The following week Jay sat in the same waiting room feeling much more relaxed than last time. Terry entered, they greeted each other and went to his office.
Terry asked, “So how was your week?”
Jay replied, “About the same, but I haven’t been feeling quite as bad. I do think talking about this is helping.”
Terry nodded, “Good, and since we have a clear picture of what we’re talking about today, did you want to continue the story where we left off?”
“Absolutely, Jay replied. “I even kept a mental note of where I left off. I believe I was in the lake with a drink in my hand having a splash fight with my best friend. Too bad it's only a story right?"”
Terry smiled, "If only life was that easy." Then he picked up his note pad. "Alright then, we're good to go.”
Jay took a sip of water, “I brought my own this week.” he said holding up his water bottle, and settled into his chair.
"So, anyway, the splash fight wound up quickly if I remember it right. I think it was because neither one of us wanted to ruin a good whiskey and coke.
As I was standing there, this feeling comes over me. I don’t know if it was what due to Ron talking about being in love with Cori, or looking at Naeva dig in the sand like a little girl."
Jay grinned, “Well I say little girl, but I’m talking about her carefree spirit. The rest of what I saw that night gave a different view, if you know what I mean.
I just knew I wanted to be with her. That was also when Ron started to laugh and focused my attention on Billy Bob Man. He was still floating on his back, but had washed ashore like a hunk of drift wood. I decided then, I was in the water long enough, and motioned I was heading back. At least I accomplished my goal of feeling cooler and smelling a hell of a lot cleaner.
I dried off, walked over to the girls and got down on my knees next to Naeva. She looked so focused on what she was doing but as I knelt down, she looked up at me with a excited little smile.
I had to fight back the urge to laugh, because she looked a lot different than the groomed, perfumed girl I met on the beach earlier. She was a bit sweaty and completely covered in sand. Her hair was wet at the ends from hanging down into the giant hole they’d excavated, and I’m sure she must have tried to pull her hair back with her sandy hands because there was sand all over her face and neck. With that cute little grin she said, “I love digging in the sand. It feels so cool and soft on my hands.”
Half laughing I said, “Yah, I can see that.” She had an expression on her face that transfixed me. You could almost see that fire that burned inside of her you know?
It was then I took a good look at the castle that she and the girls had constructed. It was pretty impressive. I mean for only using plastic cups and their hands for tools the fucking thing rocked.
I called Ron over and said, “Dude, check this out! Circle Beach Fortress!” Circle Beach was the name of the beach if you didn’t guess by now, anyway, Naeva stopped digging and asked, “Do you really like it, are you making fun of us?”
I said, “No! I’m being serious. I was expecting the usual mound of sand with a flag stuck in the top of it. This is a freaking medieval war machine. You got the deep moats with the spikes, elevated construction, access to the sea, rounded towers. It’s actually pretty amazing.”
Naeva stopped digging and sat up, flipping her hair out of her eyes. She didn’t notice, but I actually got a face full of sand when she did it, and it made me laugh. What I didn’t know, was how amazed she was by the way I described the castle.
She looks at me with this almost dazed expression and started speaking in an excited voice, "How do you know so much about castles? You must know a lot to notice those things! I know everything about them, I love castles!
Now realizing that this design was planned, I was pretty amazed. I said, “I have a huge library of books on warfare and ancient history. I read that stuff all the time. So this castle, and the double walls and everything, this was no accident? All of you really did make a Medieval Castle?”
I looked up to see Holly pointing at Naeva and Angie, and she blurted out. " Let‘s get this straight. These two made a Medieval Castle! The Canadian architect and her master builder with the whip, Pharaoh Angie! Cori and I were just hired on to serve as unpaid laborers. Sorry girls, I’m done. I need a swim.” She got up as well as Cori. Ron took Cori’s hand and they walked down to the water together.
