OUR HEARTBEAT [BEOMJUN] ✅

eleven

I sat on the dock at the marina, wiping down WaveRunner number four with a soapy sponge. My phone was tucked into my board shorts and my earbuds were firmly in place. I was fifteen minutes into the First Dates podcast Aein had recommended I listen to, and I’d laughed approximately fifty times. That was about three times a minute. No wonder Arin had wanted me to listen to this podcast—it was good. And I needed to get better.

I was going to get better. Mainly to prove everyone wrong. My parents thought I was only choosing the lake and marina because it was easy? So I’d get better at the podcast and prove to them that I would still choose the lake. That way, they’d realize I knew exactly what I wanted, no matter what I was good at.

“I figure if I go on a first date once a week,” Winter, one of the hosts, was saying, “I can save approximately a hundred dollars a month in food.”

“You never pay?” Karina (the other host) asked.

“I offer to pay for the second date. That saves me even more money.”

“Why?” Karina asked.

“Because I rarely have second dates.”

I giggled. The First Dates podcast, while making me feel worse about my podcasting ability, was making me feel slightly better about my dating life. And with my feet dangling in the lake, I always felt better. “I like this strategy,” Karina said. “How has this not come up before?”

“We’ve been too busy talking about deworming cats and selling used cars and opening avocado-based food trucks,” Winter replied. Their dates always talked about the weirdest things, but that made the show hilarious.

“Good point,” Karina said. “We’ve learned so much from our first dates. And from yours, listeners, so keep them coming, people. We feed off your misery.”

Winter and Karina were definitely better at playing off of each other than Sieun and I were. Well, better than me, in any case. Sieun was great. She could have joined right in with Karina and Winter.

While the podcast went to commercial, I grabbed the folded towel next to me and dried off the seat of the WaveRunner. The sun was setting, throwing oranges and pinks onto the lake. I watched a large speedboat race across the water, pulling a skier behind it.

One of my earbuds was tugged from my ear and I whirled around to see my dad standing there.

“Hi,” I said, taking the other earbud out as well.

He smiled. “Hey, welcome back to the real world.”

“Sorry, were you calling me?”

He took his baseball cap off and ran a hand over his bald head. “What are you listening to?”

“A podcast.”

“For your class?”

“Sort of.”

“Are you done here?” Dad asked, gesturing to the WaveRunners.

“Almost.”

“Okay. I locked up the marina. Will you just padlock the gate on your way out?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks, kid.”

I put my earbuds back in. I hadn’t hit PAUSE, so it took me a second to get back into it, but that was all. Only a second. That’s how engaging the hosts were. That’s what I had to work on—being engaging.

—————

I stared at the microphone. It loomed in front of me. I couldn’t believe Ms. Lee still wanted me to be the one talking into it.