Can You Hear the Ocean?

Chapter 6

Mia's head was nestled against Julian's shoulder as he lightly traced circles into her back. The thin sheets of her bed covered their bodies while the standing fan in Mia's room lightly blew back and forth, rustling Mia's hair every time the fan turned her direction. She let out a loud yawn, trying her best not to fall asleep, but the drowsiness of warm summer afternoons always seemed to be her weakness. Thankfully, Julian was in the mood to chat.

"How was your thing with your friend?" Julian asked.

"With Leila?" Mia wondered.

"Couldn't remember her name," Julian murmured, even though Mia had shared it countless times already. She supposed it couldn't be helped. Out of all her past boyfriends, Julian's memory had to be the worst.

"It was good," she said. "I mean, it was weird too. But I think I enjoyed myself."

"Look at you, making friends!" Julian teased. His fingers gently stroked her chin. "Will you hang out with her again?"

"Probably," Mia murmured.

Julian leaned forward and kissed her. As Mia gazed up into his brown eyes, she realized his look had grown more into one of seriousness. She reached up and gently stroked her fingertips against the stubble on his chin.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"It's nothing," Julian said. "I guess...well, I guess I'm almost a little jealous that not all of your attention is on me anymore."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Don't be so concerned. Of course I want to spend most of my time with you. You're all I think about it," she murmured, leaning forward to kiss him again. Julian smiled at her and moved his arm to draw her closer, but Mia pushed it away. "That being said," she said, sitting up and letting the covers fall from her shoulders, "I have my shift in an hour, so you're going to have to get dressed and leave soon."

Julian let out a long, disgruntled sigh.

"Hey, you've been here twenty-four hours now!" Mia complained as she picked her clothes up off the floor and began dressing herself.

"I know, I know," Julian grumbled.

As Mia fastened her belt back into place and smoothed out the edges of her blouse, she noticed Julian picking up the seashell on the nightstand by her bedside. Her heart skipped for a second, worried he might break it, but he only rolled it over and his palm and set it down.

"You moved it," he said.

"Moved what?"

"The seashell. Didn't it used to be on your dresser instead?" he wondered. "You moved it closer to your bed."

"Oh. I didn't realize," Mia said. She was now standing in front of her mirror, smoothing out her hair with a brush. She reached for one of her hairclips, clipping back the front strands of hair so they were out of her face.

"It's from here, isn't it? I used to collect shells down by the beach when I moved here in middle school," Julian said. "They looked like this."

"Yeah," Mia said.

"So you collected shells too?" Julian wondered.

"I didn't collect that one," Mia said as she applied some makeup to her face. She wasn't sure why she bothered. She often ended up sweating it off during her work shift anyway.

"Where'd you get this, then?"

Mia set her mascara down. "I don't remember. Stop touching my things, will you? Get some pants on, I have to leave soon."

After another long sigh, Julian finally got out of bed. As Mia tidied her things and finished getting ready for her work shift, she walked Julian to the front door of her apartment and gave him a quick peck to the cheek as he headed out.