people, you know?
The date I me Naeva, was July 7th. I remember that because it was just after all of the 4th of July weekend tourists went back to Chicago or Grand Rapids, or where ever they were from. My friends and I thought that it would be a good idea to go up there for that week because we figured the crowds were gone. We found out we were right, because the beaches were almost empty. Another reason could have been because the surf was really high, and there were riptide warnings.
That day, we spent our time swimming, playing volley ball, Frisbee, you know, the classic beach stuff. God knows we were never hungry, cause we loaded up on tons food and soda. Holly’s Mom made us some fried chicken that we inhaled for dinner our first night there. Then we just started to hang.
My best friend Ron always seemed to have some alcoholic beverage wherever we went, and on this trip he brought the huge bottle of Southern Comfort. We mixed it with Coke and ended up smoking some weed. Angie was always our little “connection” for that.
You know it’s weird, but now that I talk about that day, it pretty much described my whole existence that summer. When I look back on it cherishing all of those memories, it seems other worldly now, like a dream you know? Back then it was just, well….life.”
Jay cleared his throat and said, “Hey Terry, have you got any water or coffee or something? My throat is dry as hell.”
Terry replied, “Sure.” reaching into a mini fridge next to his desk. “Bottled water OK?”
“Great.” Jay said, “Thanks.” He took a sip from the bottle and placed it on the floor next to his feet.
“That’s better, now where was I? Oh yeah, we were getting high.” He laughed and repositioned himself in his chair.
“So there we were laughing and having a blast, and of course, Ron and his girlfriend Cori stared to get a bit amorous with one another. That never bothered me really. Not when anyone did it, much less my best friends.
Angie however, would get completely pissed off when it happened. I’ll admit that laying there in bathing suits and bikinis didn’t leave much to the imagination when they would start getting hot and heavy, but I have to give Angie credit, she was cool about the way she handled things. It bugged her to have to watch it, but she wasn’t a bitch about it. She just got up, and walked out into the surf, like she wanted to stretch her legs. I always knew why she left.
With Angie in the water and the love birds working themselves to a frenzy, that left me, Holly and Billy Bob man.” Jay smiled saying his name again in an quiet cheer. “Billy Bob Maaaaaaan!” Jay chuckled. “He was a trip to hang with. The Billy Bob thing was a nickname obviously. His real name was William Robert Mann. “Billy Bob Maaaann.” If you saw the movie “Animal House”, Billy Bob would be an example of our Blutowski.”
Terry smiled and nodded.
Jay continued, “As would be expected from Billy, he asked if anyone wanted to smoke some more weed. He asked that question a lot. Not that anyone was against it just then, but it was about 8:00 PM, and the civilized people started to load onto the beach to watch the sunset. Not the best situation for smoking pot. As for me, my head was still spinning from smoking before.
I told them to go ahead without me and said I would to meet back there later. Ron and Cori decided to head back to the hotel room. What a surprise, right? The plan for Billy and Holly was to pull Angie out of the water and disappear into the Dunes to get very baked before they watched the sunset. I would love to say how ridiculous and pointless that was, but it really was a blast. I can assure you that I’ve never seen a sunset that beautiful since I stopped doing that sort of thing.
Terry, grinned, “I’ll decline to comment, although I’ve had my share of colorful college room mates over the years. Nuff said.”
Jay laughed and said, “Nuff said. Do you know that I’ve always wondered why that night, I chose not to go with them. I guess if you believe in fate, that would have been definitive proof of it. I remembered that I was dying of thirst and had had to go to the bathroom, so we parted ways and I went to the beach house. I drank a shit load of water which tasted amazing, probably because the sun had dried me out. That and I’m sure the booze and weed helped with the dehydration.
I just hung out behind the building in the shade, since the sun felt brutal to me after being cooked in it all day long. I stayed there for quite a while and I remember the setting sun on the trees looked beautiful. I finally just decided to walk back to the beach.
