Ocean Breathes Salty

I shut my eyes and listened to the waves crashing. Seagulls were calling out in the distance. The slight breeze whistled as it whipped by.

Ring. My phone rang signaling a text message, interrupting the calming sounds playing out through the speaker.

I groaned and knocked the phone off of the bed. It landed with a thud next to a pillow on the floor.

I focused in on the sea sounds once again. Behind my eyelids, I pictured blue waves dancing. White foam littered the sand as water rose up and down the shore. The sunset reflected off of the deep horizon.

Ring. Ring. Ring. This time a call. I sat up in defeat. I reached over the side of my bed for my cell phone.

“What?” I answered, annoyed.

There was a pause on the other side before a laugh echoed through. “Are you listening to ocean sounds again?” Hannah asked.

“Laugh all you want now.” I got out of bed and walked over to my stereo, turning the volume knob down. “We’ll see who’s laughing when we’re in California and you can’t sleep because you’re used to city noise.” I flopped back onto my bed. “Oh wait,” I said, sarcasm spewing out. “You won’t be coming to California anymore because you’re getting married now.”

“Ugh,” Hannah groaned, “Please don’t start this again.”

“Oh no,” I started anyways. “Why should we get into the fact that the plans we’ve had since we were ten years old are blowing up in our faces. Over a stupid boy!”

She laughed, ignoring the fight I was fake starting. “But I’ll visit you all the time.”

“Well maybe I never want to see you again,” I joked.

“Or maybe you’ll see me in like 5 minutes,” she said back. “I am leaving right now.” I could hear her storm door shut behind her and within an instant heard cars whizzing by.

“Wait,” I said, looking around my messy studio apartment for any sign of alcohol. “I’m pretty sure we finished off the rest of the tequila last weekend. If any part of you loves me at all, you will stop and get some more.”

“Okay Meadow,” she said reluctantly, “I’ll stop at Kwikmart and grab something.” She hung up without saying a goodbye and I tossed my phone back down on the bed.

I looked around the apartment once more. It was just a converted old garage behind a small family home. I questioned if I should get up and clean a little bit. Hannah was a clean freak and while she was definitely used to my uncontrollable messiness, it didn’t stop her from commenting on it.

The sound of waves was very faint in the background now. Moving to the beach had been a dream of mine and Hannah’s for what seemed like forever. In grade school we did reports on crabs and sting rays. In middle school, we scattered images of beaches on our walls. In high school we started planning, really planning. We were serious about it, at least I was.

As much as I joked about being mad she was no longer coming with me, I was deeply hurt. We had been together our entire lives and I had no idea what I was going to do without her by my side.

For me, staying in Phoenix wasn’t an option anymore. I was tired of this desert. No matter what Hannah would have her own life now, getting married, starting a family. Moving away and starting my own life is the only thing that made sense.

I reluctantly stood up from my bed and started picking up objects left around my room. A hoodie that definitely needed washing. A pizza box from last weekend. Slowly my tornado of an apartment started looking slightly more livable.

I took a full bag of trash and tied the top close. I held it away from me and liquid from something oozed down the bottom. I quickly pushed open my apartment door and down the two steps onto the driveway. Leaving the door open, I let the bag drag at my feet as I made my way to the end of the drive. I flipped over the top of the green garbage bin and threw the dripping trash bag in.

I looked down the street in the direction Hannah would be coming from. It really wasn’t a long trip to her place; she should have been here by now. I took a pack and a lighter from my back pocket and lit up a cigarette, thankful for having a few more minutes to spare. She hated that I smoked.

I kept my eyes on the road, prepared to stomp out my smoke the second her headlights turned the corner. A few minutes later though and she still wasn’t here.

I ascended back up the driveway following the line of liquid the trash bag left on the way down. Back up the two steps and finally shutting the door behind me.

“Where are you?” I mumbled to myself.

I reached for my phone on the bed and called Hannah. The familiar voice mail message started and I hung up, redialing. Still no answer. This really wasn’t like her and I found myself getting annoyed. I called again.

“Hannah,” I said after her voicemail message played out, “Where are you? This is getting annoying.” I hung up and fell backwards onto the bed. A five minute trip had now turned into a half hour. The Kwikmart was halfway between both of our places and would add another five minutes to the trip, tops. The only time she did this was when her boyfriend, John, held her up.

I lifted my phone back up and called John’s number.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Where is she?” I asked. I didn’t hide the complete irritation from my voice.

“What are you talking about, Meadow?” He sighed.

“Where is Hannah?” I asked. “She should have been here by now.”

“She left a half hour ago, what are you talking about?” John’s voice grew concerned. “Meadow, if she’s not there, where is she?”