This is Euphoria

-20-

By the time we return to the car, the seats are blistering hot.

"How do you just sit down like it's nothing?" Kai wonders incredulously. I shrug. I grew up in Southern California. The conditions were always like this. After allowing the air to run for 3 minutes before taking a seat, he begins pulling out of the parking lot.

"I've got something to show you," Kai says randomly, minutes later.

"Okay," I say inconspicuously.

"Check the compartment by your seat," he directs. I do, and wrap my fingers around a bulky item. I retrieve it. It's a camera, compact and white, a film one. My parents had one like this when I was a kid. "Got it? Okay, wherever we go I want you to take pictures."

Agreeing instantly, I begin taking pictures right away. The whole drive, which was roughly twenty minutes, was filled with the click of the camera.

The sky as we pull up to the beach is dark, but I don't care. Excited like someone who has never been in the ocean, I jump out of the car. Kai is slower behind, unpacking his trunk. When he finally catches up, he's carrying a blanket under one arm and a mysterious textile under the other. When he unrolls the blanket, I discover the textile is actually a baja hoodie. He quietly hands it to me.

"Thank you," I notion. I sprawl across the blanket, but Kai doesn't seem to mind. I screw my eyes shut, listening to the continuous waves hit shore. It's the perfect weather actually. Not too cold, thanks to the hoodie, and not quite pitch black out yet. We sit contently for an hour, talking, before we decide we should eat before everything closes. Before we leave I snap a picture of the water.

"How about in n out?" I suggest.

"In and what?" Kai repeats.

"Please don't tell me you've been in California for at least three months and have never had in n out. There's one right next to your apartment!" I say.

"We shall see," he plays off like an old man. I laugh gingerly, but I am thoroughly anticipating him trying in. I squirm in my seat for half an hour. Upon arrival, I insist we eat inside, for the full effect.

I order both of our meals, cheeseburgers with everything and animals fries, which are essentially just fries drenched in a special sauce,

"How is it?" I hound three seconds after he takes a bite, too preoccupied to eat myself.

"Wow. Amazing," he says sarcastically. I narrow my eyes at him, and he adds "really."

Whatever he claims, he ate all of it.

"Shall we sleep it off now?" I say in an purposeful English accent, which is an irksome habit I do now.

"Yeah, that's alright," he yawns.

author's note: hello to all new readers. IM BACK FOR GOOD. be excited. I really missed this story. also this chapter is slow and unexciting but the next chapter to come will make up for it. ;)