hour passed and I was starting to get a little anxious. I think it was about eleven-ish when Holly looked down the beach and says, “Hey Jay, I think she’s on her way.” Everyone turned around to see the light from a flashlight moving on the beach and coming this way. I looked back to all of my friends frozen in a catatonic stare as she got closer. I said, “Seriously? You look like you’re at a wake viewing the body. Way to make her feel welcome.”
Angie popped up from the log she was sitting on and said, “Shit, where’s the weed? I’m betting that’s her, but if it’s a cop, I don’t feel like being in the local paper for marijuana possession.” Billy Bob handed it to her and Angie buried the plastic bag full of weed under her feet like she was hiding body parts in a shallow grave.
Billy starts to laugh and says, “I could see the article in the local paper. "Six Chicago area young adults are arrested for possession of a controlled substance. When interviewed by the arresting officer, Jay had this to say. “Dude! We totally thought you were this hot girl. This is harsh!” As you can imagine, his comment cracked everyone up.
I looked back over my shoulder, and decided that Naeva was close enough for me to go and meet her, so I got up and walked in her direction. It was pitch black that night because the clouds were covering the moon. The night before it was really bright. As I got closer, I yelled out, “Naeva, is that you?” and she said, “Hi Jay!” in this happy melodic sort of greeting.
I started to think, “Should I just say hi? Hold her hand? I wasn’t sure what I should do. It was quickly decided, when she jogged over to me and threw her arms around me. Believe me I was happy to do the same. She felt wonderful.
As I held her, my face was against the nape of her neck and her soft hair that smelled like her perfume. She also felt so soft to the touch, and I said exactly what was in my heart. “I’m really happy you came.” Then I jokingly said, “I’m just wondering though, how you knew where to find us? It’s like you’ve been here before.”
She smirked and gave me a little glare, “I have no idea what your talking about. How could I know where to find you? In fact I was just out for a walk with my flashlight looking for a beach bag I lost earlier today. I think someone stole it.” I replied, “You won’t believe it! I found it.” Then I took her hand we walked back.
Yet again, my best friend pulled out the stops for me by pouring shots for everyone while we were gone. It really lightened the mood and when we walked up I introduced her to the group. After the usual hellos, Ron said, “Naeva, we were just about to do some shots. You have your choice of Tequila or Canadian Mist, would you care to join us?”
She walked right in the middle of the circle and said, “Canadian Mist is one of my favorite things.” Then in her little accent said, “I also love dark beer, Buffalo wings and blueberry Pop Tarts.”
I think she endeared herself to everyone at that moment, at least to Ron who said, “You like whiskey, beer, wings and Pop Tarts?” He looks at me and says, “Dude where did you find this girl? She’s awesome! Naeva, you are going to fit in here just fine.”
After the shots, we sat down together and just got to know one another. Naeva explained in more detail about where she lived and what it was like living there.
She seemed comfortable talking to everyone and came across as really sincere, you know? She wasn’t worried about what anyone would think when she spoke. She was such an honest happy person, you couldn’t help but to like her.
Angie stayed pretty quiet through all of this which was OK by me. After the conversation slowed down, she dug in the sand by her feet and pulled out the bag of weed. Tossing it to Billy again she said, “Naeva, are you cool with this?” I sat there holding my breath wondering how this was going to fly.
Naeva said, “That depends.”
“On what?” Angie replies.
Naeva said, “On whether you are inviting me to join you. In that case, I’m cool with it.”
Billy Bob, throws his arms out toward Naeva and looks at Ron. “Ron, you nailed it man. She’s gonna fit in great!” We were all laughing at that comment, even Angie. Still, I couldn’t quite figure what was happening in Angie's head. It was like having a pretty time bomb in a bathing suit next to me all night.
Still, as the night went on, we really had a blast. Angie wasn’t being overly friendly, but she wasn’t being bitchy either which was cool. The thing that turned the tide to the positive was when Naeva did her little girl thing.
