Ocean State of Mind

Settling In

I walked into my new LA home with my long term boyfriend, Ej Caswell. We've been going out for almost six years, we were high school sweethearts and kept a long distance relationship over college. He hasn't popped the question yet, but I'm not in that much of a rush with him. "I'm so glad we moved here! Seriously, Neens, I've wanted nothing more than to get out of Salt Lake." Ej said as we walked into our new kitchen. "Yeah... I guess" I said, opening up one of the many boxes. "What do you mean?" Ej asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. I sighed and fell back into his embrace. "I don't know... I just up and left my job, we don't know anyone here, and you'll be working late." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Babe, come on... you know it's just until things settle. Plus, one of us has to be the money maker!" Ej exclaimed, going over to another stack of boxes. "I know! And I know how hard you've worked for all this, but what am I going to do? I know I'll find a job soon and all, but what am I supposed to do until then?" I asked pulling out my ukulele, not missing the way he rolled his eyes as I pulled it out. Let me just tell you a little secret, the only thing that I don't love about Ej is that he has absolutely no passion for music. Or at least not like mine. Music- it's the only thing that keeps me moving at times, its how I like to tell my story. According to Ej, though, it's just song after song. He's more into sports. But hey, everyone has flaws right?

"I still don't know why you brought that, you already made me get you a piano" The raven haired man said, laughing. "Hey! I love music! I don't bug you about your 'man cave' so don't bug me about my music" I said carefully placing my uke down. "Okay, okay! Sorry... forgive me?" Ej asked, putting his hands in the air. I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. "I guess" I said.

"Thank you" he said placing a soft kiss on my lips. "I hate to leave but my boss said I have to come by his office as soon as possible. Maybe you should go look around the town! I saw on our way up here that there was a cute little shop down by the beach that needed employees" Ej said, walking over to grab his things. "Babe, you know I hate the beach!" I said, pouting.

"Come on, Nina. You've been in SLC for far too long! You're going to need to start loving the beach at some point" he exclaimed. I sighed, knowing he was right. Whether I liked it or not, this was home now. "Fine. I'll take a peek." I told him, hesitantly. "Should I expect you to be back for dinner?" I asked as I grabbed my car keys. "Sorry, I can't babe. The guys want to take me out for dinner, and I really want my co-workers to like me so..." Ej said with his oh so famous puppy dog eyes.

I rolled my eyes, nodding my head slowly. "And so it begins. I'll order some pizza for myself and watch Crazy Stupid Love since you hate the movie so much" I huffed.

"It's not that I don't love it! I just don't enjoy watching my girlfriend drool over Ryan Gosling" Ej grimaced. I laughed, grabbed my sunglasses and pecked Ej on the cheek. "Don't worry, you're the only guy for me." I winked before walking out.

****

I got into the driver's seat of my ironically named Malibu that we drove here. "Bye, Neens! I love you!" Ej yelled as he got in his car, "love you too!" I said, and with that we drove our separate ways. I turned on some music and let the cool breeze from the ocean roll through my windows. I guess I could get used to this. There was a beach close by with a bunch of cute little shops on it. I also saw a bunch of people surfing.

Ej surfs, having spent a couple of summers in Hawaii as a kid, but I cannot. I'll enjoy the view, because, honestly... how can I not? I know I've got Ej, but I can still look can't I?

I pulled into a parking lot and got out. I saw lots of people walking around, laughing and I saw a few people playing some music. I smiled and stopped to listen for a few minutes, throwing a $20 into the girls guitar case. She nodded at me as a "Thanks" and I gave her a small wave in return as I continued walking.