Tyler

I loved surfing.  Something about it calmed me, allowed me to think.  I loved the feeling of the ocean under my board, how powerful it felt, how it was never changing.  I glided up to the shore, and ran up the beach.  There was a girl sitting there watching me, just as she had been for the past hour or so.  She was pretty from what I could see, so I went and sat down next to her casually, noting as I did that she didn’t look at me.  Since it didn’t seem like she was going to say anything, I introduced myself.

“So, you like what you saw?”  I smiled, trying to be friendly.

She smiled back, apparently I had succeeded.  “As a matter of fact, I did.  You’re quite good.”  She seemed like a nice girl, she had a pretty smile.

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing.”  This was true, ever since I had come down for the break I had been working on my technique.  I stood up, holding out my hand to help her up.  She took it; she had smooth hands with long fingers.  She stood in front of me and I had to look down to meet her eyes.  “I’m Tyler.  It’s nice to meet you.”  I shook her hand, and noticed that she had a nice firm handshake.

“I’m Lucy Fields.  Do you come here often?  I’ve never seen you around before.”  She asked this in a curious tone, and kept looking at me, which probably should have creeped me out, but just made me feel good.

“No, I’m on break.”  I hoped she wouldn’t ask what school I went to, it was always hard when I liked someone and they asked that, and I liked this girl.

“Oh, where do you go to school?”  Damn.

“Nowhere special…”  I wanted to steer this conversation away from anything personal, it would be too hard if something came from this meeting. 

“Ok, well… I’m having a barbeque up at my place… Do you wanna come?”  She seemed to sense that she had breached a sensitive topic.  “You look like you could use some downtime.” 

“Well… Um…”  I wasn’t sure if my mom would be ok with that, I was here to visit her…  “Yeah, ok.  I’d love to.”  I smiled at Lucy again, it was really easy to do that around her.  Smile I mean.

“Good.  You can bring your board, it’s just up the beach a ways.”  So she lived around here… That was convenient because so did I.  On the way to her house, we talked about safe things.  I told her stories from my school, never mentioning where it was, and she told me things about her life and her family.  She was a really nice girl, funny, interesting, and really pretty.

She had really shiny, dark brown hair that waved gently to just past her shoulder blades.  She wasn’t overly tall, but she had nice, long, toned legs, tanned from the southern sun.  She was slim and lightly muscled, she wasn’t buff or anything, but you could tell she was fit.  She pulled all this together with her white bikini top and short shorts, and she seemed to exude a confidence that I don’t think she even knew she had.

When we got to her house, a nice big beach house with plenty of windows to showcase the ocean and bring in the sun, Lucy introduced me to her friends.  They all seemed a little skittish, one in particular.  Bryan.  He seemed the most intimidated by me, and I immediately saw why.  He was totally in love with Lucy, it was obvious in the way he looked at her, the way he scrambled to get her a drink, or pull out her chair.  I didn’t feel threatened by him, but I did feel jealous that he knew Lucy so well.  God, what was I thinking?

I was having a good time at the barbeque, I got to know Lucy’s friends some more, even Bryan, to Lucy’s obvious amusement.  I saw the looks he was making, it was so obvious he wanted Lucy to notice him.  I wanted to give him a chance, so I decided it was time to go.

“Hey, I think it’s time for me to leave,” I whispered in Lucy’s ear.

“Ok, I’ll drive you,” it sounded like she wanted to spend more time with me, but I wasn’t sure if she was just being polite.

“No, it’s alright, I can walk.  It’s not far from here,” I didn’t want her to think she absolutely had to come with me.

“I’ll come.”  Boy, she was persistent.

“Are you sure?  I mean, you don’t have to Lucy, I’ll be fine,” I figured I’d try one more time to let her know she wasn’t obligated to come.  But she had already started walking, surprisingly in the right direction, so I ran to catch up to her and we walked in comfortable silence to my house.  I was about to walk through the front door when I thought of something better.

“Listen Lucy… I had fun tonight.  I haven’ had that much fun in a long time… It was nice.  I feel like I know you, and tell me if I’m out of line ok?  But I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow night, maybe go for dinner?  I understand if you’re totally against that and that’s ok, I was ju-”

“I would love to Tyler,” she cut me off in the middle of my sentence, which was probably a good thing because I would have just kept right on blabbing,  “I’ll see you soon then, ok?”  She smiled at me, and it made my stomach jump.

“Yeah, yeah ok,” I smiled back, my heart soaring.

“Goodnight Tyler,” Lucy whispered.  I ducked my head and kissed her softly on the cheek.

“Goodnight Lucy…” I whispered it back, turned around and walked through my front door.  Thinking about tomorrow night gave me butterflies…  Thinking about Lucy gave me butterflies.

My Short Story

Lucy

“Lucy!  Lucy, what are you doing out here all by yourself?”

“Nothing Bryan, I’m just watching the surfers.”  I answered, trying not to sound annoyed.  Bryan thought he liked me, and it was a huge hassle.

“Oh, ok… Well, why don’t you come inside?”  Bryan was persistent, he didn’t mind that I never wanted to go anywhere with him, he just kept on asking.  He reminded me of a puppy that way.

“In a bit Bryan, I’ll come in when I’m hungry ok?”  I hoped this would satisfy him, make him stop asking questions.