The sun was now pretty low in the sky, and as I got closer to our umbrellas and towels, I could see that Angie was still standing in the surf watching the sunset. She was in shallower water than before so I yelled her name a couple of times trying to get her attention, but she didn’t hear me. That’s not surprising though, cause the surf can be pretty loud when you’re standing in it. I figured I’d just walk out to her.
As I got closer I yelled her name again, yet still, she didn’t turn around and I was starting to think that she was really upset about something, or pissed off but I couldn’t see shit because she was standing right in the sun’s reflection. As I got closer I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Hey, are you OK?”
In that instant, I felt like a total idiot, because as she turned and looked at me, I could finally see that this girl is not Angie. She must have seen the look of shock on my face, and all I could say was “I’m so sorry, the sun was blinding me. I thought you were one of my friends.”
I was expecting the usual, response of, “No problem, It’s OK. Have a good night.” but instead, she looked at me for a moment, gave me this lovely smile and said, “Well, I am friendly, so there’s always the chance you found the right person.”
I was speechless. I mean, can you believe a person having the presence of mind to say something so clever 5 seconds after a stranger grabs their shoulder?”
Terry smiled and remarked, “I have to say, that is unusual human behavior. I take it that was…Naeva? Did I say her name right?”
Jay nodded, “Yes, that was Naeva…and you got the name perfect, just like her.”
Jay took another drink from the water bottle and continued, “Well after I got over the shock of what she said to me I smiled and said, “Will you give it a try?”
She looked confused now and asked me, “Give what a try?”
Apparently I had a burst of cleverness as well and said, “We could try being friends, It just so happens that I too, am very friendly. My name is Jay.”
Believe it not, I think she was just as surprised by my response to her and she smiled back saying, “My name is Naeva.” As she spoke, I not only noticed her very unique name, but I could hear an accent of some sort.
I asked where she was from, and she said that she lived New Brunswick in a town called St. John. Other than somewhere in Canada, I wasn‘t sure where that was but looking at her I wasn‘t thinking about geography classes.
Jay chuckled, “Hey, you know what always freaked me out? That whole interaction with her. It was so strange.”
Terry tried to clarify. “Strange because it was such a chance meeting?”
Jay replied, “Well, yes that’s part of it, but what I meant was how comfortable I was just talking to her. Trust me, I am not a talented guy out of the gate with pretty girls, and Naeva was beautiful. I saw her that way from day one, even before I fell in love with her.
She had these dark eyes, chestnut colored hair and a smile that melted me. I would have been content just to look into her eyes, but she had a beautiful body too. In fact, her body was why I thought she was Angie when she was silhouetted against the sun. The way she looked at me, I had the feeling Naeva liked me right away. She gave me one of those up and down looks that girls do when they’re trying to be discrete, but if you have half a brain, you know they’re checkin’ you out.
I asked her if she was staying in Saugatuck for a while and she
said that she was on some trip with her sister. Her sister was a biology major and was on a dune ecosystem field study thing for her masters degree. Naeva just tagged along for company and to have fun for the summer. The cool thing was, she told me she was staying for a couple of weeks.
I asked if she wanted to hang with me and my friends later and told her where we’d be. I also I said it would be pretty late at night because we had to wait to build campfires. We learned along time ago to move down the beach and start fires late so the park cops wouldn’t catch us.
I wasn’t expecting her to say yes, I mean I just met her can you imagine?. “Hey meet me late at night in the dark, alone on the beach?” I’m thinking nice job Jay! The thing is, she said yes. It freaked me out and I figured that my luck was going so well, I didn’t want to risk being stupid or something by blabbering. I just told "That's cool, see ya later, " and told her was heading back back to find my friends.
She gave me that gorgeous smile of hers, and nodded with this little shy tilt of her head. I started to walk back to the beach. As I got about 20 feet away from her, she calls my name and says, “Jay? See, you did find the right person after all.”
