Riptide.

After getting all my things over to the apartment, I take a shower and get changed. As I slip my jacket over the bikini top, there is a knock on the door. I throw on my necklace before jogging to get the door. Opening it up reveals a blonde standing in front of me; clearly confused.

“You’re not Zoey.” She notes. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ali,” I introduce myself. “Zoey’s gone, she moved out yesterday or so Zara has told me.”

“Damn it,” the blonde mutters, “Zoey owed me money. I can’t believe she left before paying me. I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I’m Makayla. You’re new here, aren’t you? Taking Zoey’s place at the cafe?”

“Yea, I just moved here from New York.” I inform her, stepping aside to let her in. “I start work tomorrow.”

“Have you been shown around town yet?” She asks. “And please tell me you’re going to do something about this apartment. All this white is overkill. I never understood why Zoey kept it white.”

“Minimalist maybe?” I question.

“Maybe,” Makayla shrugs. “But seriously, if you need anyone to help you with painting or showing you around town; I’m here. Do you have a cell phone? I could give you my number.” I sigh, very hesitate to reply and Makayla notices this. “You don’t have one do you? What are you running from then girly?” She sits down on the futon.

“Why do people just assume I’m running from something?” I laugh. “I disconnected my phone to get away from my family and stress from New York. I’m not running from anything dangerous.”

“Well Zoey didn’t believe in cell phones so I still have the phone number to the apartment.” Makayla laughs. “So what were your plans for the rest of today?”

“I actually was going to go get paint and shop for something to add color to this place.” I reply. “Want to come? I honestly could use a tour guide and someone to talk to.”

“Sure let’s go!” She jumps up from the futon. I just chuckle as I go finish getting ready. I have a feeling I’m going to like this girl.

**

“So what color are you looking for?” Makayla asks as we look at paint swatches in the local home improvement store.

“I’m thinking like a nice light blue and maybe a yellow,” I shrug as I put paint swatches together to see if the colors work together or clash. “I honestly just want to bring color into that place. I can’t stand white walls.”

“So I’m assuming your place back in New York is bright and happy?” She chuckles.

“Honestly it’s not.” I reply. “It’s different shades of dark purple. It works for my apartment.”

“But that must be dark and depressing.”

“Not at all,” I smile. “My apartment had a ton of windows that showed off the lights of the city and brought in tons of natural light. The color scheme worked well for sophisticated parties.”

Makayla just laughs, “you don’t seem the type.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean any offense but you don’t see the type to have those wine parties. You seem like the type of girl that rather have a bonfire and drink Corona with lime. I know I just met you but that’s what you seem like to me.”

“I never liked those parties,” I honestly tell her. “I only threw those parties for my then boyfriend’s co-workers and bosses. He was trying to become partner before he turned 30. He thought schmoozing those people would help out.”

“So you really are a Corona girl, huh?” She laughs.

“As long as it’s a loaded one,” I laugh with her as we continue to look for the perfect paint colors for the apartment.

**

“Thank you so much for showing me around.” I thank Makayla as we bring everything I bought today into the apartment.

“You’re very welcome,” she smiles. “Hey what are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Nothing, why?”

“A couple of the local surfers are having a bonfire at the beach. Want to come with me?” She asks. “It looks like you could use a good time and it’s a good chance to meet some of the other people in this place.”

“That sounds amazing.” I say with a smile. “I’d love to go. I could use a good party to go to. I haven’t been to a party without champagne in forever.”

“That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about,” she informs me. “We only like our champagne in our orange juice. We never have it outside of brunch.”

“My kind of place.” I laugh as we begin to unload all the bags.

**

Bomb.com plays quietly in the background as I put up the masking tape. I didn’t have the air conditioning on so all the windows are open letting in the nice ocean breeze. Lemongrass incense is burning and I feel completely relaxed. But a little bit guilty. I know I’ll never go back to New York and that means never seeing Aria again. Out of all my family, I was closest to her and now I’m leaving her basically all alone out in that city.

Wondering about my sister, I get up off the hardwood floor and head over to my bed, pulling out my laptop as I sit down. I sign into the WiFi and pull up my Gmail account. I notice I have tons of emails; most of them are from my mother. I bypass all of that and open up Aria’s email.

Dear Ali,

I’m glad you’re finally doing something for yourself. I can’t wait til you meet the Ali I’ve known this whole time. Don’t worry about me, I’m not staying in New York. I got accepted to UCLA and plan on going there instead of NYU. So I guess we’ll be some what close. Please email me again whenever you get settled. I miss you already.

Love,
Aria

A smile appears on my lips as I close my laptop. I lay back onto the bed and stare at the blank ceiling and think; this is it. I’ve finally done something my sister can be proud of.