship that hurt her pretty bad. It must have been relatively recent too from the look Rachel had on her face when she told me she didn't want Maria to get hurt again. I wonder what happened the first time. And I couldn't help but feel a flash of anger at the guy who did it.
Lost in my thoughts I didn't even realize that as I walked down the beach Maria was heading right toward me. She saw me this time however and came up to me in a good mood. She was smiling and the sun was making her hair look as if it had golden streaks even though it was dark brown. Her skin was tan from living where she did and constantly being exposed to the sun. Her eyes were brown but in the sun you could see the flecks of green and gold. I was struck by her beauty for the third time, the first being when I met her and the second being at the restaurant. She was smiling at me and I was almost positive she was glad to see me. I was glad to see her too. She made me happy just from seeing her smile and I knew that was something I needed.
"Hey!" I said to her, matching her smile with my own.
"Hey yourself!" She told me with a sly smile on her face, remembering how I had greeted her when I first met her. I laughed and we began walking back the way she had come, away from my house and Pinocchio’s.
"So how has your morning been?"
"Good thanks. Yours?" She replied, looking up at me.
"Pretty good. Just the usual morning routine. What do you usually do on Saturdays here?" I asked her, trying to figure out a way to spend more time with her after our walk.
"Well usually I just hang out at the beach. Maybe go see a movie or shopping or something if it’s too hot to do that all day. Usually Rachel gets off work at 3 so we hang out after that. What about you?"
"Uh well at home a bunch of my friends and I usually go to the swimming pool that's by the lake. We spend our days sitting on the docks or jumping off the diving board. Sometimes I have to watch the twins though but even then we go to the pool and hang out. What about you? Do you have any siblings?"
"Nope. I'm an only child. I think that's why I like little kids so much. I never had little siblings to watch over so I wanted to do something with kids."
"That makes sense." I agreed, thinking about how her life was different from my own. I couldn't imagine life without my brothers.
"So I was thinking about going back to my house and making some lunch. I have some lunch meat and chips. Would you like to join me?" She asked. She looked out to the water avoiding looking at me as if she was nervous I would say no.
"I'd love to." I told her watching for her reaction.
"Really?!" She turned and I could see the excitement in her eyes. I nodded and she smiled and blushed as she turned back to look at the water. "Well I live about a mile this way so we can just keep walking and we will get there soon." She told me.
"Sounds perfect." I was going to have lunch at her house. I wonder if her parents would be home. It was Saturday so the store was probably open. I didn't know if that meant they would be there or not but I did know that I was nervous. Maybe this was exactly how Maria felt yesterday when I asked her if she wanted to have lunch with my family. She probably wondered about my mom considering my dad mentioned her in his story about the family business but that was all. She didn't ask about her and I was grateful because I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about it. Oh well, all that mattered now was that I was with Maria and we had at least another couple of hours to spend together.
Maria's POV:
I can't believe I asked him to come to my house. Actually I could because I had thought about it the entire jog there. What I couldn't believe was that he had said yes! I knew my mom would be home and I hoped she didn't mind me bringing him there. She loved to show our house to people so hopefully she would welcome him and invite him to stay for lunch. I could tell Evan meant it when he said he'd love to have lunch at my house and it was weird how happy I was when I heard it. I felt like he would agree to anything and it made me think of all the adventures we could go on together. Okay slow down, we were having lunch not going rock climbing. But still...he had this sort of contagious energy and happiness that I couldn't help but feel when I was with him. I was excited for today, more so than I had been for any day in a long while.