I wonder if when the time comes, if I’ll be brave and smart enough for a good college to want me. I only have one more year of High School. I have to make those nine months count.
My heart races when I hear Ben downstairs, greeting my mom. I tug on my sandals and fly downstairs. I try not to look too excited, but fail miserably.
“Hey, Malina,” Ben says, grinning at me. He is wearing a t-shirt and khaki shorts that have a number of deep pockets. His feet are bare and he is covered in sand from head to toe.
“Hi,” I say. My mom leaves us alone, heading back into the living room where the TV hums in the corner.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks, opening the front door for me.
“Yes,” I say, but he shuts the door back lightly.
“It’s a little chilly out tonight. Maybe you should go and get a jacket?” he suggests. I give him a strange look being that he is in shorts and t-shirt, with no shoes or socks on. But, without a word, I leap up the stairs and into McKenna’s room, where she is still surrounded by books and notepads.
“Hey,” I greet her breathlessly. “Do you still have that hot pink jacket mom got you for your birthday?” I wonder.
She glances up from her notebook. “It’s in the closet. Why?”
“Ben says it’s chilly out tonight,” I say, opening her closet doors. I wrench it from the hanger and throw it over my shoulder as I leave. “Thank you,” I call to her.
Ben leads me by hand along the street, grinning from ear to ear like a kid on Christmas. I giggle.
“Where are we going?” I ask. He laughs.
“Close your eyes,” he orders. I do as he says. “Now,” he coos softly, directly in front of me. “Take off your sandals,” he murmurs. His voice is right by my ear now. I bend to take them off, letting them hang on the tips of my fingers.
“Perfect,” he says, further away now. “Just trust me and take my hand.”
So now I am blind, barefoot and blushing as I await what Ben has been so happy about all day. We walk along the rough, dry pavement, careful not to step on loose pebbles. Ben was right. It’s chilly. My feet are cold. I wonder why he had me take my shoes off.
“Ben…” I say wearily.
“Don’t open them,” he says, walking a little faster. “I’ll cry if you do,” he jokes.
“Can you at least tell me where we’re going?” I ask.
He chuckles. “Patience, Malina.”
Suddenly, my feet touch cool, slick grass. Then, in an instant, we are going downhill. I hold onto him tightly, praying silently that I don’t slip.
“I won’t let you fall,” Ben says, as if reading my thoughts. He wraps his arm around my waist, coming to stand behind me when we reach the bottom of the hill. I hear the gentle waves. I smell the sea. My picnic on the beach…
“Can I open them now?” I whisper. All of my senses are on fire. I can hear everything, feel everything… now I want to see.
“Keep going,” he says softly, right behind my ear. I quicken my pace and he chuckles. We are going towards the water, I know that much. A boat flashes in my mind.
Oh, please tell me he didn’t put my picnic on a boat… I know I’ll get seasick. That would ruin our night for sure.
He brings me to a halt. We are very close to the water.
“Okay,” he says. “Open them, beautiful.”
My eyes pop open and adjust to the sudden muted light. I glance down at the dark blanket on the sand. There are water bottles and salads with all of my favorite vegetables. It’s a sweet dinner for two. Healthy and romantic.
“Ben!” I gasp. He grins. “This is amazing!” I glance around. We’re the only ones at the beach. The sun is setting, the air is crisp and cool and my stomach growls at the very thought of those delicious salads. There’s a cooler beside Ben as he sits, motioning me to sit with him.
“Salads, because you’re a health nut,” he says, motioning towards them.
“Walk forward,” he says simply. He guides me. My feet touch the sand.
He picks up a water bottle, holding it with two hands; on it’s side, like you would hold wine in an upscale restaurant. I giggle.
“Our finest water… for the lady,” he says, handing it to me. It’s perfect; room temperature. “I picked them out myself…”
I grin as I watch him. He opens the cooler again and pulls out two vegan peanut butter cookies. “Dessert,” he explains.
“This is so great.” I say.
