California Miracles

I sat alone on the beach, watching a few seagulls fly over the crystal blue water as I waited for my best friend since middle school, Alyssa. She and I were going to spend the day hanging out together on the boardwalk, and as usual, she was taking her dear precious time to get there. I picked up my phone to check the time, and rather than seeing my usual Nirvana background, I found that I had received a text. It read,

"Hey, Sydney. Sorry, but something came up and I can't come to the boardwalk today. :( Maybe next weekend. Talk to you later! :)

~'Lyssa."

I snarled down at the screen, rolling my eyes and tucking a few strands of my long brown hair behind my ear. It had been the same way for a few weeks; something coming up. There was always some kind of excuse for her being a no-show, and it never failed to land on the days when they were supposed to do something together. Lately, I had begun to wonder how our friendship had lasted up until now. I clicked of my phone with an annoyed huff and laid back on my towel. I closed my eyes, relaxing, and enjoyed soaking up the sun's rays.

The next thing I knew, I was awoken by a sudden burst of sand against my face. I instantly sat up, attempting to rub it from my eyes and glare after the sand-kicker. "HEY! WATCH IT!" I shouted, shaking a fist in a random, blinded direction. "SORRY ABOUT THAT!" A male voice shouted from a few yards away, and I continued rubbing my eyes. I could feel my mascara and eyeliner beginning to smear on my face which made me increasingly angry. By the time I had finally removed all of the sand, the only glimpse I caught of my perpetrator was a quick flash of blonde hair and a muscular body before he disappeared into the ocean with his board. "Stupid surfer dude..." I muttered to myself, brushing the remaining sand off of my body and standing up. I gathered up my towel and pool bag and began my short trip down the coastline to my home.

When I finally arrived at my house, I put my things away and plopped down on the porch swing. I slowly swayed back and forth, watching the sun set on the horizon. "Nothing beats California sunsets..." I thought to myself with a slight smile, reminiscing on watching them with my father as a child before his passing. My thoughts were quickly interrupted by a knock on the wooden post near the gate of my porch. I looked over, surprised to see who I identified as the sand-kicker. "Um... Hi?" I say, standing awkwardly and approaching him. "Aren't you that guy from the beach earlier?"

He hesitated for a moment before grinning sheepishly at me and running a hand through his long blonde hair. "Yeeeeeaaah... I'm the one who kicked sand all over you. I felt pretty bad about it, and I found out I lived next door, so..." He said awkwardly, and extended his hand to me with a crooked smile. "I'm Aaron. Aaron Bruno."