~Hope Beach

It started there. In Hope Beach, yeah. I mean, it happened before. Well, I mean, there were other times sort of like that, but—well, no. This time was different. Hope Beach was really different. I liked it. Nope. Scratch that. I loved it.

I don’t think they did.

I miss them. I mean, of course, I miss the beach. Wouldn’t you rather lounge on a beach and soak up the sun than sit in a classroom hundreds of miles north, with a professor rambling on and on about Nathaniel Hawthorne, with snow piling up outside? Where icy wind just whips you in the face and crawls down your throat the second you open the door to step outside? Hell yes, I’d rather be on the beach. The low roar of the waves crashing in on the sand. The call of the gulls and the distant laughter and even the sounds of little kids playing.

There were some kids out there, but we were careful.

Kyle? I met him first, but no, not on the beach. I was coming out of a café—Yeah. In Hope Beach, but I saw him on the corner where that café was the first time. What? I was alone. Yeah. I mean, I drove to Hope Beach alone. Well, my friend was with me for the first half of the drive. I was supposed to stay with her in Tennessee, but she was with her boyfriend. I like him, but I didn’t wanna just hang out there with the two of them and be the third wheel.

Oh. Yeah. So, it was like…I dunno. Wednesday or Thursday or something? I went to this little café—I had enough money for a few nights at, like, a Motel 6. And I figured I’d find someone to stay with when the money ran out. So yeah, I walked out of this café. I had my bag on my back, and I was carrying a battered copy of The Catcher in the Rye, reading it while I walked, and drinking a smoothie. It had kale in it, but I couldn’t taste it. From the corner of my eye, I saw this gorgeous red convertible—no. Kyle wasn’t driving it. It was parked at the corner…

Ummm…I don’t know? Sixteenth and Federal? Yeah. So, I was standing there still with my finger holding the page open in my book. I mean, I’d read it before, but I mean, I love it, so I was reading it for like the seventh time, and I stopped to look at that car. My dad was a car guy, so I mean, I knew it was a Ferrari. It was a newer model. I didn’t touch it. I was just looking at it, and then this big Jeep was driving by. And I looked when it slowed to a stop. It was a white Jeep Wrangler. Pretty new, too, really. The guy driving it was smokin’ hot.

Yeah. It was Kyle. He offered me a ride, so I took him up on it. But I had nowhere to go, really. So, we ended up on the beach. Kyle Bentley. I mean, he was hot, but he wasn’t like a prick about it, ya know? Seemed a little bit shy, sort of. He was in Hope Beach with a few guys. They went to college together, but they were done with classes. Like they finished in the middle of the year, so they hadn’t actually walked the graduation ceremony, but yeah, they were there.

I did stay with him. I mean, the hotel was okay, and their rooms were okay, I guess. The other guys never seemed to be around. Just all their stuff—well, I know me being in a hotel room with four guys I don’t know isn’t exactly safe, but I dunno. I trusted Kyle.

Kind of seems ironic now, though, doesn’t it?

The inspiration for this piece was a recent trip to the beach. I have something much bigger plotted out for this character.