Kaleidoscope Eyes

The First Day

The rusty orange rocks of Nevada passed by in a rhythm that somehow matched the song that we had playing in the car.

I could have talked for the hours that it took us to get to northern California- spilled my ideas for our new home, listed the activities that I wanted to do, the places that I wanted to see- but my brain was so exhausted from the stress of trying to finally leave that all I could do when I saw that we were far from my home was sleep.

We drove for hours and hours and it all mended together until I saw my first glance of the dark blue ocean. My breath was taken by the first true sign that it was real. I was really going to be living in California with the person that I really loved.

I rolled my window down to take a breath of the cold air that I shared with the ocean that was miles away.

"You look like a dog." Ryan looked at me with a giggle. I don't even bother to look back at him because I was taking in the fresh scent of new air. It may be filled with smog and pollution, but it didn't matter at the time because if that's what California air is, then I'll breathe it in heavy until it has no meaning to me.

"I love you so much it's ridiculous." Ryan tells me with a laugh. My cheeks heat up and I take another deep breath with satisfaction.

"I can't wait to move in with you. I can't wait to get all of our stuff in that little apartment." I squeeze his hand and let my smile loose. 

"We have a couple hours to go. We're just outside of the valley, so this is about three hours up the coast from where we're going to be."

"So this isn't even L.A? I was just thinking this air was probably filled with smog." I laugh and shake my head.

"It probably has some pollution, but nothing like Los Angeles. Plus, this is right near the ocean so it's a lot cleaner than L.A."

"Have you stayed here before? You sound like you know a lot."

"This area is cleaner, prettier. Santa Cruz is a cool place, but there's so many people and it's more of a tourist thing. This place-it's called Pismo- it's more of a beach where you can actually sit and relax." As I look out the window I understand what he means, you can tell it's a different atmosphere from the one of Santa Cruz.

My phone buzzes, letting us know we have service after three hours of not having any.

Hayley: "MY DUDES"

I laugh and show Ryan as he looks for a spot in the gas station.

"HAYLEY MY GAL"

Josh: "hows california so far"

Ryan: "there's more than one temperature here and it's not 1000 degrees all the time."

Tyler: "lame you should come back"

"lame you should come here"

Spencer: "look at you guys in california and all that jazz...we're still sitting here in this crumby music shop listening to alex and jack bicker"

Ryan: "we miss it though"

Hayley: "I miss my gays"

"we miss you too hayley"

Josh: "maybe we'll all take a trip one day"

Ryan: "definitely soon"

"what?"

Ryan: "what"

Hayley: "oh shit"

Tyler: "potty mouth"