Her jacket was dancing in the wind. Out of time; off beat; sporadic. He thought she looked so beautiful. He exhaled slowly, trying not to get lost in his own thoughts. He must focus on the situation he had stumbled into tonight. Focus on the beautiful girl in black skinny jeans, her dark hair whipping about her face, her gaze meeting his with a sweet smile. In the snarling wind her fringe covered her eyes, but he could still make out the radiant blue which glinted underneath.
~ ~ ~
Half-drunk, sitting on sand so cold to the touch that it felt wet, the outline of his jeans left a carbon copy imprint in the sand. Surrounding him were four small holes he had dug in the sand to chill the four beers she had stashed in his coat pockets before they left the party. He recalled the way she had run her fingernails up his back, sending warm shivers down his spine. He remembered biting his lip and leaning slightly backwards as she stood on her tip-toes, her hand on his lower back, and whispered, “Let’s get out of here.” “Now?” he had said. She had looked him dead in the eyes, gently pressing her hand over the growing bulge in his pants. “Now.” They had chased each other down the winding path, away from the lights and the music of the party, towards the placid lapping of the water against the sand. They played tug-of-war on the way down; her pulling him forward by his shirt, him holding her back by her waist, both of them running ahead of one another before finally embracing again on the beach.
~ ~ ~
Now, he watched her chase the waves on the shoreline, her bare feet leaving shapes in the sand. He shifted his weight, not minding when he felt sand pour into his pocket. He looked forward to finding his pockets scratchy and grainy in three months’ time; it would be proof of this evening. He kicked off his own shoes, opened two of the bottles which sat beside him, chilled by the cool sand, and walked towards her. He wanted to remember everything, to capture as much of this moment in his memory as possible. When he reached her, she wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling herself into his chest. She kissed him, sharply and passionately, before taking one of the beers from his hand. He felt electrified on the spot. “Let’s do something stupid,” she said.
~ ~ ~
She pulled out a neatly rolled blunt from her pocket, grasping it firmly between her lips and fumbling around in her pockets, looking for her lighter. Once lit, she inhaled deeply and held her breath before releasing a gentle string of smoke. She coughed, offering the blunt in his direction. It seemed as if her head was already dizzy, and his own was spinning with excitement. He followed her lead and pulled deeply. They passed the joint, glowing red, back and forth until it burnt their fingers.
They remained momentarily in comfortable silence, letting the water lap at their feet, before strolling back to where they had buried their beers. “What did you mean ‘something stupid’?” he asked, downing the last of his beer. “Just something dumb,” she said, smiling. “Something we’ll regret tomorrow.”
~ ~ ~
His head was swimming. He didn’t know anything about this girl, but he liked her. Of course he did; she was stunning. Her eyes, he saw now, were a whole spectrum of blues swirled together, as if someone dropped white paint into the ocean during a storm. She was short and slim, dwarfed by her dark, baggy clothes. Her cheeks were round and her big toothy smile accentuated them as it crinkled her little nose. Her oversized hoodie was unzipped, exposing the black band shirt underneath and her high-waisted skinny jeans were cuffed at the ankle, revealing a small tattoo of a smiling dog wearing a top hat. He asked her if it had a specific meaning. “No,” she said. “Should it?”
~ ~ ~
His thoughts started to interrupt one another. The sensation of sitting in the sand was distractingly enjoyable and the sound of the ocean lulled him. His core felt warmer, his solar plexus radiating heat. He laughed out loud at nothing, and then laughed at himself, suddenly caught up in the hysteria of being high. She was laughing with him, not a shallow giggle, but a deep laugh that came from her belly. It felt good to hear her laugh like that. He was utterly intoxicated.
~ ~ ~
Grabbing two more beers, he opened them slowly, trying not to spill them. After she accepted the bottle he offered in her direction, he leant in to kiss her. She met his lips softly with her own, and they opened like flower petals. Her hand ran up his torso and settled on his waist as she stopped the kiss and looked into his eyes. His cyclone of browns and greens on her portals of swirling blues. “Let’s do something stupid,” she said, once more. “What did you have in mind?” he asked. In answer, she skulled the entirety of her VB in a swift, practiced motion. She rose, undoing her skinny jeans, hooking her thumbs inside the waistband and shimmying them down her legs as he watched. “Your turn,” she said. He quickly gulped down the rest of his beer.
~ ~ ~
She was wearing red underwear. As he stood up, admiring her long, shapely legs, she started to undo his belt. She was drunk and clumsy; ungraceful at the task. He loved every minute of her giggling. Every second of being this silly; this romantic; this in lust. Their clothes fell messily around them, until only they remained, eyes locked, in their underwear on the beach in the pitch black night. Grasping each other closer, their mouths and hands explored each other. Their skin, perforated with goosebumps, became warm from their shared body heat. Cautious touches began to explore the skin which lay beneath the minimal fabric between them. Then, as quickly as she’d embraced him, she pulled back. Smiling at him with bitten lips, she jumped up and ran away, towards the water.
~ ~ ~
He chased her, barely hesitating to follow her directly into the water. He was impervious to the dark, arctic cold as it rose up his body; the only thing that mattered was her. He swam out deep, stopping where his feet just touched the ground and pulled her body to him, delighting as she wrapped her legs around his waist, latching on like a koala bear. “I hope I’m not too heavy,” she said. In the water, she felt weightless. “You’re perfect,” he said, kissing her. Eventually, they retreated to shallower water where she could stand comfortably, exposing his neck and shoulders to the brisk evening air. He placed his hand tenderly upon her hip, enjoying the texture of her skin, the softness of her flesh, ripe with goosebumps and the cold embrace of the water on his hand.
~ ~ ~
“Guess what?” She blurted out, teeth chattering. Before he could respond, she unclasped and removed her bra, waving it around in front of him. He couldn’t quite make out her breasts but her skin was pale, almost luminescent in the dark, murky water. He removed his own underwear and tossed them towards the beach with very little accuracy, watching as she threw her bra and underwear onto the sand. Naked, half-frozen in the ocean in the middle of the night, they embraced. As she leant in to kiss him, she smiled and whispered, “this is so stupid.”
Image by Alejandra Quiroz