“Yeah… Yeah that’s… That sounds cool.”  He smiled a small smile at me, I had disappointed him again.  He left, looking back at me, and then he quickly looked away again when he realized I was looking at him.  I giggled a little, Bryan made me laugh.  I wondered if he had realized that I was mostly focused on one surfer in particular.

He was really good.  Better than me, that’s for sure.  He caught the wave at just the right time, and controlled his board so well; he made it look so easy.  I wished I could be that good; I could barely stand up on my board.  He jumped off when he was close to shore and jogged out of the ocean.  He walked up to where I was sitting and sat down, setting his board beside him.  I wasn’t sure if he had noticed me or not, so I just sat in silence, waiting for him to say something.  I avoided looking at him, just in case he had seen me watching him, I didn’t want him to think I was a creeper or anything.

He looked over at me, smiling a little smile.  “So, you like what you saw?”  He was joking with me, I could tell from his tone.

“As a matter of fact, I did.”  I grinned at him, playing along.  “You’re quite good.”

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing.”  He stood up, and offered his hand.  I took it; it was big and rough with calluses, and stood in front of him.  “I’m Tyler.  It’s nice to meet you.”  He looked down at me and stuck out his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Lucy Fields,” I replied, shaking his hand.  “Do you come here often?  I’ve never seen you around before.”  I tried not to stare at him but I was failing miserably; he was extremely good looking.  He had dark blonde hair, and he was tanned from the sun.  He had an honest to god six-pack, with a trail of dark blonde hair travelling from his belly button and disappearing into his shorts. His arms were toned, from surfing or the gym, but probably both.  And he had a scar on his neck, about two centimetres long. I wanted to ask what it was from, but I didn’t want to offend him or something.

“No, I’m on break.”  He was still smiling at me, he had a nice smile.

“Oh, where do you go to school?”  I didn’t often try to be nice to guys, but I had a feeling about this one.

“Nowhere special…”  His smile dimmed a little, like there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“Ok, well… I’m having a barbeque up at my place… Do you wanna come?”  I wanted him to come, though I wasn’t sure why.  “You look like you could use some downtime.”

“Well… Um…”  He looked towards the road, his face unsure.  “Yeah, ok.  I’d love to.”  He looked back towards me, his mind seemingly made up.

“Good.  You can bring your board; it’s just up the beach a ways.”  He grabbed up his t-shirt and flip-flops from beside his board, lifted his board with one hand and waited for me to show him the way.  I walked next to him and listened as he told me stories about his school, and surfing.  I laughed along with him and told him my own stories about my life.  By the time we got to the party, I felt like I had known Tyler all my life.  I had never felt like that about someone before.

I introduced Tyler to my friends, and I noticed that they looked scared and I couldn’t figure out why they would be scared.  Then I realized that Tyler looked scary to them.  He was tall, muscled, and had a scar on his neck; I wondered why he hadn’t seemed scary to me.  I just thought that he looked good, nice, kind… All these things I thought, but I definitely did not think he was scary.

Tyler stuck with me the entire time, which I could understand, he didn’t know anyone.  I was glad when he didn’t ogle at all the hot girls milling around, that way I could pretend he was noticing me.  Though I don’t know why he would, I was plain compared to them.  I had medium length brown hair, I was average height, I was slim enough I guess, and my chest wasn’t huge… I was overall an average person.  But he didn’t seem to mind that, he kept looking at me and it made me feel good.  Like I wanted him to notice me, and I guess I did.  I was confusing myself because I hardly knew this guy, and yet I felt so attached to him.

He talked to my friends, he was polite and funny, and after a while I saw them loosening up.  I felt a glow of pride in knowing that I had brought such a good person over.  Even Bryan seemed to soften up a bit, though I could tell he was jealous.  I couldn’t help but giggle a little at the sour expression he made when Tyler wasn’t looking.

“Hey, I think it’s time for me to leave,” Tyler whispered this in my ear, and I shivered.

“Ok, I’ll drive you.”  I wanted to spend some more time with him.

“No, it’s alright, I can walk.  It’s not far from here.”

“I’ll come.”  I offered.

“Are you sure?  I mean, you don’t have to Lucy, I’ll be fine.”  It sounded like he wanted me to come, but wasn’t sure if I really wanted to.  But I had already started walking in what I hoped was the right direction.  He ran to catch up to me and we walked in silence to his house, which was actually pretty close to mine, maybe ten minutes away.  He stopped outside his front door, and looked at me.

“Listen Lucy… I had fun tonight.  I haven’t had that much fun in a long time… It was nice.  I feel like I know you, and tell me if I’m out of line ok?  But I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow night, maybe go for dinner?  I understand if you’re totally against that and that’s ok, I was ju-“

“I would love to Tyler.”  I cut him off mid sentence, before he could talk himself out of the idea.  “I’ll see you soon then, ok?”  I smiled at him.

“Yeah, yeah ok,” he smiled, I could see his teeth in the dark.

“Goodnight Tyler,” I whispered.  He ducked down and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

“Goodnight Lucy…”  He whispered it back to me and walked into his house.  I touched my cheek, wondering what it meant if a guy’s kiss stole your breath away, even if it was just on your cheek.

I walked back home slowly, thinking about Tyler, about how strongly I felt about him after just a day, and how I couldn’t wait for tomorrow night.