Under the Water

Glossy black nail polish nearly reflected the orange hue of the building and the patio she was sitting beneath. She moved her fingers around the rim of her coffee cup, one of the few she had from her motel room, though it was her coffee inside and not the motel's (because it had a dreadful after taste, something she imagined lead to taste like). She was watching the obscure color glisten and move around her nail polish, which she had applied only a few hours ago when it was still morning. It was some time past noon now, though the lack of sleep she's had in the past week left her internal clock damaged and broken.

She closed her blue eyes, leaning her head down against her wrists as the coffee cup rested on her knees. Her unkempt long blonde hair fell around her, at least whatever of her hair that wasn't contained in a day and a half old messy bun. She needed to sleep, she just didn't want to. What she wanted was to forget. She envied those with amnesia, wishing she could just have her memory erased from all the nightmares her life had contained and just wander around as ignorant as a child.

She lifted her head up again, to drink from her coffee cup, the liquid almost too sweet for her liking but the extra sugar kept her awake for longer. She looked down into her cup, contemplating getting up and walking back to the motel before she ran out of coffee or after. She both didn't want to move and didn't want to run out of coffee at the same time.

With a sigh, she decided that she would get up and leave for her motel room in a few more minutes, savoring the warmth of the concrete below her and the walls of the building behind her. It was the middle of July in Los Angles and though she wasn't quite used to the heat, she did like it. In this time of the year she doubted that Pittsburgh Pennsylvania would peak at even eighty degrees. Here in LA, it was almost ninety degrees every day.

Her mind began to wander slowly, before she realized that she was nearly dozing off in the middle of a busy street with people all around her. She forced her eyes open with a yawn and took another drink of coffee before noticing she had an unexpected visitor. There was a small dog sniffing at her toes, which she also had painted black and were exposed due to her old red flip flops.

“Hello,” she said quietly, extending out her hand so the dog could sniff her knuckles. Promptly the dog proceeded to lick her hand. She felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, not quite prevailing in making her look anything close to happy. The dog had a face that almost reminded her of an Ewok, though he could easily use a hair cut so his face would be easier to see through his light colored fur.

“What was I talking about?” she heard a loud voice ask, and she followed the dog's retractable leash to a guy, standing on the sidewalk in front of the patio, oblivious to her or his dog that had strayed. “Nothing?!” he then answered himself, filming himself with the camera on his iPhone. “Of course I haven't said anything yet. It's only been what, three minutes and twenty six-- twenty seven seconds?” he continued talking to and answering himself.

“He owns you?” the girl asked quietly, looking back to the dog who simply continued wagging his long tail. “I'm sorry,” she said, reaching forward and petting the dog's head.

“Gryphon!” The man suddenly yelled, startling both the dog and the girl. They both looked up to him and watched as he followed the leash over to his dog and the girl. “Gryphon- oh, hot-hot-hot-hot-hot,” he “stuttered” upon noticing the girl finally, siting on the ground with her bare knees, showing through ripped jeans, brought up to her chest.

“Toby, stop that, I found her first,” he replied to himself, again, in a different voice while showing the camera his dog and the girl, who couldn't help but stare at him with confusion. She silently began wondering if he was slightly mental.

“W-what? Gryphon, you can't find hot-hot-hots, you're a dog,” he switched his camera back to himself as he put on a smug face and seemingly dismissed his dog.

“Stop it Toby, you're embarrassing me,” the guy said in his “dog's voice”, panning over to the dog and girl again.

“What? How am I embarrassing you- Wait, what's that Audience?” he stopped and asked his phone, “I- I'm embarrassing you too?” He paused to laugh before cutting himself off by saying, “What? I'm really embarrassing you?” Suddenly his light and happy face became nervous. “Just act natural? I am acting natural! Gryphon, hurry,” he called his dog over and began walking away without a single word said to the girl. “Audience says to act natural- oh look flowers!” he said, quickly walking away, before noticing a huge bougainvillaea plant and filming the bright pink flowers as his face was shoved in them.

The girl nearly smacked her forehead after the odd experience, unsure of what had just happened. She sat there, running the strange encounter though her head before wondering if that was considered normal in California. After a few moments of perplexity, she finally forced herself up, drinking the last of her coffee after, and stretched. She unrolled both of her gray sweater sleeves, unconsciously uncomfortable with her forearms showing in public, though it was a habit of hers to push them up her arms in hot weather.

She made her way out from under the patio and began down the street, her motel only a block away.

“Wait, wait!” she heard the man calling after her and she wondered what he could possibly want from her. She stopped, looking back to see him jogging up behind her, but his phone wasn't in sight.

“Yeah?” she asked, running a hand over her blonde hair to rid her face of it.

“I'm sorry, that was really awkward back there,” he apologized, acting surprisingly normal compared to just minutes before.

“What were you doing?” she asked him, placing both her hands on her hips, hanging onto her empty cup with two fingers through its handle.