“I’m glad you like it,” he murmurs, leaning over to kiss me. “I gotta tell you, you look stunning.”
My face floods with emotion and my cheeks burn red-hot.
“You look pretty amazing yourself,” I tell him. He kisses me again, holding my lips against his.
“Okay,” he says as he pulls away. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“What?” I say. What else could there be? This is so perfect; I want to jump for joy.
He stands and steps away from the blanket. His face is lightened with excitement, even more so than before. He’s starting to worry me a little. I’ve never heard of someone as young as him having a heart attack… but I suppose there’s always that small chance.
“Stay here. It may be a minute. Eat your salad. But not the cookies... Listen to the waves. I’ll be right back.”
I watch him leave, wondering what on Earth he is up to now. I take a bite of my salad, sticking my fork in a crispy green cucumber slice. I pop it in my mouth and groan.
Ben made this perfectly.
As I eat, I listen to the waves and smell the fresh, clean air. It’s heavenly out here. It’s peaceful and clean. To be honest, you can’t get things like this back in Tennessee.
I wish Addie were here to experience all of these things with me. I want her to swim in the ocean and eat dinner in the sand. I want her to meet Ben and Emily. I want to hug her and lie in bed talking about silly things like what nail polish will match my new outfit, or which boy she is currently crushing on. I want to have study weekends with her, where we sit in her room eating and talking and studying for finals and end-of-the-week tests. We both typically earn good grades, mostly because of each other’s support. These thoughts make me want to cry, so I push them away and out of my mind. I don’t want to ruin the rest of tonight with Ben, after he clearly worked so hard.
The bottom line is… I miss my friend. Things are so different in my life now, over the course of one summer. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of it all.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, bringing me out of Tennessee, and back onto the beach. Ben is missing in action, so I check the text, expecting it to be my mother wondering where I am, or Emily telling me goodnight.
My stomach tightens when I see that it’s Jacob. I swallow hard and take a deep breath before viewing the text.
I want you back, Malina. I know I’ve messed up a lot… but you love me. I miss you, It says. I stare at my phone screen for what feels like a century, arguing with myself as to whether I should answer the text, and tell him to leave me the hell alone, or just ignore it.
I hear Ben making his way back, so I set my phone down, ignoring the text for now. Jacob can wait. This is more important.
“Close your eyes!” Ben calls, making his way down the small hill. I giggle and shut my eyes. I hear him coming. He trudges across the sand, making his way to me.
When I hear whimpering, I become very worried.
“Okay,” he says. “Open them.”
I slowly open my eyes and gasp. A small puppy races into my arms, licking and pawing at me with its tiny pup paws. Ben got me a puppy! A sweet golden retriever puppy!
“Oh my gosh!” I say. “Is he for me?” I ask.
“He’s ours,” he tells me. “We will share him. He can stay with you for a few days and then he can come and stay with me and Em.”
“Awwww, Ben!” I say, hugging him to my chest. I rub his ears and kiss his wet little nose. He has sweet little puppy breath. “He’s perfect!”
I let
him go and he takes off, hopping and jumping and racing off across the sand. I leap to my feet and follow him, running along the beach after him. He charges into the water, hopping feet first into the first wave. He barks as I catch up to him, and rolls onto the sand, rubbing his back and stomach along the dirt.
I laugh out of pure joy. He’s the perfect present… and now, he’s completely filthy.
We run along the beach until he finally tuckers himself out. When he does, he slowly slinks towards me, covered in wet sand, with his ears down and his eyes tired. I pick up him, petting him gently as I slowly walk my way back to Ben, who is now sitting and eating alone. I plant myself across from him and set the puppy down between us. He lays his head down on my leg and I rub his cute tummy.
“I love him, Ben,” I murmur.
“Who is Jacob?” he asks, his voice is stressed, as if he expects bad news.
My eyes flash towards his face. His eyes are wide, ready for the worst.