Terry smiled and remarked, “She sounds like she was a real charmer?”
Jay looked almost sad when he said that and replied, “She was, but….well, yes she was a charmer.”
Terry waited for a moment giving Jay an opportunity elaborate on his thought but he sat in silence. Terry asked, “Will you explain that to me? What did you mean by saying “She was, but…”
Jay appeared as though he was trying to figure out a good way to answer the question and replied, “She was a charmer, but not because she was trying to charm people you know? It wasn’t contrived or rehearsed. That was just her.
I know you weren’t implying that, it’s just, if you didn’t really know her you might think….” He leaned back in the chair again and chuckled, “How about I just keep talking, and you figure it all out? Sound like a plan?”
Terry nodded saying, “That’s what I do.”
“Fair enough.” Jay replied. “So, I ended up finding all my friends again, and told them about my random encounter with Naeva. I took one look in there eyes and scanned the vacant expressions on their faces and realized they were wasted off their ass and I mean toasted! Plus, I didn’t exactly get the most coherent responses after I told them my news other than. “Really, That’s cool! Awesome!”
They tried there best to add me to the party again, but knowing that Naeva would be coming, I ignored their plea get high and just stuck to a few shots of liquid courage instead.
The night went on like any other, and we built a warm fire from all of the driftwood on the beach. Man, it was a gorgeous summer night, but the weirdest thing happened. Angie was acting really cuddly toward me. I didn’t know if she had too much to drink, or if the stars were lining up or something, but she was clingy and loving. I was playing guitar and singing a song I wrote back in high school. It wasn‘t the first time they heard it, but all of a sudden, Angie started leaning on my shoulder with her arm around me, rocking and singing along and nuzzling me. It freaked the shit out of me.
Don’t get me wrong, Angie was a sweet girl and very pretty, but she was going with this very big Marine. All I could think of was this dude going Steven Segal on my ass when we got home. Besides Angie and I were friends, I mean that’s it, and to be honest I was cool with that. Angie was fun to hang with, but just not my type. She was really quick to get pissed off at things you know? Her Dad was a royal asshole to her growing up, I’m sure that didn’t help.
Anyway, it got to be about midnight, and I started to wonder if Naeva would show up. I was reminded at that point, that I did say we wouldn’t start the party until later, and stupidly, duh, I didn’t give her a time to show up. I figured I’d just wait it out, but when it got to about 2:30 in the morning, I gave up hope and got high. As it turned out, she never did show up that night.
I was sitting there thinking, C’est la vie, what the hell, no big deal, right? Still, the last comment she made to me about finding the right person, well, I really thought she would be there.
It got so late, that one by one we all dropped dead where we sat, and the three of us slept on the beach that night. We just rolled up in our beach blankets and fell asleep.
In the morning, I woke up with the sunrise which only gave me about four hours of sleep. Although that sounds crazy, it wasn’t that weird, because I usually only need about five or six hours anyway. With the booze and the weed however, I was surprised I was up at all. More proof of fate existing I suppose. I pulled the soap and my toothbrush from my bag, and cleaned up in the lake. Talk about waking up, damn it’s 65 degree water. I was definitely awake!
I knew that the rest of them wouldn’t be up for hours so I messed around looking for cool beach stones that were kicked up by all of that surf the previous day. We were a good quarter mile from the public beach and I started to walk back that direction. I thought I would be “awesome“, and make the climb back to the hotel so I could get the car. I was going to fill it with food and drive back to restock our supply for the day. As I was getting closer, I saw a girl walking along the beach looking for beach stones, and from a distance, she looked a lot like Angie. I couldn’t believe it. It was Naeva again.
This time, when she saw me coming, I think she was more surprised than when I walked up behind her the first time. She waved and walked toward me. I yelled, “Someone’s up early”, and wished her a good morning. Before I could even start talking, she said. “I’m so sorry I didn’t make it last night. I was up late with my sister and I guess the drive here yesterday made me sleepier than I thought I’d be.”
