By The Seaside

“Can you please give me my clothes back?” Camille asked the same question again to the stranger that stood before her with her t-shirt and shorts in his hands. He was not alone, another guy and a girl that seemed to be his girlfriend where behind him. She felt naked as his eyes traveled through her small frame.

Cam had never felt comfortable with boys gazing at her body. Even though many guys considered her good-looking she had never felt that way. She had felt average most of her life, but there was a period during middle school in which she hated her appearance.

Camille had started to love and accept herself, but some days the memories from her low self-esteem days hunted her.

Something she had never believed was that she was beautiful. People could tell her how pretty she was and how lovely she looked, but whenever someone told her she was beautiful she wouldn’t believe it. Beauty was something Cam thought she could never achieve. Nobody had ever made her believe it, not even Mark when they were together.

“But, baby, you look great with what you have on now,” he said with an evil smirk plastered on his face. “And you’d look even better with that bikini off,” the stranger proceeded to say with a wink, disgusting Cam. The couple behind him just laughed.

“What the fuck are you three doing here?” an angry voice said from behind Camille before she could reply.

Cam turned around and there was Aidan, making his way towards them. He seemed even more beautiful in the daylight. He had on some black board shorts and a white t-shirt with some black design on the front.

“Aidan, man!” said the leader of the trio. “How was it there? Those guys sure miss me,” the stranger laughed and was imitated by the other two.

“Shut the fuck up, Seth,” Aidan hissed at the guy who had spoken. “Cam, go wait for me inside the house,” he told her in a demanding voice without taking his eyes off of Seth.
Camille didn’t protest nor did what she was told to. Instead, she just took a few steps until she reached the entrance of the path she had followed the previous night while making her way to the beach. There she could watch and hear everything perfectly.

“Congratulations, man! One week out of juvie and you’re already screwing that girl,” Seth said. “I’d do her too, you know. But remember to tell her that you don’t care about her. I made the mistake of not telling that to one chick, Becca, and she became a stalker. Yeah, I told her I’d burn her house down if she didn’t stop,” he took out a lighter from the pocket of his dark, baggy jeans and began playing with it as the last sentence escaped his mouth.

From her spot Camille looked at the guy who played with fire. He passed his fingers through the flame without a single movement in his features that could prove it was burning him. She knew not to interrupt, since she had no idea who this guy was and what he was capable of doing.

“Tyler, pass me the alcohol,” Seth said to the boy behind him while turning off the lighter.

“Sure,” he replied. “Emily, the bag,” Tyler told the dark-haired girl who seemed to be his girlfriend, who gave him the bag she was carrying. From it, Tyler took out a small container filled with liquid and threw it at Seth. A second after catching it Seth was pouring the alcohol on his hand, making sure his hand was fully soaked in it.

He then proceeded to light the alcohol in his hand with the lighter. The blue flames were moving majestically in his hand without burning him. Camille had never seen anything like that before, unlike Aidan, who had seen this act many times being presented by the same guy.

Seth had always loved fire. He liked fire in all the colors it could be: blue, green, orange, yellow. Ever since he was a kid fire had always fascinated him. He liked burning stuff and watching stuff being burned. Seth used to stay for hours as a small child observing the movement of the flames on the orphanage’s bonfire that was lit every Saturday on the backyard. He had loved fire since he could remember. His lighter was used for many purposes other than smoking, which was something that, like Aidan, he very much enjoyed.

When the flames had consumed most of the alcohol, Seth shook his hand and, with that swift movement, the flames disappeared entirely.

“We are the same, you and me,” Seth told Aidan. “We are careless and people hate us. We destroy and we break hearts. And when others suffer because of us, we still couldn’t care less-”

“We are not the same!” Aidan told Seth before he could continue. He was getting irritated by Seth. Aidan couldn’t hear that. He wasn’t and didn’t want to be like Seth. Seth was a true delinquent who fed of others’ suffering. It pained Aidan to even think they could be similar in any way.

“Oh, I see. Juvie made you more of a pussy than you were before. Did you actually learn something there? I remember the things they used to ask. ‘What do you think made you start acting like this? Has any drastic or tragic event occurred in your life to make you act like that?’” Seth said the last part imitating the voice of the counselors that worked in the juvenile detention. “We came here to ask you to join us, but now we see that you’ve just turned into a cunt, Aidan. Now I see why Jake ran away. I mean, he should have been so embarrassed to have you as his friend. I know I would.” Seth was playing with Aidan’s mind, and he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Shut the fuck up! Just give me her clothes and get the fuck away from my house,” Aidan replied angrily.

“We’ll see you soon. Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily,” Seth replied while tossing Camille’s clothing to Aidan. Then, he and his two followers turned around and left.

Aidan didn’t move until the three silhouettes became as small as they could be. He had to make sure they weren’t coming back, or at least not for now. He also wanted to make sure they never crossed paths with Cam ever again. They were dangerous, more dangerous than him. He only did those types of things for fun and pure pleasure. They did it to harm others. Seth’s record was not cleaner than Aidan’s, not even close to it. If people didn’t like Aidan there is no need to tell that they despised and detested Seth and his followers.

As soon as the figures disappeared, Aidan turned around to see Camille standing a few feet away from him with a confused expression on her face.

“What was that about?” she asked him. “Is everything fine?”

“Well, now that they’re gone it is,” Aidan replied, not daring to look anywhere but her face.
Aidan was scared, really scared, for the first time in years. He was fearful that if he took his eyes off of her lovely face he would desire her. Aidan always got what he desired, but he couldn’t do that to Camille. She seemed far too sweet and innocent to be treated the way he treated women. Why bother lying to her and telling her beautiful things to get into her pants when he could get any other girl who wouldn’t confuse him as much as she did? She seemed smart, so she probably wouldn’t fall for pretty words. Then another thought stroke him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her.

“Well, sorry for wanting to talk to you,” Cam snapped back, feeling unwanted by his remark. “I should have known better than to bother you.”

Camille snatched her clothes from his hands and began dressing. This was why she never did what she wanted. It was a dumb idea to think he would have wanted to be with her or even have her around. Cam knew she was a bother to him and everyone else, which was why she almost never asked for other people’s help.

She didn’t want to bother others with her own problems. She was the type of person who would put others’ problems in front of her own. It had always felt right helping others and making them feel happy, but she sometimes, like this time, thought others could maybe do the same for her. She guessed she was always wrong about it, since never, not even once, people had been able to help her like she helped them.

Nobody actually cared for her happiness, but she had to care for theirs. That angered her.
She had finished putting her clothes on when she looked back again at Aidan. He had a confused look plastered on his face and his head was a little bit tilted to his left side. His mouth was slightly opened and his eyebrows were pressed together, causing a few wrinkles to appear on his forehead.

Camille wandered if Aidan was just going to stand there and stare at her without saying a word, and decided he would after the excruciating silence was prolonged for a few more inpatient seconds. That’s when she turned around angrier than before and made her way back to her aunt’s.

After some minutes of walking through the beach, Cam relaxed once again and began thinking about what had just happened. She was angry at Aidan, she had known that, but she had gotten angrier because she hadn’t said anything soothing back after she had snapped at him. That was what Camille had expected, soothing words from the dreamy-looking guy that had been standing in front of her. But the words she had wished had come out of his mouth would probably never come, because life is never what you expect it to be, it’s actually the total opposite.