Until We Meet Again(8)
“Nothing. Never mind.”
I narrow my eyes. He didn’t see the flash of light too, did
he? I’m about to ask him when he stretches his arms out and
inhales deeply.
“Ned was right. It’s the perfect night for a party.”
“I suppose,” I say dryly.
He sits up, folding his arms across his knees. “So, what are
you doing out here all alone?”
The feeling of reckless abandon spreads in me again, drowning out any socially acceptable small talk I could offer. I have nothing to prove and no one to impress.
“Not much. I’m just pondering the subtle anguish of life.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Well.” He studies me, probably
thinking I’m some crazy emo girl.
Then he nods, turning his gaze back to the ocean. “That
makes two of us.”
He doesn’t seem to be mocking me. In fact, he looks rather
lost in his own thoughts. A little smile comes to his lips.
“For each ecstatic instant, we must an anguish pay.”
The words are oddly familiar, and then I remember. “Emily
Dickinson.”
“That’s right,” he says. “You seem surprised that I would
quote her.”
“I am.”
He lets out a single laugh. “And why is that?”
“You
don’t
look
like a
pondertheanguishoflifeandquoteDickinson kind of guy.”
He seems amused. “Don’t I? Tell me, what does that kind of guy look like?”
He’d look like Mr. Perry, my balding, spindly English
teacher. Not a young, stylishly dressed, uncomfortably goodlooking ninja.
“Let’s say you look like you fit right in at the party, not a
poetry reading.”
His smile fades a bit. “I suppose it was rude of me to leave the
party. But I couldn’t think with all that noise. I was standing
there and I realized I’d had quite enough. You know?”
“So you left because it was too loud? That’s not exactly a typically accepted reason to brood, but I suppose I’ll allow it.”
“It’s more than that.”
“Okay, so what then?”
He sighs. “Have you ever been in a room full of people and
felt completely alone? And everything around you, the lights,
the champagne, the people, it all feels so…”
“Empty?”
“Exactly.”
He studies me so directly that my skin starts to tingle.
“I’ve felt that,” I say, holding his gaze.
“Is that what brought you out here to the beach?”
This guy is either well-rehearsed at wooing angsty, artistic
girls, or he isn’t quite the jerk I had him pegged to be. Adrenaline
pushes aside my usual wall of sarcasm.
“I think I wanted to do something crazy, but I chickened out
and came here to sulk instead.”
“What would you have done?”
“If I hadn’t chickened out, you mean?”
He nods, watching me.
“I don’t really know. That’s part of the problem.”
He laughs a little. “You’re different. I could tell by the way
you sat here looking out at the shore.”
“You’re pretty strange too, you know.”
“Guilty as charged,” he says, with a wink. “So what do we do
about it, you and I? A pair of odd ducks searching for meaning.”
“I guess we have to do something crazy.”
“Let’s,” he says. “What will it be?” Then he springs up. “I
know.” He grabs my hands, pulling me to my feet. “We’ll jump
into the ocean!”
I laugh at the irony of his suggestion. “No thanks. I had a
nice swim last night, and that got me into enough trouble.”
“Aw, come on. It’ll be fun.”
“Nope.”
A sly smile creeps onto his face. “You didn’t come out here to
talk. You could have done that at the party.”
Without warning, he bursts into a run down the beach, pulling me along with him. We run into the rush of stormy ocean wind. I can barely stay on my feet to keep up with him.
“Hey!” I shout, my hair streaming behind me. “Stop!”
“Enough talk! Now we act!”
“I said no swimming!”
He keeps running. “We’ll dive off the point, see if we can
catch a mermaid.”
“No! I’m too young to die.”
He laughs, and I can’t help laughing too. We run until we
reach the base of the rocky point, where we both stop, bending
over to catch our breath.
“Push me in that water and I’ll drown you,” I say between
gasps of air.
He grins. “I thought you wanted to do something rash.”
“I do. I’m just not into dying with a complete stranger. Not
quite what I had in mind.”
“I am getting a little carried away, aren’t I? I don’t even know