I stepped out of the car and gazed across the beautiful Pacific Ocean, deeply inhaling the fresh, salt air, then turned to smile into the eyes of my best friend, Rafael. His blue eyes danced with the beauty of the water spreading below us and he laughed like a child at his first glimpse of the beach.
"Like it, Rafe?"
"Love it." He answered, a soft note of reverence in his voice. Ever since Rafael was a kid, he'd always had an obsession with the ocean. The last trip we'd taken before his parents' divorce had been to Sanibel Island. We were seven at the time and I smiled at the recollection of the both of us running down the beach, chasing the sand pipers and gulls. He filled his tiny pockets with wet, sandy shells and fell asleep the first night with a conch shell in his arms and sand dollars under his pillow. At graduation, we promised each other that this year, after our first year of college, we'd road trip it out to Cali. And so, here we were. "Let's go down to the water."
We shucked off our shirts and shoes and complained all the way down the broken rock path until we had our toes in the soft sand and the surf rushing over our ankles. Soft feet and all, we chased each other until he shoved me into the water and the lifeguard blew his whistle, angrily waving his fluorescent orange flag in our direction. With a sheepish grin on his face, Rafael fished me out of the water and we tramped over to the tiny lifeguard hut, arms around each other as we laughed happily.
"What the hell is wrong with you people?"
Rafael and I looked at each other with silly grins on our faces, then turned back to him. "Nothing. What's wrong with you?"
"Rafe ... "
I loved my friend dearly but he had always had a mercurial streak and it was showing now. The guard leaped over the guardrail, whipping off his sunglasses in anger, stopping in his tracks when he got closer to us. It was lust at first sight and I sighed in recognition. Rafael was the most handsome young man I'd ever seen in my life and his half-Catalan, half-Sicilian looks had always gotten him noticed. The fact that he was gay didn't make matters any different; he never lacked for suitors which was probably why he never looked at me.
The bronze-bodied lifeguard stuck out his hand with a huge smile, crinkling the zinc oxide on his broad nose. "I'm Kent. New in town?"
"Just visiting." I supplied, hoping to break the spell but Rafael and Kent's hands remained locked. "I'm Chad and this is my friend, Rafael."
"Rafe." Rafael corrected me and I stood, stupefied at the change of events. We'd only been in town for twenty minutes and Rafael had already hooked up. This promised to be the most miserable summer of my life. Rafael and Kent began a mutual admiration society and I headed back down to the water, tracing designs in the packed sand and forcing my tears back. It was hopeless. I knew that now. The work I'd put into planning a perfect summer for us was for naught. "Hey, why'd you leave?"
I hastily wiped my tearing eyes and tried to gather myself as I bent to pick up a shell. "Conversation was boring."
Rafael put his arm around my shoulders and smiled. "He's a hunk, isn't he?"
"If you say so."
Rafael stared at me for a moment, then poked me in merriment. "We've been invited to a party tonight."
