Cuori in evoluzione

The perfect wave

Chapter 1: Mateo's Arrival

Charlie was lying on the sand, his eyes half-closed beneath the warm afternoon sun. The waves were crashing on the shore in a constant rhythm, a melody that had accompanied him every summer for as long as he could remember. The sea was his home, his refuge, and the beach where he worked as a lifeguard was his world. A small slice of paradise in a coastal town that never seemed to change. The summer routine was always the same: early mornings, the sound of the wind brushing against his skin, the sun climbing higher in the sky, the laughter of tourists arriving to enjoy the crystal-clear water and relax on the sand. Charlie felt part of it all, as if he were a guardian of the sea, always ready to intervene when someone was in trouble, yet free to lose himself in the waves during the quiet moments.

Each day, the beach was filled with new faces, but also with familiar ones. Families who returned every year, teenagers gliding across the waves with surfboards, elderly people sitting under umbrellas reading the newspaper. Charlie knew everyone, or so it seemed. The small coastal town was one of those places where names quickly blended together, where life stories merged with the sound of the waves. It was a world that seemed frozen in time, and he felt right at the center of that suspended reality.

But that summer, something would change. A new air, different from the usual, arrived with the arrival of a boy—one Charlie didn't know. His name was Mateo, and his presence didn't go unnoticed. He was one of those boys who seem to stand out immediately, even without doing anything to draw attention. The first encounter happened one Wednesday afternoon when the beach was quieter than usual, though still crowded with enough tourists to make every face feel just a little unfamiliar.

Charlie was making his usual round of checks, his eyes scanning the horizon, looking for any signs of trouble. That day, the sea was unusually calm, and he felt strangely relaxed. The routine that sometimes weighed him down now felt comforting. When he approached the point where the sea met the sand, he saw him: Mateo. He was sitting alone, his back leaning against a rock, his gaze fixed on the horizon. He wasn't a boy who would be immediately noticed, but there was something magnetic about his demeanor. He had dark, tousled hair and wore sunglasses that partly hid his face, but what stood out the most was his presence. There was a calm about him that felt out of place in a place like this. Unlike the other tourists who were chatting and moving frantically, Mateo seemed to have created a small bubble of serenity around himself, as if the world around him didn't concern him much.

Charlie stopped for a moment to watch him, drawn by an invisible force. He didn't quite understand why, but there was something about this boy that sparked a feeling of unease. Maybe it was his beauty, which was different from the usual type of boys who frequented the beach. Maybe it was the way he seemed so different, as if he didn't quite belong here. Charlie's eyes drifted over him furtively, noticing how the boy moved with grace, as though he were always balancing between wanting to merge with the landscape and wanting to remain separate from it.

The rest of the day passed without Charlie having the chance to speak to him. However, over the following days, each time Charlie passed by that part of the beach, he saw him there, almost always alone. He never seemed to interact with other tourists or with the locals. Charlie began to notice him more closely. Every day he found him there, as if he had become part of the landscape, yet never truly immersed in it. There was a kind of solitude that surrounded him, but also a kind of detachment that made him fascinating. Charlie felt drawn to him, yet at the same time, something inside him made him hesitant to get too close.

One day, while he was near his lifeguard post, Charlie heard a voice calling him. It was Mateo, walking slowly toward him, almost hesitantly. When he stood in front of him, Charlie couldn't hide his awkwardness. Here was a boy who seemed so different from him, so enigmatic, yet there was a certain naturalness in the way he looked at him.

"Hey," Mateo said with a soft smile, almost as if to break the silence that lingered between them.

Charlie, a little surprised, smiled timidly in return. "Hey. Enjoying the beach?"

Mateo nodded, and for a moment, they both stood there in silence, as if neither knew quite how to continue the conversation. Then Mateo spoke again, his calm voice blending with the sound of the waves.

"I've been coming here for a few days. It's not bad, but it's so different from where I'm from. Everything is... quieter here," he said, looking out at the horizon, as though trying to find the right words.

Charlie watched him, intrigued. "Where do you live?"

"A bigger city," Mateo replied, but his answer sounded vague. "And you? Do you live here all year?"

Charlie smiled, feeling a small sense of pride in answering. "Yeah. I was born here. Actually, it's easier to live in a place like this. Everyone knows each other, and you always know what to expect."

Mateo seemed to listen attentively, but Charlie noticed that his eyes had a distant look, as if he were trying to decide whether he really wanted to be a part of this small town.

In the following days, their interactions remained brief—casual greetings that held no deeper meaning. And yet, Charlie couldn't get him out of his mind. There was something about Mateo that sparked both curiosity and a certain irritation. Why couldn't he stop thinking about him? He wasn't the type of boy Charlie thought he would be interested in, yet Mateo's presence, that detachment, made him feel as though there was something more hidden beneath the surface.

Every time Charlie saw him on the beach, he felt as if something was calling him, something he couldn't quite define, but that pushed him to look closer. And yet, he didn't have the courage to get too close, to let himself become too involved. He didn't know what he was searching for, but he sensed that Mateo's arrival had changed something—though he couldn't understand what. The sea, which he knew so well, suddenly seemed farther away, as though it had been overshadowed by something deeper, something that was slowly beginning to form between them, even though neither of them fully understood it.

Hey everyone! ✨

I'm Blue, how's it going? Did you enjoy the first chapter? I hope it set the right vibe for Charlie's little coastal town—quiet, familiar, but with a touch of mystery. It's the perfect place for our main character, Charlie, to have his life shaken up. His peaceful, predictable world is about to change with Mateo's arrival. What do you think of Mateo? Did he catch your interest as much as he caught Charlie's?

PS: this chapter's song is "The Ocean" by Mike Perry ft. Shy Martin
I chose this song because it has that calm yet powerful vibe, just like the ocean crashing against the shore. The ocean, for me, symbolizes the change coming for Charlie. Mateo's arrival is like a wave—big, unexpected, and impossible to ignore. The song really brings out the feeling of a new energy coming into Charlie's life, don't you think? 

Note: I am not a native English speaker, so there might be some mistakes in my translation.