“How do you know about Jacob?” I demand. That’s when I see my phone in his hand. The text that Jacob had sent is open. It looks as if he sent me another while I was playing with the puppy. And Ben saw it… Oh, no.
I snatch my phone away from him. “That’s really rude, you know,” I snap.
“Who is he?” he snaps back. He’s angry, most likely hurt. I bite my lip afraid he won’t understand.
“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” I say. “We aren’t together.” I make that clear. “Nor do I want to be with him. But he messaged me, so I ignored it. But I guess he isn’t going to leave me alone that easily.”
“He’s your ex?” he asks. “Do you still talk to him?”
“No!” I say. “No, not at all.”
He’s quiet for a moment, glaring at me. Seconds tick by, feeling like minutes, the puppy falls asleep.
“Ben,” I murmur. “Please, don’t let this ruin our night. I’m having such an amazing time. He isn’t worth ruining tonight.”
He thinks for a moment before sighing, his expression softens.
“You have no feelings for him?” he asks. I shake my head, firmly saying ‘Hell No’.
That part of my life is over and done. I’ll have to make that clear to Jacob, no matter how much it hurts either one of us.
“Good,” he says. “Block his number.”
“What?”
“Block his number. So he can’t bother you anymore,” he says. “Unless you want him to bother you?” he asks, skeptically. I squint at him.
“I don’t,” I say firmly. “I’ll do it later,” I tell him, shoving my phone in my pocket.
“Lets just finish our dinner,” I say, popping a baby tomato in my mouth. As I bite into it, it bursts in my mouth, leaving cool, tangy liquid. I really don’t want Jacob ruining my relationship with Ben. I would be crushed.
We eat and talk and feed the dog every now and then. Ben talks about how he’s going to start trying to be healthier. I talk about how nervous and excited I am for school. He asks me what I plan to do after I graduate.
“McKenna is in college now,” I tell him. “And she’s completely swamped with books and tests and assignments…” I pause. “I just don’t know if I want to stay in school that long.”
“It’s going to be hard,” he says. “But in the end, you get better jobs, higher pay, and most importantly, you get to feel proud of yourself. You get to have something that no one can take away from you,” he says. “Education.”
“Why don’t you go to college, then?” I ask. “Emily will be fine, Ben.”
“I will go,” he says. “When she gets better.”
“Okay, then,” I murmur. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He smirks. “I’ll go if you go,” he challenges. I think about that for a moment. What could a little challenge hurt? If I go, he goes. That sounds pretty good to me.
“Okay,” I happily agree. “You’re on.”
He chuckles. As he does, we hear thunder overhead. We both look up to see lightning coming off of the water. The puppy whines and crawls into Ben’s lap. Ben groans.
“I didn’t know it was going to storm tonight,” he says. The water begins to move with the wind. I stare at it, watching it rock and swish towards us and away from us.
“Since it isn’t raining yet… do you wanna stay?” he asks. I grin and nod.
“That could be fun,” I say and lean over to kiss him and pet the puppy’s head.
I finish my salad and place my trash into the cooler. Ben stands to play with the puppy, wrestling with him with a new toy he had bought. I watch them and smile.
I love watching Ben do things. His body is so effortlessly fit, and he is so handsome. I wonder if he feels the same about me.
I’m brought violently out of my trance when suddenly a wave of cold water washes over the picnic and me. I scream, standing quickly, shivering. Ben’s eyes shoot up.
“Oh, no!” I say as our picnic is washed out. Our water bottles and leftover salad roll into the ocean, along with the rest of the contents of the cooler. We stand stunned for a long moment. I glance at Ben, who suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter.
“Wow,” he laughs. “I didn’t see that coming.”
The wave comes back, only allowing us to have our soiled vegan cookies. They are soaked and crumbing, so I just leave them.
“I’m sorry, Malina,” Ben says, still chuckling.
“It’s alright,” I giggle and kiss him. We kiss for a long moment. Our lips work together in harmony, and my heart pounds and my head spins. For a second, we are the only people on Earth.
