Heaven Is In Your Eyes

I was on my fifth cup-full of beer and I couldn’t deny the spinning feeling any longer. I examined myself medically: delayed answering, slurring words, dizziness, blurred vision. I was intoxicated.
Tony looked over at me with his sharp teeth, “How you doing Lupe?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle softly, “Fantastic!”
My drunk brain was quickly entertained where as my sober brain would have answered in a much less scandalous tone.
He walked closer to me and grabbed two more cups before he began leading me to the back of the house, “You’re a lightweight aren’t you?” he laughed.
“I told you, I’ve never drank this much before.” I received the red cup he handed to me. Number six…shit.
“Well good thing it’s only beer.” He chuckled as he opened the back door to the house.
I could feel the frigid air smack my body, but it didn’t change my internal temperature. Normally, I would have felt a chill roll up my back but I didn’t. Thank you alcohol.
“It was getting a little loud in there.” He walked out and held the door open for me to walk through.
The back porch had couples scattered around, huddling close to each other for warmth.
“I thought we could go walk around.” He whispered, “We’re gonna be neighbors for a while, so might as well get to know each other right?”
“Right.” I felt my tongue curl inside itself, making speaking difficult.
He led me down the wooden stairs or the back porch and we walked onto the sand. I could feel the tiny pieces come between my toes, I began doubting whether I could actually walk on this unstable ground.
“You’re not cold?” he spoke clearly finishing his drink and throwing his cup on the porch.
“Nope.” It was the truth. I took another sip, “It’s enjoyable.”
“You’re drunk.” He stated without letting me cut in.
I chuckled, “A tiny bit.”
“So…Miss. Lightweight, have you been living here for a while?” he began walking next to me.
“For a couple years, I’m actually from Los Angeles.”
“What made San Diego so appealing?”
“You guys have one of the best hospitals in the country, and its constantly over looked. I thought I’d give it a chance.”
We began walking farther away from the house, the darkness of the night sucking us into it’s arms. The black ocean water was within reach, calling out to us.
“You’re such a young doctor though.”
I nodded, thinking about my response, “I’ve worked for this since I was in middle school, perfect grades and no social life.”
“That’s kind of like me.” He chuckled, “I had…tolerable grades, but no social life either.”
I furrowed my eyebrows, this guy was the model for a social life. His house was full of people, he was vacationing with his best friends and seeming to be enjoying his life to the fullest, “What do you mean?”
“I spent most of the time alone in high school.” His voice was strained, “I was socially awkward, and people didn’t accept me all that much.”
I nodded, “High school is full of cruel people.”
“Definitely.” He sighed.
He reached the water and continued walking along the wet sand, listening to the ocean roll in and out. It left us centimeters away from catching our feet in the cold water.
“I was so happy once it was all over, I never wanted to step inside a school again.” He continued, “That’s how I got into construction, it’s a hard job but it pays alright. It’s not my passion though.”
“What’s your passion?” I finished my cup of beer.
He sighed deeply, “I love music, I can play my guitar all day if I could. Just plugging it to my amp and playing as loud as I can.”
He sounded so happy talking about it, even his sighs became lighter, “Have you thought about doing anything with it?”
He gave me a low chuckle, “The guys and I are in a band, but it’s just a hobby you know. We’d be lucky to actually record some music.”
“I’d like to hear it sometime.” I began playing with the plastic cup, my nerves had subsided significantly but the urge to do something with my hands was still there.
“Well, we’re going to be playing a lot, you’ll probably be hearing us even if you didn’t want to.” He laughed.
I laughed along with him, “I wouldn’t mind, but if it got bad they have plenty of beds at the hospital I could sleep on.” I teased.
“Or you could come over and tell us to knock it off, we’ll tone it down a single notch.”
He was beginning to get comfortable with me as time passed by, his personality was starting to shine through.
“Yeah, but who needs sleep anyways right?”
“But you have an important job, people depend on you. You must be so proud of yourself.” His voice went south again.
“You should be proud of yourself too.” I spoke softly, hoping to not sound like I was attacking him.
“No.” he chuckled darkly, “I haven’t done anything in my life to make me proud of who I am.”