the wild week

08. sid

the girls are talking fucking all night long. i can hear them from the tent, and when it's nearly midnight, there are water splashes breaking the crickets' singing. i press my pillow over my ears, trying to cancel the noise, but they won't fucking stop.
i actually read some passages in jone's book, but i haven't read a fiction book for years so my eyes kind of bleed taking in all the useless information. i fall asleep just as the sun begins to hit the treetops, when anya and florence are finally quiet. i know i'm going to be grumpy and dumb as hell when i wake up, but hey, not my fucking fault.

when i wake up, the sun is cheerfully shining for outside and jone is still fast asleep at my side, snoring like a kid. i shake him to consciousness.
'what's the time?' he grunts.
i look out through the zipped down tent door again. 'i don't know. the sun is up. it's morning.'
'are the girls awake?'
'i don't know' i say again.
he groans and turns over, shoving his face into the pillow.
i stand up and exit the tent. my back cracks nicely when i stretch it, the water is clucking against the pebble shore and the day is just as perfect as yesterday, a few cotton clouds on the deep blue sky.
i find a sandwich kit in jone's bag, prepare myself a cheese sandwich and walk down to the beach. anya is sleeping, but florence sits by herself on a stone at the shore, dipping her toes into the water. she's got this face like an ancient greek philosopher, like she's thinking real deep about something.
'hey,' i say.
she doesn't even twitch. 'good morning.'
then, she turns around. her mascara is kind of muddy around the eyes and the hair is messy from sleeping. but she's still strikingly beautiful. she always is.
'what're you doing here? do you want breakfast?'
'yeah.'
'yeah what?'
'i'm...' she turns her gaze out over the lake. 'yeah. i'm hungry and i'm doing yeah out here.' then, she smiles, a beautiful, beautiful smile that almost knocks me off my goddam feet.
i don't miss laurel quite so much when florence smiles at me.
we make sandwiches, i make some for jone and anya too because they would scream the shit out me if i didn't. i make anya a cheese one and one with ham on for jone; he's a vegetarian.