A Tail of Two

I

I sat in the car, scrolling on her phone as my little sister Dottie played on her Ipad. She was absolutely addicted to that thing. She loved it so much. I took my phone out of my pocket and scrolled on it. Everyone was getting ready for the Summer vacations, going to Disneyland, or Universal, but here I am, going to the same old beach house on the same old beach.

"Mom, how come we're going to the same beach house as last year, and the year before that and the year before that?" I asked. My mother looked at the rearview mirror, making eye contact with me. "Honey, this house has some significance to us that's why. I know it's a long drive." "Mom, it's not that long. I guess." I said. Sleepy Hollow wasn't that far from Montauk. It was only 2 hours if traffic wasn't too bad, but some years it took 4. It varied. "It's literally just a beach house, can't we just go somewhere else?" I pleaded. Dad chuckled. "If something that had deep significance, to you, would you just abandon it?" He asked. I bit my lip and hesitated. I groaned and sat back in my chair.

I looked out of the window and the sun was beginning to set.It looked nice. We'd reached the the Summer town Hamptons. I looked out the window and smiled. No matter how much I didn't look forward to this trip, some of the kids on the street were kids I'd seen last year. It was cool to kinda see them grow up. Some stayed the exact same, and some I couldn't even recognize anymore. The sky was tinted a light rose along with a vibrant orange and yellow. Sunsets had always seemed so nice. "Mommy, can we stop to get ice cream?" Dottie asked, looking up from her Ipad. "No Polka Dot, we can't stop now, there's already so much traffic, and your father and I would like to be there before sunset." She said calmly looking outside with worry on her face. "Aw." She said. "Maybe I can take you, you know once we get there. We've been here so many times, and I'm sure we can walk or bike!" I say, trying to cheer her up again. She nodded and looked down.

It was nearing dusk outside, and mom seemed increasingly worried. Traffic had sped up, but we still at least 5 - 10 minutes left of driving. I opened my phone and scrolled through Instagram. I saw people posting pictures of themselves in an airport, or lounging in a hotel room. It seemed like everyone was going on vacation. I moved to Snapchat and saw I had a chat from Avery. I opened up my phone and he'd sent me a silly picture of himself at the airport, with a caption, "Would I be your airport crush?" I smiled to myself and texted him back. Ofc you would! Avery was my best friend, but I'd never taken romantic interest in him, and he'd never taken one in me. Sure, he'd flirt with me or tell me his stupid pick-up lines here and there, but we weren't dating or anything. Out relationship was and is completely platonic.

It's weird how a 10 minutes felt like 1, because before I knew it, we were pulling up into the drive-thru, dusk was just ending, and it seemed it was finally nighttime. Even though I saw the beach house every year, it was never a sight that got old. While my parents unloading everything, I went over to the beach. I could smell the salty just as I approached the sand. When I touched the sand, something felt different. It felt almost list a second home. Just like she could get lost in the waves and the sand and never come back. Just then, it looked like she saw something splash in the distance.