Ocean Scars

Flying Sparks | 1

I dug my feet into the cold sand as the water of the waves rode up my shorts. The sea foam rests on my outer thigh as I mess with it.

It should be any second now, I thought. I peered at my phone as it shone in the dark night light. 22:17. I then looked up at the sky. The stars were falling. The purple mixed in with navy blue, black, and the bright specks of white painted my mind with delight. I could feel myself start to slightly smile.
It was so beautiful.

"They're very pretty, right?" A voice suddenly appeared beside me. I turned to look who it could possibly be. I see a boy with sparklers in both his hands stare at me. As I meet his eyes, he smiles. He then sticks out his arm offering me a sparkler. "Happy Matsuri."

I give him a confused look but accept the sparkler out of his hand. I twirl it around my fingers as it lightly pops and crackles. As I am finished being mesmerized, I sigh and shift my focus back to the falling stars.

I felt the strong gaze of the boy staring at me.

"Do you...need something?" I asked. I turned around so I could grasp a good look at him. His lips parted a bit but he then shut them. He sat down beside me and also stared at the stars. "...Not really. I just kinda saw you sitting here alone so I thought I'd come by." The boy confessed.

If I were going to be honest, I just wanted to be by myself. I didn't want to be part of those loud obnoxious parties everyone goes to nowadays. I took my sparkler and drowned it into the sea water. It lightly sizzled.

"Are you from around here? You don't sound very Japanese." He asked. I glanced at him. He turns to look at me."You ask a lot of questions." I said.

I could see his smile lines burrow down slightly. "...Sorry.." The boy quietly apologized.

He turns back to face the water looking up at the stars. I also look back at the stars. A few moments pass by as I hear fireworks going on from another direction. The tension between me and the boy grow as we both stay silent. I momentarily sigh inside.

"I was born here." I answered honestly. The boy looked at me. "You were? Have I seen you around then?" I shook my head. "Probably not; I moved to North Carolina when I was 7." I said.

"Ah, so you're one of those Outer Banks girls." He said. I gave him a weird look. "I guess you could say that..." I answered. I chewed on my inner cheek. "...Is there something wrong with that?" I hesitantly asked. The boy's face grew red.

"No, there isn't. I didn't mean it like that." He shook his head and faced the opposite direction in what I assumed embarrassment. "..I meant it as in, you're used to the being around the water, you've never really been around here in the country side, and stuff like that." He exclaimed. He then continued to cover his face with his hands. I laughed. I could see him peek at me through the cracks of his fingers.

"Oh no, I know." I answered. I continued to laugh. The boy removed his hands from his face and sat there quietly in embarrassment. "But didn't you know North Carolina is part of the country side too?" The boy perked his head back up. "It is? I thought everyone lived in those expensive beach houses by the water." I laughed at his remark. "Do you really think that North Carolina only consists of the Outer Banks? If anything but a beach, we'd be considered a tropical island and not part of America."

The boy sat there trying to process everything I had just told him. "I see.." He quietly said to himself.

I'm not sure why I told this boy everything about me. I should've just kept quiet. But for some reason, I felt okay enough to tell him. I don't even know his name yet and neither does he know mine.

"..What's your name?" I asked the boy. He looked back up at me. "It's Kenta." He answered. "What's yours?" I twiddled with my fingers. "..Summer." I hesitantly said.

"Summer? What a unique name. You're named after a season." Kenta said. I slightly frowned; Kenta noticed. "Did I say something wrong..?" He asked me.

"I'm not sure if you mean that as an insult or a compliment." I sarcastically laughed quietly to myself. Kenta went quiet but then eventually told me, "It's a compliment, Summer. I think your name is really...beautiful." He replied.

Kenta then put his hands to his mouth which makes me think he didn't mean to say a certain word out loud. "Beautiful?" I questioned him teasingly. He then coughed and cleared out his throat. "Summer is my favourite season. It's when you can go to the beach, when school goes out, when you can mess around and be yourself." Kenta explained.

"Mhm, I see." I said. We both made eye contact and completely bursted out laughing. "Well, I think I should head back now. My friends are probably waiting for me." Kenta pointed to his friends a little far behind us.

There were a couple guys and two girls eating and drinking around a campfire. They all looked like they were having fun.

Kenta got up and brushed the falling sand off his shorts. Just as he was about to leave, it looked like he needed to say something. He was writing something down. "Oh and, here's my line just in case, y'know?" He said. He handed me a piece of paper.

On the front of the paper, it had his line with his full name. 'Kenta Yuuzen' I turned the paper around to see a little message for me.
'I think you're a great girl, Summer...and pretty cute at that. Text me sometime, will you? I had a nice time talking with you tonight.'

Once I had read the message, I looked up at him and chuckled at him. He smiled back at me. "See you around, Summer." I stared at him as he ran off to his friends. I scoffed but not in an annoyed way. This boy, I thought. I got up and walked home.