Free Me...

Of braai's and sand dunes.

She loved the place she lived. In the mornings, she would have an epic sunrise from the upstairs balcony area. The sun would peep up over the horizon as she looked out across the dune bushes in front of her house towards the ocean. In the evenings, the slight coolness would settle in as mist occasionally rolled in off the shore up towards the grass area behind the dunes. Between her house and dune bushes was a grass area that her family kept neatly trimmed. They weren't allowed to cut into the bushes, although some of the neighbours seemed to which was annoying. The whole area between their row of houses and the beach was a nature reserve. They were allowed to keep the grass area trimmed though, and it was an awesome place to have  braai or bonfire with friends in the evenings. It was just sheltered enough that you didn't feel like you were exposed to the full might of the evening ocean, but close enough to still hear it and appreciate it. And because it was a little dipped down behind the dunes, it also had a slightly more cozy or intimate feel to it, especially when the darkness was lit up by flickering fire. 

Her dad had helped her to set the fires. There were two massive half oil drum braai grids on wheels. The wood was burning nicely. They had piled it up high in the braai's so that the fire would go quite a while as they waited for everyone to arrive. You didn't want the wood to burn down too quickly and not have enough heat to braai everyone's meat. They had reserve wood just in case though. 

Em had helped spread picnic blankets and a few camping chairs out around the area, and there was one plastic table out next to the fires with a few braai tongs on so people could lift and turn their meat. A few friends from church had already arrived. Another had just parked their car on the nearby street and was walking up to her and Em. "Hi Em, Soph." Luke nodded at them, carrying his cooler bag in one arm with a picnic blanket on top and a bottle of coke in the other. 

"Hey Luke," Em smiled almost shyly. That's unusual, Soph thought to herself. Em must really like this guy. She would have to watch out over possible developments. Just as much as she didn't want to be hurt again, she didn't want her friend hurt either. 

"Hi Luke. Glad you could join us," Soph said congenially to him. 

"Good to see you Soph," he said as he glanced briefly her way, then back to Em. Uh-huh she thought to herself. 

He looked towards Em. "Could you help me?" he asked gently. Em grabbed the drinks as he set the cooler down and flung the blanket out in one swift movement. They automatically moved towards the blanket and sat. They were chatting randomly about well, random topics, like whether simba chips were better than lays, while Soph tried to stay cool. She couldn't help anticipating that every next person that arrived would be Kyle. She still couldn't believe the balls the guy had to just invite himself. He was either delusional or he was just down right courageous. And she still wasn't sure if she was comfortable with the way he got her number. It was her own fault she guessed, for having it out there for all and sundry to see on her backpack tag. Her head kept swivelling to anyone who arrived. She'd welcome everyone of course, but then make her way back to the conversation with Em and Luke each time. She got so involved in the Simba versus Lays debate that she didn't notice someone clear their throat behind her. 

"Hi, Sophia?" Her head whipped round at that, as she noticed everyone's attention draw to the voice behind her.

***

~Kyle~

He couldn't fully understand himself and the way he'd just bombastically invited himself to this braai. The only people he knew really were Soph and Em. And even there, he'd only spoken to Soph a handful of times. But he just couldn't help the pull he seemed to feel towards this girl. He'd driven to her address just before 7 and pulled up when he saw all the cars. It hadn't taken him long to get there. Parking his dark silver Mercedes Bakkie, he grabbed his cooler and headed to the sound of everyone gathered. He took a breath to steel himself and approached the warm glow of the fires.