Ocean of Secrets

The afternoon passed quickly without my parents being home to nag about everything I did, and soon enough it was time for work. Bridget picked me up with a huge smile on her face, and she was gushing about meeting the mystery boy. She even gave him a nickname: Camel Crush guy. However, Bridget quickly became disappointed as the minutes passed because the store was devoid of any one whom even slightly resembled our cigarette friend.

“How much longer do you have to be here?” After only two hours of sitting in the backroom Bridget had become bored. She stood next to me twirling her black hair between her fingers as I gave a man a bag of cigars.

“Doing that with your hair causes split ends ya know.” As the man walked out, the bell chimed and I turned to face my friend. “It’s supposedly really bad for it.” I knew that Bridget was prettier than me, and secretly I was glad that she might never meet the guy who bought the cigarettes. I was afraid that he might actually spark up a conversation with her.

She rolled her eyes at me and sighed loudly, but she stopped twirling. Her hair was the one thing she actually liked about herself. “I think I’m gonna get going soon. This is no fun.” Bridget jumped up onto the counter and leaned back on her elbows.

“Will you come back to drive me home though?”

“Obviously,” She almost sounded offended by my question, and her blue eyes widened. “If I left you here all by yourself then there’s a possibility I might never see you again Lucy. You’d probably go find Camel boy and then run off into the sunset together.” Bridget jumped back onto the floor and started to walk towards the door. “I’ll be back at eleven.”

“But I get off at nine!”

By now she had opened the door and was halfway outside. The chilly air twisted her hair around when she turned back to face me, “I know.” Bridget winked at me and then walked out.



A week had passed without any sign of Camel Crush guy, and Bridget had finally given up on actually meeting him. That didn’t keep her from talking about him though. “Do you think he plays guitar?” As we sat at our usual table in the lunchroom she asked another one of her dozens of questions, “Or do you think he was more of a bassist?”

Usually she didn’t wait for a response before launching into another, but this time she seemed to be waiting for an answer. “I don’t know. What’s the difference?” I stuffed a peach slice into my mouth as I watched her jaw drop open dramatically.

“What’s the difference? Are you being serious?” Bridget swung her empty spoon around as she spoke enthusiastically. “Bassists are manlier and have larger hands, while guitarists have huge egos and are usually really deep and poetic-ish.”

I didn’t exactly believe that Camel boy was anywhere close to deep, but he did seem egotistical. However, “I think he was more of a bassist I guess. I hadn’t seen his hands or anything like that, but he looked pretty manly.”

“Yummy,” Bridget allowed a fake shiver to shake her body as she disappeared into her head. “That makes me want to meet him again,” She whined. “Bassists are so sexy.”

“I never said that he actually was-”

“Let me dream!” Bridget’s voice carried throughout the cafeteria, but only a few heads turned our way. “A Camel Crush smoking bassist with dark hair and gorgeous eyes,” She had officially gone off into no man’s land.

At her description of Camel boy a thought tugged at the back of my mind. Something didn’t seem right about it, “Why are you looking at me like I just sprouted a third eye? Did I get something wrong?” I watched her mentally re-calculate her sentence.

A picture of Camel Crush guy popped into my head and I instantly knew what she was missing, “His hair!” Bridget looked at me like I was crazy. “His hair wasn’t just dark; there was a blonde streak in it.” I tried to picture the exact location, “It was on the top of his head, but closer to the right side.” I touched my hair in that location.

A look of shock once again swept across Bridget’s face. “You mean to say that Mr. Perfect isn’t perfect after all?”

“I didn’t say that.” As if a slight difference of hair color ruined someone’s attractiveness. I rolled my eyes and felt my cheeks redden, “I mean I never said he was perfect.”

She giggled at my stupidity, “That makes him even better!” Once again her sudden outburst made heads turn in our direction. “And don’t think that I can’t tell,” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “You totally thought he was hot.” She spooned some yogurt into her mouth.

I dropped my fork, and felt my face grow even warmer. “Way to not draw attention to yourself Bri,” I said after I had hid my face between my arms and the table.



After school Bridget dropped me off at my house. She would be back in a couple hours to take me to work, but for now I had to do some school stuff. I made it to the kitchen before my father caught up to me; which wasn’t a very long amount of time.

“Have you started your homework yet?”

I set my books onto the kitchen table and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. “I just walked in the door dad.”

“You know that finishing all of your work was one of my conditions for that job of yours.” He grabbed one of my books off of the table and flipped it to a random page. “Are you fluent in your new Spanish vocabulary or should I help you study?”

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the orange juice from the top shelf in the fridge. “Dad, I don’t have to go in for almost another two hours, and no I can do it myself. If you don’t mind.”

As I poured my glass I heard him set the book down. “Now Lucy,” I could just hear a speech coming. When I turned to face him he had officially taken his stance with legs spread and arms crossed. “You know that education is top priority in this household.” His salt and pepper hair was hanging into his eyes; he needed another haircut.



I wanted to run out of the room and curse my father by the time I had finished my work. Bridget had beeped for me a dozen times, but he refused to let me leave until I could properly place all the countries in Europe. By the time I had finally left the house I was at least fifteen minutes late.

I made it to the store just in time to have my boss reprimand me before me left to return to his wife. Bridget had promised to pick me up on time for once, but I could really care less today. Being alone in the store was a great way for me to let off some steam.

I grabbed my iPod and my favorite song automatically came on. I hummed along to the intro as I began to re-stock the shelves behind the counter. The first words were sung and I mouthed along. By the time the chorus came around the second time though, I was singing loudly.



I sang with my eyes closed and jumped around my small space. I spun a 180-degree-turn and opened my eyes; just in time to see Camel Crush guy staring at me from the doorway.