Shades of White

Lazy day afternoon

"Shaun, I love this! I'm definitely a beach girl at heart." Bobby smiled at me as she walked out of the ocean's spray towards me, carrying Kari's old surfboard, which had officially become hers after her three surfing lessons with me. Although the past two lessons didn't include me on a board and out in the ocean with her, all because of this stupid knee brace and the 'No extreme sports' rule. I was currently sitting on a towel in my swimsuit, jealous that she was allowed into the ocean and I wasn't.

"You do know that you're still horrible at it though, don't you?" I asked teasingly. She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at me, looking absolutely adorable.

"Yeah, maybe, but surfing is the perfect thing for me to do on my day off from dance. I get to be at the beach, I get to relax, and I get to see you for longer." She smiled coyly as she gracefully lowered herself down to sit on a towel next to me and smiled. I smiled, thrilled to hear that she was happy to get to spend more time with me.

"Are Sundays really your only free day, elf?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I have a little bit of time on other days between dance and school." She said, and I pouted. "Awww, poor Shaun. I know you'll just feel so horrible when you're deprived of my fantastic personality." She said in fake sympathy. I nodded seriously, and after a short silence, I shrugged.

"All the more reason to make better use of the time when we're together! Let's go eat."

"White, you're always hungry, aren't you?" I nodded and jumped to my feet and reached my hands out to hers. She took them and I helped her up. We ended up standing fairly close together in nothing but our swimsuits, our fingers and gazes intertwined. We stood silently for a second before she blinked and leaned down and picked up a towel to start drying off her body. I stared down at her for a moment before I pulled on a tee shirt and she got a shirt and pair of shorts on. As I gathered our towels and her surfboard, she put her hair up into a messy bun. We got into my car and as I started the engine, she leaned down and pulled a CD case out of her purse and popped a CD into the player, skipping to track 8.

"Whatcha putting in there?" I asked, glancing over at her.

"A CD, what do you think?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes as I fake glared back. "It's the Plain White T's. You said you hadn't heard of them when you were digging through my stuff on the plane. This is a great song." She turned her head and rolled down her window. An upbeat song started, and I actually liked what I heard. After a few seconds, I heard her start singing along. I looked over at her, surprised. She looked like she didn't even notice that she was singing, like it was an instinct. She looked relaxed and carefree, the way I loved to see her. She turned her head towards me, and when she saw me studying her, she smiled but continued singing. I turned my head back and watched the road in front of me, but I felt mesmerized by her voice. Her melodious soprano seemed to fit perfectly with the music, and she sounded so happy. I just wanted to spend the rest of my life listening to her sing. I listened to the lyrics pouring from her lips as I drove us toward one of our favorite diners.

Nothings going on but I don't care

Leave me here don't take me anywhere

Why should I get up when I've got nothing to

Just another lazy day afternoon

Beautiful day outside but I don't care

Everything I need I got right here

Why should I go out, why should I even move

Just another lazy day afternoon

When we got to the diner, we got out of the car silently and approached the 50's style restaurant. I held the door open for her and she walked in ahead of me. The comfortable silence hung over us as we were seated at a booth and ordered our meals. When the waitress walked away, I looked at Bobby sitting there, staring off into space, humming and swaying slightly to the Frank Sinatra song playing quietly. A sudden memory popped into my head. I recalled sitting on the plane next to her on the day we met and looking over her shoulder at her list. One of the items on that list was 'Sing in front of a crowd.' I decided to bring it up.