She seemed so uncomfortable talking to me this time. I felt bad for her because I know what it’s like to run into someone after you blow them off. The thing is, its not like I was mad at her or upset. I said, “Naeva, it’s OK. You don’t need to explain.”
Then I surprised myself yet again and asked, “We could have breakfast together. Did you want to have some breakfast with me? Unfortunately, you’ll have to climb the dunes to get to the food or wait for me to drive it back.”
She thought for a moment and said, “Sure we can have breakfast, but you don’t have to climb.” and she walks over to her beach bag and pulls out some granola bars and coffee in a thermos. Hot freaking coffee, can you believe it? What a girl.
As we sat in the sand sipping coffee, I could feel the life coming back into me.
Naeva had her back turned toward the beach house and I was more or less facing her. Who do I see, but Ron and Cori returning from their evening of debauchery.
Ron yelled out, “What up chickens! Hey Angie, where’s B-Bob and Holly? Alcohol poisoning?” As he said that I laughed knowing that they, like me, thought Naeva was Angie. I told her I didn’t feel quite as stupid now and she turned to look back at them. It wasn’t long before Ron could see it wasn’t Angie and said, “Oh, hello. Sorry about that. Man, I go away for 8 hours and I don’t’ know anyone.” Naeva stood up and introduced herself and they made some small talk for a while. Shortly after that Ron and Cori, politely said their farewells and hobbled off to find the rest of our little group.
As they were walking away from us, they were holding hands and moving like they were one person. They were moving down the beach slowly, caressing one another, kissing and looking into each other’s eyes like they were hypnotized. At one point Cori fixed Ron’s hair and kissed him on his cheek. Naeva watched them in silence and then smiled and said, “They’re so in love.”
It took me off guard hearing someone speak so intimately about someone they just met, yet I admired her for how self assured it made her seem. I said, “That they are. Sometimes I think they’re the definition of being in love.” After I paused for a moment, I said something so honest and personal about
myself I couldn't believe I said it. I said, “I’m envious of them.”
When Naeva heard me say that, she gave me the strangest look, almost as if I’d said something wrong, and then she played with the sand in front of her. I didn’t know what to say at that moment, but as luck would have it, I didn’t have to worry, because she started to speak and said, “I have a confession to make to you.”
I joked, “Well we just met one another, how bad could it be?” I expected her to smile but she stayed serious and said, “I wasn’t going to say anything, but hearing you say that you’re envious of being in love confuses me.”
I must have looked lost because let’s face it, I was. She started to nervously play with the sand in front of her again and said, “My confession is about last night. I did show up last night, and saw you with your friends.”
I said, “You did? Oh, man let me guess. We were all so over the top wasted, we were a bit too much right?”
She looked at me puzzled and replied, “Oh no, no not at all. You all looked like you were just having a great time, that’s all. I wanted to join you. Really.”
Now completely confused I asked, “Well why did you change your mind?”
She seemed so uncomfortable again trying to tell me. In fact, the tension in the air was so thick, I wanted to help her out, although I didn’t know how. It was then she just came out with it.”
She said, “I got there about 11:30. The fire and the laughing made you easy to find. When I got closer, I heard this beautiful music, and then I saw it was you playing a guitar and singing a love song.
I could see that your girlfriend was sitting next to you and you looked so happy together. I felt a bit foolish, because when we spoke earlier, I thought you were asking me to, join you. You clearly meant you wanted me to your group. I misunderstood, do you know what I mean? I felt a bit, um, stupid.”
When I heard her say that, I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. I just started rambling and telling her that Angie wasn’t my girlfriend and how in all the years I’ve known her she’s never done anything like that.
I just knew by her face that the was being nice, but there was no way she believed me. Realizing I must have sounded completely lame trying to make excuses, I just stopped in mid sentence. Then the I did something that was so