Love, Sand and the Ocean

Walking on the beach at night, letting the crisp air fill up our lungs, we squeezed together our hands only letting go to scratch an itch or take money out of our pockets. Life seemed okay as our footprints left a trail in the damp sand behind us. We were two pale people easily burned and we spent most of our daylight hours in a tent on the beach playing children's board games and talking.

We were on our way back from downtown Hampton Beach where we wolfed down some pizza and fried dough. The occasional joke was made about possibly being caught making out by a cop on beach patrol, the police horse and all. We spoke about going swimming but our conclusion was that swimming could potentially result in frostbite and so we both decided against it.

After about an hour taking our sweet time walking, we arrived back at the beach cabin my family had rented for a week. It was now 1 o'clock in the morning, only the bathroom light remained on and from the looks of it everyone was already asleep. Our hands were still permanently locked together and we decided to drag the tent over to the end of the cabins front porch. We still feared the cops because they had taken my parents two hundred dollar stash of fireworks earlier that night. I am sure that having a large slew of fireworks covering the tops of two picnic tables had something to do with them being caught so easily.

We looked up at the stars through the skylight of the tent, silent for awhile holding each other with some random attempts at conversation. The constant contact our hands had in the past two weeks is what first made me realize that I love him. At barely eighteen the rush of falling in love, and the glowing smile glued on my face already gave away my secret to everyone close to me and I was too lost in my own world to notice.

He brushed the hair of my face when I decided to tell him.

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

My voice was so weak and hesitant I almost laughed upon hearing it.

"I'm in love with you", he replied.

Feeling vulnerable, I think we both felt relieved that the feeling was mutual. I felt like a knot in my stomach finally untied itself.

To our disappointment that night, my Mother refused to let us sleep in the same room together which is understandable for a Mother to say. Regardless of her orders I still tried multiple times to quietly sneak downstairs to where he was sleeping. The loud creek of the poorly built stairs gave me away during each attempt.

My Mother laughed, rolling her eyes "Don't you try it again."

Leaving me to wait until morning and lay sleepless with butterflies in my stomach.