Beach Night Out by Franco Machado-Pesce
The sun set to unveil a purple sky. It wasn’t perfectly one shade though, as it expanded over us it weakened to a slight pink and then bright orange. Nothing is ever just one color is it?
“Do you miss it?” Asked Alice as she leaned deeper into the sand
“Miss what?” I replied. The sound of the waves crashed into a calm and soft sweep of the shore.
“You know- going home?”
“For the holidays? No, not really,” I grabbed my cup and took a long sip of my hot chocolate, “what about you?”
“Oh, umm,” the twinkle in her eye began to gleam against the reflection of the water again, “I don’t know, I never really thought about it.”
“So you ask me if I miss going home, yet you don’t even know yourself?" I laughed.
“Well yeah, maybe that’s why I’m asking, you know? To figure it out?”
“I highly doubt that if I said, yes I miss home or no, I love it here, it would make up your mind.”
“Obviously,” Alice slapped me on the head, “it’s just I don’t know, is it weird that I don’t want to go home for the holidays?”
“Why would it be weird?”
“Well, I guess for starters, all my family is back home. And I feel like I should feel an urge to go see them since it’s been so long.”
“How long has it been?” I set my drink down and began to observe the steam pouring out of the little snippet in the lid. At the very base, it was so vivid, but as it began to dance up into the rest of the world, it disappeared.
“Since the semester started?”
“Alice, that’s only five months,” I snapped out of it and began to look the confused girl again.
“Yeah, but-”
“But what? This is your taste of life for once. You haven’t lived until you’ve left your house,” I stood up and held out my hand.
“I did so,” she pulled herself up and we walked down the shore where the waves almost touched our toes.
“No, you didn’t. Think about it, everything has always been routine for you until now. Get up, go to school, do an after school thing, get home, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework and then go to bed. Then on the weekends, maybe you went to church. But this is what life was, every single day.”
“Excuse you, my family wasn’t that religious,” she snapped.
“Pardon me, but you get the point,” I put my arm around her, her hair smells like strawberries and her body filled me with warmth. “Life has always been a routine, and being away from where you’ve always spent your time can kinda hit you sometimes.”
“But why is it hitting me now? When I should be home, spending time with my brothers?”
“Probably because you like your new life here,” I smiled, “you know, there are a lot of people here who have already changed every routinely habit you had back in who-knows-where Minnesota.”
“Omaha, Nebraska,” Alice pushed me away. “Maybe I like routine?”
“Oh do you?” I chucked, “so you’re saying that you don’t like having breaks between classes or days where you don’t have to worry about school?” She stayed silent. “Or maybe even this? You hate going to the beach on a beautiful winter day,”
Alice finally let out a giggle, “I don’t think you can say this is winter,” she settled her foot into the ground and began to rub it into the sand. Behind us were faded footprints that were constantly washed over by the waves. The farther back I looked, the less prominent were the imprints.
“But you know what I mean,” I wrapped my fingers around hers. She tightened her grip.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. I’m just having an existential crisis,”
“It’s okay, we all have them,” I winked, “just don’t get mad if I have one in like 20 minutes,” I laughed.
“Well, I’m not going to make any promises. Wait though, why don’t you miss home?”
“I don’t know,” the sun had finally gone down and purple turned into a gorgeous indigo. The water’s reflection was dark, with the brightness of the stars revealing the small bits of mystery. “I guess I just don’t have anything back home to go to.”
“Of course you do, you have your friends.”
I laughed. “No, actually I don’t.”
“What do you mean, no? We all had friends from high school.”
“I just didn’t like people back in school. They were all into things I wasn’t- like partying or smoking or hooking up. I couldn’t find things in common with others and that’s why I never really got along with anyone.”
“Oh,” she grew silent.
“Yeah, but don’t get me wrong. It’s okay,” I let go of her hand to stroke some sand out of my hair, “being alone made me who I am today.”
“And what is that? A kid who ignores everyone because their earbuds are blasting too loudly?” She grabbed my arm again and punched my stomach lightly. Why does every time she touch me feel so nice?
“Independent, an adult, I don’t know?”
“Sure thing, kid.” She cracked another smile and there I fell again. Deeper and deeper.
“I like to think that I’m growing up you know? It makes me feel a little bit less lost in this world.”
“Hey, we are all a little lost sometimes. Always.”
“Sounds like we both need a compass.” Then her eyes met mine. And they didn’t move, we just stared at each other. I never realized how bright her hazelnut brown eyes were, how they spiraled into an infinite chasm of beautiful colors until they pinned to her pupils.
“Yeah, good thing we have each other to help us find the way.” Those words escaped her lips and the water enveloped any other sound around. The town lights began to twinkle around us to the tune of the ocean. I glanced behind us again and our footprints continued to dissolve, but that’s okay because with every step together, we made new ones, each one stronger than the next.
A Beach Night Out
