Fly Away [Before You Exit]

Seven

"Stacy."

I felt a small nudge.

"Stacy."

My eyes strained to open, I found myself facing Riley, he gestured to get up.

"Go get ready," he whispered.

"What time is it?" I asked and he put a finger to his lips. I climbed out of my bunk and I went to my suitcase to get my necessities.

It was still dark, I checked my phone for the time: it was almost six o'clock. What was Riley doing up so early?

I struggled to put my contacts on without falling back to sleep. I quickly applied concealer and grabbed my suitcase, pulling out a pair of shorts and an oversized sweatshirt.

"Come on," Riley whispered while his head peeked into the bus. I hopped my way to the door as I put on my flip-flops.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Riley was walking rather quickly. Blaming my short stature, I ran to catch up with him. He was wearing a black hoodie and black board shorts, no surprise there.

"You'll see," he said before giving me a quick side grin.

I continued to follow him as we crossed several streets, which were surprising empty. The New York buildings got smaller and smaller, the streets got smaller and bumpier. Cars began to disappear as we continued to walk. Soon enough, I found myself at the beach. Well, a beach.

"Long Island Boardwalk" was plastered onto a small sign that I spotted on our way onto the sandy wood. There was not a lot of people around, probably because it was almost half past six and everyone was still sleeping. It was the weekend.

"Why-"

"Hurry," he said simply, stopping me. He grabbed my hand.

We ran to the row of benches that were behind a long railing that lead to the beach. Riley guided me to a bench and we both sat down.

"Now can I ask why we're here?" I asked before laughing. He smiled and laughed with me.

"Just wait and watch."

"Watch what?"

He didn't answer back, he took his hands and turned my shoulders to face the beach. Soon enough, the sky began to lighten up. Slowly but surely, colors or fire-orange and flamingo-pink splattered onto the sky. Then, the bright flaming sun began to peek its way up from the ocean. Little by little, the sun made its way up and out of the blue ocean. It was breathtaking.

Back at home, you could only see the sun set and never the other way around. California was three thousand miles away and you could only see the sun disappear into the horizon.

Seeing the sun rise felt like a completely new experience.

"Wow," I breathed.

The sun was now shining bright and slowly making its way up the sky.

"C'mon," he exclaimed, taking my hand once again.

"Where are you taking me now?" We walked past the boardwalk and went down the stairs to the sandy beach. We reached the end of the beach, the ocean was only inches away from me. I released Riley's hand.

The ocean was sparkling underneath the rising sun, it look different from the beaches back in SoCal. Huntington beach had a slight green tint to the water and seaweed laid on the sand. Here, the ocean was dark blue, and the sand was rough and coarse. The wind began to pick up and goosebumps formed on my legs, I shivered slightly.

I watched as Riley walked towards the ocean and the waves hit sand softly, which was different from the harsh Newport waves. He turned around and waved me over. I shook my head, it was too cold for me. He started to run towards me.