Page 77 of F*ck You

Pulling away from the small wisp of smoke, he sat back and grinned at me. “Yup. Showing you another plus to the beach life.”

I looked around at the empty section of beach. Farther down on the tourist side, people were getting out of the water and leaving to go find dinner. The sun was going down, nearly dipping below the horizon, so Chase was hurrying to get the fire going.

“Is anyone else coming?”

“Only Larsen,” he responded between breaths. “He should be here any minute now.” After adding more small twigs, the flames began to grow.

Stretching my legs out, I crossed them at the ankles and rested back on my hands. The water was beautiful. I imagined all the jellyfish and marine life flowing beneath the waves, completely unaware of the world outside of the water.

I became so lost in the wash of ocean mist drifting around me that I barely registered someone else had joined us until Larsen plopped down onto the blanket beside me, kicking sand into the growing flames as his foot flung out.

“Dude, I just got it going.” Chase quickly threw in some more twigs to feed the fire back to the size it was again.

“Sorry.” Larsen cringed as he pulled his foot back and set a bag in front of him. “I brought snacks. Hey, Starfish.” He leaned over and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips, then trailed his lips gently down my jawline to nip at the spot of flesh above the chain from my necklace.

“Hey.” I bit my lip with a smile as we pulled apart, and he began rummaging through the bag.

Pulling out various items, he handed a metal stick to me along with the bag of marshmallows. “How do you like yours?”

I slid one onto the fire poker and held it out to the flames. “Burnt to a crisp. It’s really the only way to cook a marshmallow.” As soon as it was on fire, I pulled it toward me and blew it out, revealing the perfect piece of marshmallow charcoal.

“How is that even good? I cook mine to a nice golden brown,” Chase said as he joined us on the blanket, and grabbed a marshmallow and cooking stick himself.

“It’s the best. Blackened like my soul.”

“But still insanely sweet on the inside,” Larsen added with a grin, as he held his own marshmallow to the flames.

“Fuck that. Maybe I should burn it some more.”

They both chuckled and popped their own marshmallows into their mouths with varying shades of burn, then Chase reached over for the cooler and dragged it across the sand to sit beside him. Pulling out some cups and bottles, he poured a concoction and passed it to me.

Coconut rum and pineapple juice invaded my senses when I held the cup beneath my nose. I raised an eyebrow at him in confusion as I waited for an explanation. After everything that had happened recently, this surprised me most of all.

“I know, I know. I don’t care quite as much that you drink, Lee. It just all depends on the other choices that come with that. Otherwise, I don’t want you to change who you are.”

I took a sip of the drink as my heart flipped. No one had ever said that to me before, and I had no idea how to take that. If I were to open my mouth for anything other than the liquid, I would ruin this moment for sure. Which was how I downed half the cup in the first sip.

Twisting the plastic cup in the sand to ensure it wouldn’t fall over, I grabbed another marshmallow and set it on fire. The sun fully disappeared so there was nothing above us other than the night sky. It was a cloudless night, so the moon and stars all shone down on us, illuminating spots where crabs skittered across the beach. Light moved across the gentle waves like a blanket in the calm water. It was almost as if the recent storm never happened, and it was crazy to think about how this beach was littered with destruction only hours before.

I couldn’t help feeling that this was where I belonged, where I was supposed to be all this time. In the past, I always felt like I had to keep moving while also remaining stationary, always striving to move up the ladder in life. Then, being here, in this place and time, I realized I was at the top of the ladder and anything above this would only be a bonus. Each and every day was filled with adventure beyond my imagination.

As the heat from the fire warmed the goosebumps caused by the ocean breeze, I’d never before felt more at home in my entire life.

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