What If?

           The sun slips down lower on the horizon turning the sky the color of grape jelly. The waves lap up on my toes and I cringe as the cold surf consumes my feet. A deep laugh cuts the silence and I look beside me at the boy I've known all my life and I realize how much he's changed. Traces of the boy I knew are there but somewhere in the last few years he grew up, evident by the stubble on his chin. It's so easy not to notice the little differences when you see somebody so often, and so easy to miss the transition from kid to adult. Then one day you are hit with reality and you realize that you're not a kid anymore and watching the sunset with someone has come to mean something entirely different. However, for now I will fend off adulthood and just be a kid again on the beach with her best friend.

            The sun continues slowly wandering below the horizon and we gather our stuff and head back to his parents’ beach house. I lay awake thinking about what I noticed down at the beach. The question becomes, where do I go from here? Do I keep on going, pretending nothing's changed? Or do I say something?

            A crash breaks through my thoughts and I leap to my feet. I snatch my fishing pole up from behind the door and tiptoe into the hall. The crash had come from the kitchen, so I step slowly around the corner. I look up and see a butt clad in superman pajama bottoms digging in the freezer. Screaming, I swing the fishing pole like a bat at the butt. A familiar deep voiced scream comes from the intruder. I drop the fishing pole and gasp as the face I had been thinking about all night contorts in pain. Clutching his behind, he drops the ice cream that he had dug out of the freezer. I pick up the mint cookies and cream ice cream off the floor and put it on the table. I offer him ice but he waves me away. I grab two spoons out of the drawer and stick them in the slowly melting green mess on the counter. A tear escapes the corner of his eye and I fight the urge to wipe it away. To see such vulnerability from him and know the pain was my own doing crushes me. I see his face screw up in confusion.

"What is it," I ask.

"Me?" He sounds even more confused. "You're the one who's making a weird face."

"How am I making a weird face?"

"It's gone kinda scrunchy, like you're trying to see something but can't quite make it out," his voice washes over me like the waves lapping up on the beach outside. The seriousness of his voice makes me laugh. "What is it?" His voice insistent.

"That’s sort of what I was doing, but not exactly."

"What were you doing then?"

"Wondering..."

"Wondering what?"

"This is our last summer together; we're going to be going to different colleges in different states... What if this is the end for us?" I stammer, all the worries I had bottled up all summer pouring out. His face perks up into a strange smile.

"This won't be it for us," he says, all joking gone.

"How do you know?"

"Because there is something I've wanted to do all summer," and with that he leans across the table knocking over the ice cream and kisses me.

            The sun began to creep up over the horizon as a young couple sits on the beach truly happy at the end of summer.