There's a Story at the Bottom of This Bottle

The ocean breeze had a wonderful, biting sting as it whipped my dark brown hair into my tear-stained face. The sand I was sitting on was damp and soft, and I wasn’t planning on leaving this spot anytime soon. My “water proof” eyeliner was running down my colorless cheeks, allowing my eyes’ dark circles surrounding them to show. This was hardly a pretty scene.

“Sasha?”

I knew that voice.

“Sasha, what are you doing? You’re going to catch a cold or somethin’ if you stay out here too long,” Kezia commented. Kezia was not only my roommate, she was my best friend since high school, and practically my sister.

The breeze was blowing her blonde, choppy layered hair around her face as she rubbed her arms with her tiny hands, attempting to keep herself warm. She must’ve thought I was crazy. A tank top and a pair of shorts is barely enough for fifty degree weather.

Silence was never one of our strong points; at least one of us would be mindlessly rambling about something or other we did in our day. But not today. Today was different.
“What happened? Don’t bottle this up, Sasha. I’m your friend; you can tell me anything.” Kezia’s voice was fading towards the end as she was losing confidence in her words. They used to be so powerful before. And now, they were drowning themselves in the rush of the wind.

“I’m fine Kez, really. Don’t worry about me.”

Silence.

“Ya know, you always were a shitty liar,” she smirked. A smile started to dance on her lips as she looked at me from the corner of her jaded green eyes, waiting for me to tell her the truth. Kezia always was the one to pick up on these types of things.

“It’s nothing, honestly. I just need to be a grown-up right now, that’s all,” I mumbled as I pulled my legs up to my chest.

“Alright, whatever you say, Sasha. Just talk to me when you’re ready, okay?”

“I will. I promise.”

And with that, Kezia and I started making our way back to our small apartment three blocks away from the beach. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it had everything we needed: three bedrooms, a kitchen, a small living room, and one bathroom for us to share. It was small, but it was cozy and it had that real feeling of home.

We were walking the last few yards up to the front door only to find it swung wide open. Shoes were strewn all over the floor, followed by a trail of bandanas, jewelry, and occasionally, a pair of pants. Kez and I quietly walked to our living room to find five very tired, drunken boys laying everywhere. Jimmy, Johnny and Matt were on the floor, face down, while Zacky and Brian were cuddling together on the couch. Wait…why wasn’t Jimmy wearing pants?

Kezia and I could only look at each other and sigh; this was pretty normal for us. Knowing what we had to do, we chose Johnny to be the first victim of our moving service, seeing as how he was the shortest and the lightest out of all the guys. On the count of three, Kezia lifted up Johhny’s arms while I lifted up his legs, and we dragged him into the guest bedroom. That little fucker was heavier than he looked. After we flung him up on the bed, we went back out to the living room to retrieve the other four boys.