A Time of Love within this Blackened Land

Katie - February 8

As soon as my shift is over, I grab my bag and get ready to spend my afternoon with Jake. I take a quick look in the mirror before leaving the library. I don't look too bad considering that I've just endured en eight-hour shift. I step outside and as I distractedly fumble for my phone in the pocket of my bag, someone grabs my wrist and gently pulls me back. I turn my head a bit to see Jake standing against the wall behind me, smiling that perfect smile of his. Without letting go of my wrist, he wraps his other arm around my waist and gets closer to kiss my cheek from behind. I wonder if it's just me or if it suddenly got too hot to be wearing a jacket. I take it off and, once I've put it inside my bag, Jake takes my hand and leads the way.

"Do you feel like surfing today?" he asks.

"I feel like doing every single thing with you." He smiles. I meant it to sound dirty but I guess it came out corny. Whatever... when it comes to Jake, I can easily do both. "I just need to stop by my house to grab my board."

He suggests sharing his like we did the day we met but I insist. On the way home, I tell him about a group of guys who came to the library earlier in the afternoon and left some flyers advertising a beach party tomorrow night. It all turns out better than I expected when we end up making plans to spend yet another day together. He looks excited about it and even says he'll ask his brothers to join us after I tell him I'll ask my friends to come.

He pulls up on my driveway and some minutes later I tie my surfboard to the roof and get back into the car with an oversized T-shirt over my bikini and a huge tote bag. Jake throws a look of alarm at me and I pull the zip open for him to see the several bags of snacks and the six pack I got from the garage fridge last minute.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you... I got that covered." He nods to the back seat where bags of chips pile up over a pizza box.

"Believe me when I say I know no limits after an eight-hour shift, babe. There is not one extra bag of snacks in this car."

He laughs. "Well, what are we gonna do about those?" He points behind my seat where another six pack has been carefully placed.

"Oops." I giggle. "We'll see. Let's get going already."

Once we get to the beach, we hop out of the car and instinctively walk to the exact spot where we met some days ago. We sit on the sand and I take out a bag of chips and a beer. I'm starving. I gesture Jake to join me by handing him a bottle and patting the spot next to me.

Before going surfing he asks me to tie his hair in a braid and I happily do it. Jake grabs his board and runs towards the water while I eat some pizza and have another beer. After a while of watching him pop up on the board and fall from it, I decide it's time to go laugh with him and not at him. As soon as I straighten up, a sudden rush of voices makes its way to my ears and hits me like a breaking wave.

"Noah! Noah!" I hear people repeating the word all along the coast as the surfers rush out of the water. I start growing worried about Jake, who seems unbothered by the warning. The reason behind his inaction suddenly dawns on me: he does not know the lingo and has no idea there's a shark in the water.

I join the mass of people gathered on the shore and start shouting desperately. "Shark! It's a shark! He's not a local! Hey! Help him out!"

A robust man, who has not reached the sand yet, hears me. He turns around on his surfboard and brings a deep powerful voice out of his lungs. "Hey, you! Jake! There's a shark. Out! Now!"

I see Jake quickly paddle towards the shore and then run to me. It probably takes him a few seconds to do that but it feels like forever to me. I hug him tightly, still in shock.

He lets go of me and walks towards the robust guy to shake his hand. "Thanks, man," he says.

"No problem. Sorry for calling you that. I was nervous, it just came out," the man says apologetically.

"It's alright, man. Thanks again," Jake manages to say before the man disappears in the crowd. "I bet he is a Greta fan. He knew my name, did you realize?"

"Yeah, not exactly," I say as I stifle a laugh. The absurdity of the situation has helped me out of my state of shock.

"So, did you tell him my name was Jake?" he asks confused.

"I did not." He says nothing, patiently waiting for clarification. "For the more experienced surfers, Jake is anyone who gets in the way when they want to catch a wave. That's why he apologized. He was like... mocking you. "

"Oh, I get it," Jake looks unconcerned. I even notice a smile forming on one side of his lips. "So, Noah is a shark. Jake is a fool. Noted."

"Yeah. Don't take it personal, though."

"Well, I would never. He saved my life," he says jokingly.

"Oh, did he? I guess we have no choice but to celebrate," I say as I take his hand and drag him towards our spot.

"I guess we'll have to, yeah," he snorts.

We spend the afternoon in the safety of the sand and the shadow of the palm trees. When the sun starts going down, he reaches inside his bag, takes out a joint and lights it. We watch the sunset from beginning to end, enraptured by the view. We don't notice nor care about the watch hands spinning at the speed of light.

It has been a while since I smoked and drank this much. After the fourth beer, I start to feel dizzy. I also notice that Jake is excessively communicative. I guess I'm not the only one who has had too much to drink. I'm honestly kind of scared that he has suddenly become this loose-lipped. On the bright side, he has also become more affectionate, to put it mildly. He has grabbed every chance to kiss me since beer number three and he has also let his hand lay on my knee and slowly slip up my thigh more than once. He always knows where to stop, though. No number of beers can wash the chivalry out of him.

"You can't drive, Jake," I say when we finally decide it's time to go home.

"I know. Take the car."

"I definitely can't drive. I don't even have a license. You know that, Jake."

"I see." He scratches his chin as if the touch of his finger against his face would help him come up with a solution. "The hotel is not far from here. We can walk there and ask Sam to drive you home."

"No, no, no. I don't want to bother anyone. Let's walk to the hotel and then I'll leave you there and take a cab home."

He frowns and lifts his index finger in the air before speaking. "No, you won't. I won't leave you alone, K. I'm not that drunk." But he is.

In the end, our inebriated selves decide it is a good idea to walk the few miles to my house. Before we even realize, we are walking up my driveway. I fumble with the set of keys for a solid minute while Jake stares at my hands in silence. When I eventually find the one I'm looking for, I squeal with triumph and Jake claps and cheers for me enthusiastically. We hug tightly as if we have just accomplished something really important. With his arms still around my waist, I bend backwards a little and fix my eyes in his.

"Jake..." I make a pause before saying the next word. I go over it a thousand times in my head. Drunk Katie overthinks. "Stay."

Drunk Jake underthinks. "Okay."