Our Time Around The Sun

Chapter 3

Ace and Sanchez start building a sandcastle while I sit out on a lounge chair in the sun. It feels like they've been working on it for hours even though it's only been 45 minutes. When I check to see what they are doing, a girl walks right in front of me.

She's beautiful. She's got long, dark hair and tan skin. I don't know why I have this sudden urge to get up and talk to her. I guess she just really caught my attention, almost like a form of gravitational pull. Like the tides of the ocean.

I choose to not get up out of my chair. That would probably be a little weird if I got up and did that, maybe even a little creepy. I hope I see her around, she's kinda cute. Sanchez saw her too and walked over to me, sitting down in the other chair as he started talking.

"Hey did you see that girl." Sanchez asks me. He knows that I saw her. I'm not even sure why he's asking. "Yeah. I saw her. Why do you ask?" I tell him. I wonder if he knows I had to resist the urge of getting out of my chair and go talk to her. It was like an instinct.

"What. You didn't think that she was cute?" he asks with a smirk. I did think she was cute but I didn't want to say anything out of the fear of him going up to her and saying that I thought that she was cute. That sounds like something he would do. I just refuse to say anything. He'll just end up asking me questions later.

"Nice sandcastle guys." I say when I look at it. I do that just to throw Sanchez off so I don't have to respond to his question. I'm really good at deflecting. It tends to work. I'm surprised that he never catches on. I suppose that can be a good thing sometimes.

Ace is trying to bury himself and it's funny watching him get frustrated. But I walk over and help him. "Hey Ace, you need some help?" I ask. "Yes please. I can't bury myself." He says as he continues to try to bury himself. He's really adorable when he gets frustrated.

I walk over there as Ace continues to struggle, but by the time that I get over there he finally decides to stop. Big brother to the rescue. Man this kid can be super stubborn sometimes.

"Hey Scott, did you see that girl that walked past us a little while ago?" Ace asks. I did but why is he asking? Does he know that I saw her and is pulling my leg about it? "Yes I did see her. Why do you ask?" I respond. He's probably trying to get me to say something I don't want to admit to.

I would have thought that he heard my conversation with Sanchez, but I guess he didn't. It's okay though. I don't even remember what Ace says half the time, but that's mostly because I don't pay attention that much. I don't know if that's good or bad. Depends on the situation I guess.

"Because I saw you eyeing her when she came past us." Apparently he chooses the wrong time to look back at us. He's a very observant 8-year- old, don't let him fool you. There's not much I can say in response to that so I just decide to keep my mouth shut. Is it just me, or does anyone else hate awkward silence after someone tries to call you out and put you on the spot like that. Especially when your little brother says it.

"Hey Ace, you starting to get hungry?" I asked. He probably is but hasn't said anything. "Yeah, why? Is it lunchtime already?" he responds. You would have thought that he knew what time it was based on the question I just asked but I guess he can't take a hint.

"It is, why do you think I called you over here." I say to him as I try to hold down a laugh. I can't really blame him because he's 8 and sometimes misses things that most people catch on to, as most 8 year olds are. He's still learning so I can't really blame him. "I don't know, I thought you wanted something," he says to me. "Well I wanted to inform you that it was time for lunch." I respond.

"Oh okay." he says as he walks over to sit down in the empty chair. A while after we get done eating, we decide that now might be a good time to leave before more people decide to show up. We pack up our things as we start heading out and get back to the car.

"Am I driving? Or do you want to." I ask Sanchez. "It's your car man. I can drive if you want me to." he responds. I drive almost everywhere so I let him drive home this time. I throw the keys at him and we leave.