Angie looked at the castle and then at Naeva giving her a girly high five. Angie says, “Damn, we're good!” Naeva looking very pleased with it as well replies “That idea you had using the flat rocks between the walls to keep it standing was a good idea. That worked perfectly.”
Angie remarked, “This Medieval thing was your idea remember, and I love it. Do you know about other kinds of we could try this week?"
Naeva replied, “Tons of them."
Angie nodded, “We need to try different ones while you’re still hanging around here. You are still hanging with us right?”
Naeva nodded, “Absolutely, you're all a riot to hang with. Then she smiled at Angie and said, "That’s a nice invitation. Thanks Angie.”
Angie replies, “No really, this was a blast.” She stood up and stretched her legs. “Man, I gotta de-sand myself.” pulling on her bikini bottom. I’m hav’n an issue...if you know what I mean. I’ll be back.”
“I just sat astonished yet again. I had visions of this night being a disaster with Angie in the middle of it. Now, things were going so well it seemed unbelievable. This shit doesn’t happen in real life, you know?”
Terry nodded, “No, not always, but as odd as it was, it proves something to me in my profession. I’ve observed human interactions for so long, I’ve learned never to guess which way things are sure to go, or how people will react. I take it that was the turning point for Angie’s acceptance of things?”
Jay nodded, “Definitely. I think that after that, I also realized something about Angie. Seeing her move past the whole romance issue so quickly, it made me think. I wondered if her coming on to me was more because I was interested in someone else.
I think I was her safety net, you know what I mean? The emergency parachute if she needed me. I don’t think she was thinking that consciously because we were really were good friends, but to her, I was also the “guy who had the crush on her and always would” sort of thing.
Then when that went away, I think she started to wonder, “What if I‘ve been ignoring the fact that I like him? We were really close and we get along well?”
Jay grinned and asked, “What do you think of my professional evaluation Terry?”
Terry replied, “I’ve never met Angie, but from what you’ve told me, I think you may be on to something. It makes sense.”
Jay nodded, “Well that night, I was just glad it worked out.
After Angie left, Naeva said she was heading to the water too, but before she did, she looked at me with these very inquisitive eyes and said, “I never met anyone who knew anything about castles. How is it that you, I mean, I never imagined you would.”
I reached up and removed a wet lock of hair that was stuck on her chin and said, “I never saw anyone build a historically accurate model out of sand.” Then I paused and said, “I’ve also never met anyone who I…”
I stopped talking for a second. It was for only a moment, but in that short time, I was trying to figure out what my next words should be. I had every intention of just letting it all go, you know. I was going to tell her that I never met anyone who I liked so much from the first moment I met her. I wanted to tell her how special I thought she was. This time though, I totally choked. I just said, “never met anyone who um, did such a detailed job at it.”
I just cringed. Really Jay?, I thought. “Duh, I like your sand castle.” Jesus Christ talk about your failed moments in life. I felt like all I needed was a pair of glasses with tape on them and some mouth breathing.
&nbs
p; She just smiled and said, “I liked that Whiskey and Coke you made me. Would you make me another one while I get all of this sand off of me.” I said yes, of course, and she ran down to the water.
As I was getting some ice and pouring her drink, I started to feel more and more pissed off at myself for not just coming out with what I wanted to say. My last act of desperation was to slam numerous shots of whiskey from the bottle for courage.
Then I waded out into the water with everyone else.
The water felt really cool and refreshing again and I saw Naeva pop up from under the surface close to Holly and Angie. As I walked up with her drink in my hand she said, “Awww, I didn’t mean you had to bring it to me. You’re a sweetheart!”
Angie looked at me, nodded and rolled her eyes. Remembering our conversation just hours ago, that was a bit awkward, but just then my head started to spin, and I began to feel the consequence of my whiskey rage shots on the beach.
I was happy see that the alcohol had the desired effect on me, and I took hold of Naeva’s hand. She was surprised but looked happy that I did. Then I asked her, “Will you walk with me on the