The summer I met Charlie

part 3

I was sick. Sadly though my sickness wasn't caused from something normal like moms dinner or catching something from Olive. No my sickness was caused by something beautiful. Something that had to end with a crash. My dream.

   The water was warm as I jumped in after him. He disappeared for a moment and came back up with me in his arms. He smiled as I moved the hair out of his face. The sun was shining down on our little beach. I was happy today. Something about this stranger made me feel safe.

     Soon we were running on the sand. I was ahead of him. Running as fast as I could. He was giving me a head start. He was a bit closer now. Every part of my body was craving more of him. He was so different. Something magical.  He grabbed me then, and slid his hands around my waist pulling me closer to his face.  I closed my eyes and felt his mouth move down to my neck. As we continued to kiss, my feet came off the ground as he picked me up and put me on our towel. My legs moving around him. Only then did I open my eyes. I was sitting on our towel and he had disappeared. The sand still shown our foot prints. But they too started to disappear.

The salt water burned as it ran down my cheeks, I was alone. Charlie had left me. 

When I had woken up from my nightmare I slipped out of the covers and walked over the plush rug to my mirror.  I half expected to see some horrible face in the glass behind me, but there was only me. A girl who was still not used to the idea of her own face.

10 minutes later.

 Why was I getting so caught up in this mess with Charlie? There wasn't even a mess. Just some absurd fantasy that I have been constructing in my mind from nothing. The next few days were more or less the same. I woke up and ran. I would run to my beach and he wouldn't be there. I would come home and watch Olive. And then I would do it again the fallowing days. I was getting worried that I was becoming obsessed. I had to call Carla and tell her about my fixation with him...

"You like him." When she said this, I was worried because it was not a question, only a statement. And with her having gathered the facts already meant that she had her mind made up. And I was going to have to hear it.

"You need to stop worrying about him though. He sounds pretty nice from what I can gather, but he isn't really acting interested if he isn't going back to the place that he knows you will go every morning. Then well...and I mean who is the Jane chick any way? And when did you start to jog? Last semester I begged you to join track for how long?"

"I know." Was all I could manage to say because Olive had grabbed a cup of juice and had dropped it on the floor.  

I probably should have told Carla that there wasn't anything even remotely going on with Charlie. That the most we had done was order some drinks from the guy, and he wrote a "I know where your from" note. I was hopeless. 

The following day I decided to do something crazy. I had gotten up earlier then most days and had jogged to my private beach. I was hot, sweaty, and wanted to be over this made up Charlie character. It had been more then a week since the last time I had seen him, and during the  summer time, that was way too long!

I ran all the way to the far side of the beach. Slimy sea weed crawled up past the small slippery rocks, and the waves rumbled and tumbled onto the shore. I shimmied out of my sneakers, socks, and shorts. The  shirt was a bit harder, but soon I was down to my bra and my favorite pair of underwear. 

The water was freezing as I slid my toes in. Then my feet. How could the seals stand it? They were zipping around and splashing as they dove down to the deep. If they could take it, then so could I. I dived in and felt my body shake with the cold. My brain felt a little buzz of pleasure. Sad really. How could I get this happy from swimming in my underwear? But I didn't care I was being what I thought was wild. Who could blame me? It had been about a month since I had began watching Olive, and I was way over due for some real Lena fun!

I turned from the ocean and walked out of the water. The sun was beginning to brighten up the sky. I climbed out of the water onto a large rock and stretched out for an air dry. My hair was plastered to the stone, and my white undergarments were practically see through. For a moment I felt how I had when I was younger. A mermaid. A Virgin from the sea.

The seals had moved father out now, but one. It was a large seal. Completely black in color. He was swimming up and down and then stopped. His small face popped out of the water and did the craziest thing at me. It stared! 

I yelled out to the seal "thanks!" As if he could understand me. And watching it as it moved even closer. By now the animal could have only been 20 feet away, and then, it was gone.

I ran like crazy, my shirt wasn't on completely yet, but I did manage to get a honk from some young guy on his way to work (Taco Bell I bet) could have sworn iv'e seen him there before.  And decided that the shirt was a necessity, and some coffee.

When I reached the Starbucks closest to my house, a line was starting to form. I made a dash for the back and decided on a my favorite. The one with the most chocolate, most caffeine filled thing on the chalk board menu. 

"That will be $5.50." I dug around in my pocket for the extra dollar I was not expecting to need. Only to have a tap on the shoulder and a familiar looking bloke give the girl at the counter a ten dollar bill. "Hear, and I will take a tall coffee, no cream."

Charlie. 

"You look surprised, but a short thank you is all that's required." he smiled at this, his little joke I suppose. 

"Thanks,.." Great I can't talk. Fab.

"You want to grab a table?" I figured it wasn't a real question because he was all ready grabbing both our coffees and starting to head for a table near a window. 

He sat down and gestured for me to do the same. I took my seat and reached out for my coffee, only to have him slide it out of my reach. He looked away and started to laugh a little. 

"That's not fair. You don't get to buy my coffee, make me sit next to you, and then not let me drink it!."  Eralck. What was I saying?!

"Hmm. But I think I do. How was your swim?"

"How did you know I went swimming!?" 

"Simple your in jogging clothes, and are soaking wet, last time I checked it hasn't rained in forever,..so you must have gone swimming."

He then handed me my coffee over and smiled.