“We better get home before the storm gets any worse,” I murmur against his lips. He kisses me once more before pulling away and bending down to pick up the dog.
“Who gets him first?” Ben wonders, rubbing the dog’s ear. The puppy slowly licks his hand. The little guy is so tired, I’m sure he’ll be asleep all night.
“Is it okay if I have him first?” I wonder softly. We start to walk back towards the street. I enjoy the feeling of sand between my toes. It’s relaxing. I wish we could stay out here all night.
“Of course you can have him first,” Ben says. “There’s a bag of puppy food in my car. He’s gotten all of his shots, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Thank you, Ben,” I say, taking the puppy from him. The blanket we had used for the picnic is thrown over my shoulder, dripping with water. Ben carries the cooler, and when we reach our houses, he puts all of the stuff in his car that is parked out on the street. He grabs the small bag of dog food and follows me into my house.
My mom is in bed, so Ben comes up to my room. In the back of my mind, I wonder if McKenna is still awake. It’s late, so most likely, she’s passed out. She’s so tired lately. She says she’s fine, and that she’s making good grades, but sometimes I wonder if college is too much for her to handle. But, I guess that’s why it’s such a big deal to graduate College. Degrees and diplomas aren’t supposed to be easy to get, I guess.
“Are you going to stay tonight?” I ask as we climb the stairs. The puppy is deadweight in my arms. He’s so tired, I almost feel bad. I amble right into my room and place him on the bed. He sniffs around my blanket and crawls up towards my pillows, getting comfortable. Ben sets the dog food on the floor, beside my bedside table. I turn on the lamp and the small light makes my room look smaller, but romantic and cozy. I set my shoes down on the floor.
“No,” Ben says. “I have to be home tonight. Emily and I are going to have a movie night.”
“Oh,” I say, smiling. “Well thank you for the lovely evening, Ben. I had fun,” I say. “Even though I didn’t get my vegan cookie… I’m soaking wet and freezing and I’ve got sand in very embarrassing places,” I giggle.
He laughs and kisses me. “It was my pleasure. And you’re not alone on the sand thing.” He grins.
He turns to leave, but I grab a hold of arm, keeping him prisoner there in front of me for a moment longer. I kiss him, wrapping my arms around his shoulde
rs. He pulls me in close, but quickly pulls away.
“I’ll stay tomorrow, okay?” he says quietly. “I promise.”
“Okay,” I sigh, but smile at him. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Beautiful.”
I watch him leave and then change into clean, dry shorts and a tank top. The puppy is curled up in my spot on the bed, breathing slowly. I think he’s dreaming. I tiptoe over to McKenna’s room, pushing her door open. She lies, still surrounded by books. They are now closed and pushed to one side of her bed. She breathes slowly and deeply, like the puppy. I steal her laptop and creep back to my room.
I watch a comedy while trying to go to sleep. The pup squirms and rolls around after I move him, trying to get comfortable. He finally rests on my pillow right above my head. I giggle at him, and stroke his fur before turning back to my movie.
I drift to sleep soon after that, but first, I message Jacob. I can’t talk to you anymore. We are over. Please, stop messaging me. Goodbye. To which he replies, Addie told me about your new boyfriend. You’ll miss me soon enough.
And with that, I delete and block his number. He’s gone, once and for all.
Chapter Ten:
There are three weeks left of summer, and I decide I should get a job to pass the time. Ben and Emily think that idea is perfect. My mom, however, wants to know every detail of the job I’m going to be applying for.
“I haven’t decided yet, Mom,” I say to her at breakfast. “Ben and Emily are going to take me job hunting today. But I’ll clear it with you before I apply to anything,” I promise her. She frowns.
“A job…” she murmurs. “My little girl is growing up.”
I grin, but roll my eyes. “Come on, Mom.”
She smiles and hugs me as she walks by. “I’ll see you when I come home,” she calls over her shoulder.
Malina Beach: A Paradise Island Series Page 11