Be Your Everything

t w o

The sky was already a hazy yellowish-peach color when I woke up around six the next morning. I couldn't contain the squeal of joy that came out of me as I jumped out of bed. The weather forecast for today was clear and in the high eighties, and the waves were supposed to get as high as six feet, especially at the washout where I usually go to surf. So far, it was already a happy birthday.

I walked across the hall to Beth's room and let myself in. I knew she wouldn't answer if I knocked since Beth never willingly woke up before noon. Beth was half-covered by her comforter while her body was strewn across the mattress in an uncomfortable-looking position, her book laying face-down on the floor beside the bed.

I jumped onto the edge of the bed, shaking the entire thing in the process, but still not waking Beth. I shook her arm, calling her name over and over until I heard her utter an inhuman grumbling noise.

"Beth, come on, let's go surfing!" I shout-whispered, trying not to wake up my parents in the next room over. Beth yanked her arm away from my grip and used it to pull her pillow across her face and secure it there. I reached over and snatched the pillow from her, revealing a rather pitiful expression on her face.

"Whyyyyyyy?" She whined without opening her eyes. She lifted her hands over them in an effort to block the light (or me) out, but I continued to press her to get up.

"Please come surfing with me?" I asked with an equal amount of whininess in my tone. "You don't want to upset the birthday girl!" I stuck out my bottom lip even though she couldn't see me do it.

"Oh, on the contrary, I have absolutely no problem upsetting the birthday girl." Beth fired back, a small chuckle at my ridiculousness warping her sentence at the end. She slid the fingers on her right hand into a Vulcan salute, revealing one blue eye as she looked at me questioningly. I knew she was wondering why I always get up so early, but I couldn't help being a natural morning person.

"Aren't you supposed to go out to the club or something for your twenty-first birthday? You should try and be a normal person for once." Beth mumbled at me with a smile. "I wouldn't know, but I hear it's a lot of fun."

We both laughed at our introverted selves, the two of us far from 'normal' people. I rarely spoke to anyone that wasn't related to me, besides my camera. And Beth, well she had her books. I was sure that by now, she'd read Great Expectations enough times to be able to recite the novel on a moment's notice. The only time I could really tear her from a story was when I would practically force her into the water with me.

When her dad died a couple of years ago, my dad did everything in his power to make his brother's daughter feel at home with us. She told me how glad she was to switch to homeschooling when she got here; public school was way too many stupid people concentrated in one place for her liking. She also brought her dog Charlie with her, and now we walked him together every single day. Beth had grown up near Charleston, so I got to see her a lot when we were growing up, but the moment that she moved in, we basically became sisters.

"It's too late to try and be normal now. I've got twenty one years of weirdness on the resume." I slid off the bed and tossed a pillow from the floor at her head. Beth groaned but slowly lifted herself from the bed, walking towards the closet to change.

"Where are we going again?" She asked, still half-asleep as she stood in front of her hanging garments with apprehension.

"Surfing!" I jumped in place with my hands clasped against my chest. I fully expected her to whine in protest, which she did immediately, but she always gave in and came with me anyways.

"Eleanor, you know I'm terrible at surfing!" Ever since we were little, Beth has called me by my full name. Even though she was the only person who still used my full name, I liked it. It always reminded me of when we were kids and had not a care in the world. All we ever needed back then was each other, and the same was still true now.