Temporary Bliss

“So, have any hobbies?” Cameron asked me curiously.

“I play soccer, and run cross country in the fall. That‘s about it. What about you?”

“I surf and play bass, that‘s about it.” he smiled. He winked at me, mocking the last line I said.

I laughed, feeling myself blush, I was relying on the heat and light from the fire to hide my red cheeks. We got the talking and found out quite a bit about each other in thirty minutes, he has a younger sister who’s twelve, her name’s Bridget; and apparently looks just like him. He loves Mexican food, as do I; but then again who doesn’t?

Thirty minutes after we started talking Caroline came up to us, smiling, “Oh, you two met!” Cameron and I both gave her confused looks. “I was going to introduce you two!” she sounded a little drunk. “I guess you already met.” she shrugged then walked off.

Cameron and I both looked at each other and laughed, “She may be a little drunk, sorry.” I apologized.

“It‘s no problem. She just likes to let loose...maybe a little too much.”

“Exactly.” I smiled. We both stood up and started walking to go get a soda; neither of us drank alcohol. On our way to the cooler someone called his name and waved him over.

He turned to me, “That‘s Nathan, one of my close friends, do you mind if I go talk to him for a while?”

“Go ahead, it‘s fine.”

“D-do you want to come?”

“Nah, I‘m good, I‘m going to go have a quick talk with Caroline.”

“That might be a good idea, I‘ll catch up with you later”

I nodded and waved as he turned around and jogged over to his friend. I made my way to the cooler, grabbed a diet coke then looked around for Caroline. I spotted her sitting on the sand next to Zach, who had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and was giving her a kiss on her temple. I smiled, feeling my heart gush up at the cute sight of those two who were madly in love.

I walked over to them and sad down across from them. “Hey Scarlet.” Zach greeted.

“Hey Porter, I see Caroline had a wee bit too much to drink.”

“That she did. I‘ve cut her off; she‘s already hit her limit.”

“Oops.” Caroline added in, smiling up at Zach who placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.

I sat there and talked with them for a while.

“Where‘s Cameron?” Zach asked sounding worried.

“He‘s talking to his friend Nathan.”

“Are you two hitting it off?” he asked, winking.

“So I was right! You two are trying to set us up!”

“I‘m not saying that! I think you two would make great friends, and if it happens to be more than that, cool, if not, it’s still cool…just a little less cool.”

I rolled my eyes and all three of us stood up, walking down towards the ocean. Once we reached the edge I let the cool tide rush up over my feet. I felt myself sinking down into the sand more and more every time the tide came up. I wiggled my feet, feeling the wet sand ooze between my toes. I stood like that for a good five minutes. When I turned around I saw Caroline and Zach in a full on lip lock. I rolled my eyes, those two were so in love with each other. I smiled at the way Zach was always touching her in a sweet and caring way. They were so perfect for each other it was crazy.

“Would you two stop that!” I heard a familiar voice yell, then start laughing. I looked at the person’s silhouette approaching them trying to figure out who it was.

“Sorry man. What can I say? I love this girl.” Zach apologized, a goofy grin on his face.

I returned my attention back to the ocean, watching the calm ocean waves sway back and forth. I thought of how peaceful it would be just to lay on your back in the water and float out to sea, maybe end up on a beautiful, unknown island and have no troubles or worries. My thoughts were interrupted by Caroline yelling my name, “Scarlet!” I lazily spun around and reached my left hand across my stomach and held onto my right arm as I walked back to them. I now realized the familiar voice was Cameron, I gave him a friendly smile as Caroline introduced us for the third time that night, “Scarlet, this is Cameron. He‘s Zach‘s friend.”

I glanced at Zach who was holding back laughter, then fixed my gaze on Cameron who smiled and extended his hand towards me “Hi Scarlet, it‘s nice to meet you.”

My heart warmed when his hand touched mine, the fact that he was playing along made me like him even more.

“It‘s nice to meet you too.” I played along. I returned my hand to my side and noticed Zach and Caroline walking off hand in hand.