Purposefully Coincidental ✓

6. Blue

Josephine

What better way to wake up than to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and with sunlight rays coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming my back?

I can't think of any other way.

Although I live in Miami, and so close to the beach. Actually having to take two steps before your feet touch the sand is on another level.

The beach is my first love. I literally have a tattoo of waves, my first one ever. My closet back at my apartment is more than half full with bathing suits. Mostly black, ah well.

Today we are surfing. Then we're taking a little boat tour hopefully see some dolphins. Then we're going to Blue.

After using the bathroom, I descend the stairs and see Candy already sitting at the kitchen island with her laptop in front of her. She wears a fancy robe and a mug of no doubt filled to the rim with espresso. I tell her good morning and turn on the coffee machine to pour myself one. After a minute, Ananya comes out of her bedroom. Hers is the one on the first floor. She prepares Indian Chai for herself. She brought all the ingredients necessary to make this tea–including ginger and cardamom. I abandon my cup of coffee for the yummy Chai.

It's a chill and calm morning. Candy shows us all the pictures we took yesterday on her laptop screen. We laugh about a picture of me fighting a seagull over my fries.

"You were literally having a WWE fight with that beast." I'm on the ground, laughing my ass off. When I was having—according to Anya—a WWE fight with the seagull, I didn't realize that Candice was taking pictures of me.

There are several ones. The first one, I was still unaware of the bird coming up behind me. Then I noticed it. There's one with my eyes wide open. The last couple ones are of me trying to salvage my fries from the mouth of the beast.

Eventually I had to give up, otherwise it would've bitten me or something.

Can they even bite? I don't know.

"You traitors didn't even help me." I fake a pout.

"Bitch, I was running for my life."

"This is golden. I'm gonna post it." Candice says.

I stop laughing all together and tackle her to the floor. If these pictures end up online, I'll be mortified. The ones my mama posts for my birthday every year on her Facebook are enough as it is.

Candy and I wrestle. I'm trying to prevent her from reaching her laptop, and she's trying to reach her laptop.

"Done. It's done. They're already on Instagram." She laughs, one that could rival the laughs of villains. "And tagged you."

What?

"Nooo, those pics are ugly." Defeated, I walk up to her and, yup, there it is. She even captioned it: seagull vs. Josie, the fight for fries.

"They're not ugly." She's right. There is one of me with my mouth open in shock. It was just as the bird grabbed my fries.

"Yeah, I guess it's not that bad."

•••

Surfing was a blast. The waves were big enough that I could attempt what's called in surf terms a barrel. It's where a wave curves in a way that it forms a tube and you try to ride it all the way to the end. It's pretty hard, but I did a short barrel.

Best part is that I captured it on my GoPro. My girlfriends convinced me to post it on Instagram, and I did.

Surfing lasted longer than we expected, so the boat tour didn't go through. But that's okay. It gives us more time to rest before we hit the Blue club.