El-Oh-Vee-Ee

Kellin was a little surprised that he had another job so soon. Usually he went a few days in between them because it actually took a lot out of him. Knowing he was most likely going to feel like shit tomorrow was putting him in a worse mood than usual, but there really wasn’t much he could do about it so he made his way to the location he had been given, maybe stomping just a little bit. Before he went to the actual location, he stopped at a nearby ice cream cart, deciding that if he was going to work a second day in a row then he was going to treat himself while doing it.

The San Diego sun was bright and hot, despite the fact that it was only ten in the morning, so Kellin was dressed in a tee shirt and a pair of board shorts he hadn’t even known he’d owned until he went digging through his dresser that morning. He took his shoes off as he got to where the dirt met the sand, wincing a little as the hot sand touched the sensitive skin on the bottom of his bare feet and quickening his pace so he could get down to the edge of the water and relieve his poor feet. He had to dodge a few kids running around without any care to their surroundings or the people in it, but soon he was sighing in reprieve as his feet touched the cool ocean water, and he sat down in the sand where it was still dry, keeping his feet where the waves could easily reach them.

Sliding his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose from where they had slipped and licking at his ice cream cone, Kellin began scanning the beach. He had no idea who he was looking for, names weren’t exactly important, but he had two faces in his head, both male, and both Hispanic. In San Diego there wasn’t exactly a lack of people with tan skin though, so he tried focusing on more specific features.

It really didn’t take long to find the first face. He couldn’t even see the guy’s face and he knew it was him. He had this ridiculous looking hair, black, which wasn’t so ridiculous in itself, but it was sticking up in every direction possible and Kellin couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional or if the guy had just walked under a bunch of balloons on his way out of the house this morning. Other than that he was a pretty good looking guy, he had muscles Kellin could appreciate, not too big, and a smile that could win prizes with a set of dimples to match.

Trying not to let his gaze linger too long, Kellin started looking for the second guy, craning his neck all around trying to spot the face in his head. After a few minutes of searching and coming up with nothing, Kellin decided he might need to stand up. The beach was pretty crowded and he couldn’t see over some people, he wasn’t exactly the tallest guy around you know? So he got to his feet and started brushing of any stray grains of sand that had decided to stick to him.

Before he knew what was really happening, a feeling like he was falling took over Kellin. It took him a moment to realize that was because he really was falling, and by the time he had he was hitting the hard ground with a weight pressing him down in the sand. He groaned, opening his eyes and squinting into the bright sunlight. Somewhere in the process of falling down, his sunglasses had flown off his head and his ice cream cone had ended up in the sand next to him.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” A deep, obviously male voice came from above him somewhere. “Are you okay?” Kellin brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright sun, questioning why whoever had knocked him over hadn’t gotten off of him yet, but once he saw who the culprit was, he couldn’t say he really minded anymore.

The guy was gorgeous to say the least. He had long brown hair that Kellin wanted to run his fingers through, just to see if it really did feel as silky as it looked, and warm, chocolate eyes that he could easily read both concern and amusement in. He looked vaguely familiar, but Kellin’s jumbled brain couldn’t figure out where he had seen him before.

“Dude, are you okay?” He heard him ask again, and this time Kellin had enough sense to answer back.

“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry.” He apologized quickly, mostly for not responding but also a little bit for staring.

“I should be the one apologizing to you.” He shook his head, getting up off Kellin and holding out a hand to help Kellin up. Kellin accepted the hand, letting the stranger pull him up off the ground. “I was going to catch this,” he explained, holding up a Frisbee, “and I didn’t see you.” Over his shoulder, Kellin could see a guy laughing hysterically, and he assumed it was one of this guys friends.

“It’s okay, no harm done.” Kellin replied, smiling at the guy in front of him.

“Can I at least buy you another ice cream or something?” Kellin could tell this guy felt really bad about the whole incident, and he was tempted to take him up on the offer, but he couldn’t let him he decided, and declined the offer.

“That’s okay,” he shook his head.

“Okay, well, I’m really sorry again.” The guy said as he walked backwards, turning around and running over to the guy Kellin had seen laughing and smacking him upside the head.

Kellin realized he was still smiling, and it shocked him a little because he hadn’t smiled like that in a long time. That smile was wiped off his face as soon as he remembered where he had seen the guy though. It was him, the guy he had been looking for. Now that he could think properly again the image of the man who had just crashed into him was ingrained in his mind like he had seen him every day since he was born.

Kellin felt a lump in his throat and he knew he couldn’t do it. It would be so easy now, to just walk over to the other guy and brush his hand across his shoulder or bump into him and it would be done; his job would be over. For some reason though, he felt he just couldn’t do it, so he quickly turned around the way he had come, leaning down to grab his shoes, before heading back towards his car, a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.