Terry interjected with a smile, “Little girl thing? What does that mean?”
Jay put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the chair. He grinned from ear to ear and then said, “Believe it or not, this was a trait that Naeva had that I couldn’t figure out how to describe without metaphors, so I left it out.
Sometimes, she would get swept away by these impulsive desires, and they would be expressed with such enthusiasm and joy, it reminded me of a little girl. You know what I mean?”
Terry nodded, “I think I get it. What did she do?”
“Well, that night, it was getting late and she suddenly sat up straight and announced, “I’m going to build a sand castle. Anyone is welcome to join me, but if not, that’s fine. I’m building it anyway.”
She had no idea that Angie’s passion at the beach was to build the most complex sand castles conceived by man and Angie freaked. “Oh my god you like to build sand castles? Me too!” she says. That was all it took.
They both dropped down on their knees and started feverishly digging about ten feet away from where were sitting. I gotta say, I became a lot more relaxed at that point. Looking back, I think that was the moment that Naeva really fit it. After that it felt so normal having her with us. It was like she’d been in our group all summer long.
I wasn’t in the mood for castle building. Face it, I was not only wasted, but the night was hot and humid. Usually there’s a nice breeze on the beach at night, but that night was not one of them. It was dead calm.
I decided that a swim would be perfect, and Billy and Ron came with me. Before I jumped in, I snagged a bar of soap and thought a quick clean up was a good idea as well. I mean, there was Naeva smelling like heaven, and then there was me, sticky with a days worth of beach sweat and sun screen. Nasty!
So I cleaned up a bit and looked around at the whole scene for the first time. There we all were, the girls making sand castles, and the guys cooling off in the water. Billy was floating on his back and thrashing around like an otter, and Ron and I were just waste deep with our drinks in hand chillin'.
It was then Ron asked me, “So did you say something to Angie or did you choke and crawl back like a little bitch?” I said, “I didn‘t choke! I just told her I was happy with us as just friends. It went OK, I guess. I'm kind freaked out it went as well as it did, but hey, at least it's done."
He shook his head looking at the beach and said, “Too bad.”
His comment shocked me and said, “What the fuck? Why would you say that?” He says, “Dude, seriously, just look at that”, pointing toward the beach. He was pointing at Angie and Naeva. They were both on their hands and knees, side by side with their cute little tanned asses illuminated quite well by the our fire. They looked like mirror images side by side, and their bikini bottoms were riding up a bit, showing what we used to refer to as “the best of what god had given them”.
Ron said, “The way I see it, this moment was probably the closest you will ever get in your short pathetic life to a threesome and you fucking trashed it. Grats bro.”
Christ, I just about fell down laughing. I knew he wasn’t serious, but it was funny as hell. Then he said, “Dude serously though she‘s really nice. She’s hot too, even her name is hot. N-eye-ay-va! That’s sweeeet!”
I just chuckled. Then he looked at me with a serious expression and clicked his plastic cup to mine. “Really,” he said. “This is good to see. I like her a
lot.”
I just said, “Don't like her too much now. I’ll go alpha-male on your ass if you try to move in on this one.” He was taking a drink, and as I said that, he ended up choking a bit from laughing. He just shook his head and looked in the direction of Cori. She was walking to the waters edge to fill some cups, and take water back for use on the sand castle.
It was then that he went beyond the usual superficial comedy of our conversations and said, “You’re safe there, I would never do that to by best friend , but regardless, my days of looking are gone. Game over man. That’s the only girl I need right there.”
I knew he was bring serious, but I still wanted to give him some shit about it. I said, “Yah, but have you ever figured out what Cori see’s in you? I mean, look at you? Now look at me. See what I‘m say‘n?”
He smiled saying, “Oh completely. Sure I know, your every girls dream. Oh wait no….I mean nightmare. Seriously though, I am hooked on that girl. Until you meet that person you just don’t get it.”
I nodded and then said, “Well you suck then because, as of now, I don’t get it.”
He replied, “Well not yet.”