One Hundred Letters for James

009

009:

Crabs

In that same year, your angel of a mother offered to sign both of us up for surfing lessons. I was super excited, because I'd never been to the beach.

Naturally, we had a really hot, asshole-ish instructor. He had probably been about a year older than us. The whole time, he persistently flirted with me, causing you to get a little annoyed.

"Hey, eyes off the lady!" You had yelled at him. I laughed. You then jokingly wrapped your arms around me protectively.

"Whoa, sorry man, I didn't know you were together."

"Oh we're-" I tried to correct, but you had clamped your hand over my mouth before I could. The instructor, Jake, just looked at us awkwardly.

"So who wants to go first?" Jake asked.

"Me!" You screeched before jogging down the beach with Jake, leaving me behind. I sat down in the sand, digging around for seashells.

I sat like this for a few minutes before finding a shell that I really liked, a large conch shell. When I stood up to wash it in the ocean, I had heard something inside of it, so I stuck my hand in to try and grab it. My finger was greeted with a sharp pinch.

I quickly tugged my hand out of the shell to find a crab dangling off of my finger.

"James!" I had screamed, unmoving. I saw you turn around from where you were standing with the instructor. "Help!" I screamed at you. You quickly ran over, wet hair flying.

"What?"

"Look!" I lifted my hand up so you could see the creature.

"Oh!" You softly tugged on the crab until it came off of my finger. "Shit, Kathleen," You said, assessing the large cut that the crab had left.

"Ouch."

"Do you want me to kiss it better?" You mocked.

"Pwease?" I said, sticking my bottom lip out.

"Of course." You lifted my hand up to your lips and planted a kiss on it, then smiled, showing off your deep dimples. I grinned back at you. "Hey, Jake?" You yelled. "We're leaving." You took my good hand in yours, and we walked up and down the beach like that for the rest of the day.