“Lazy vlogging,” he stated as if it were common knowledge. The girl simply rose an eyebrow at him, and considered walking away again but he continued explaining after a moment. “It's like a vlog but I just film them on my phone and usually don't say anything. My subscribers on YouTube love them.” His hand was scratching the back of his head as he fought the eminent embarrassment while the other still held his dog's leash.

“Oh, okay,” she replied to him, faking a smile just to lighten the mood. She hated it when anyone but herself felt miserable or uncomfortable. “Do a lot of people watch them?” She asked, effectively avoiding an awkward silence.

“Surprisingly, yeah,” he stated as if it were a major shock. “There's something I wanted to ask you about,” he continued and the girl nodded. “Is it okay that I filmed you to post to my channel on YouTube?”

“I guess, there's not much you can do about it,” the girl nodded, switching her weight from one leg onto the other as they spoke on the sidewalk.

“No, I can film another one if you want,” he said, like it was nothing.

“It's fine,” Chelsea permitted him, slightly nodding her head. She couldn't figure any harm coming from it.

“Okay, great,” he replied to her with a smile, one that was actually genuine. “Can I ask another question? You can say no.”

“Alright.”

“Can I get a picture for the thumbnail?”

“Sure,” she said and he looked surprised, as if he had honestly expected her to say "no". She didn't exactly feel like she was looking presentable enough for a picture, she hadn't had more than six hours of sleep in the last three days. She did, however, start thinking that this guy was actually pretty nice and not completely crazy like before.

“Really?” he smiled again, “Okay.” He moved to take his iPhone out of his pocket, the girl noticing that the case said “AUDIENCE” in capital white letters. He set the handle for his dog's leash down and rested his foot on top of it as he pulled up his camera again. The girl moved next to him as he readied the camera, setting her coffee cup on the sidewalk by her feet.

“Do you mind looking like I'm a total creep?” he asked her as he held his phone out and at an angle sightly above the two of them.

“I can try,” she said, folding both of her arms over her chest.

“Okay, great,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Ready?”

She nodded, looking over to him, trying to figure out what kind of face to pull when she noticed the face he was making. Immediately she began to laugh and doubled over, covering her face. He had put on the most awkward mix of an adorable, creepy, and nerdy smile he could.

“That's the first time I've laughed in a week,” she stated, trying to compose herself quickly.

He laughed with her, though not quite as hysterically and replied, “Your welcome.”

“Okay,” she said, evening out her breathing, “Okay.” She stood back in her previous position, arms crossed and looking slightly up at him, noting that he wasn't much taller than her, and fully composed her self, ready for that outrageous face again.

“Ready?” he asked again, still smiling from their laughing fit and she nodded. He looked back to his camera, pulling the same face and snapped the picture without any more problems. “That's awesome,” he laughed again, pulling his phone down to look at the picture they had taken. The girl laughed again as well, noting that the sneer she pulled actually looked believable, compared to his outrageous face.

“When are you uploading the video?” She asked him, bending back down to pick up her coffee cup as he bent down to pick up his dog's leash.

“Oh, I can upload it right now, I'll add the picture when I get home,” he answered. “I'm Toby, by the way. We kinda skipped the introductions.”

“Chelsea,” the girl replied, extending her hand to shake his.

“Thanks for not thinking I'm a total whack job, by the way,” he added as they continued to stand in the middle of the sidewalk. “Tobuscus is a bit crazy.”

“Tobuscus? Like your shirt?” Chelsea pointed out, raising her eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he said, looking down at the word spelled out over his chest.

“Is he like your character?”

“Character? No... well kinda but not really,” he answered, shaking his head as he thought about her question. “It's kinda hard to explain really.”

“Okay,” Chelsea laughed. “Is that your YouTube channel also?”

“For that video no, it'll be on TobyTurner,” he said and further confused Chelsea, though she kept it silent.

“So should I just look up lazy vlogs then?”

“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “There's way to many. I'll probably call it... 'Meeting Chelbuscus' or something,” he added, pulling his phone back out and pulling up his video. He messed around with it for a few seconds before looking back up at Chelsea, “It's uploading.”

“Okay,” she said again and they were brought to a silence. She felt as if Toby wanted to say more to her, and he just wasn't as they stood there for a few seconds.

“So, um... It was nice actually meeting you,” he told her. “See you around?”

“Sure, I guess. I'm not really from here,” Chelsea admitted.

“Oh, okay. Vacation?”

“Not really, I just came here to get away for a while. You from this part of the city?” Chelsea asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Yeah, just over in Sherman Oaks. By Moorpark and Fulton,” he informed.

“I've got no idea where that is,” Chelsea laughed, noting her lack of local geographical information.

“It's just a ten minute drive that way,” he told her, pointing aimlessly to his left.

“Aright,” Chelsea smiled, “Maybe we'll see each other.”

“Bye,” he said as she began to walk away, earning a quick wave from her as she left before he too turned around and went the opposite way.