CHAPTER - 4

UNWELCOMED DAWN

The sound of crashing waves filled my ears as I looked at the serene view of the endless sky kissing the endless sea in the distance. The dim light of the half moon in the dark sky reflected on the crystal clear water, making it shine.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" A voice broke my moment of dazedness towards the nature. I noticed that Kim's voice was a bit softer than I had heard during the entire time I had been with her. Probably, the same was the case with my thoughts and voice because of the spectacular view in front of us. So, I decided to keep quiet and just nod in agreement.

Kim chuckled at my lack of verbal response and jumped the little fence that was supposed to act as a barrier from letting people enter the secluded beach, but failed miserably. She removed her sneakers and kept them near the fence. I did the same with my footwear. She started running towards the shore, like the mad woman she was. Putting my hands in my beige shorts' pockets, I followed her like the civilized person I was.

She stopped once she reached a few feet away from the endless water, facing it. I stopped next to her and took in the view in front of me. I just could not get enough of this peaceful sight. I looked at Kim standing at my left side and noticed her looking at the front with amazement and her lips were curled up in a smile, a smile that I saw for the first time since I met her, a smile that showed peace, awe and most importantly contentment.

"You love this place," I asked, whispering, but it came out as a statement.

Her smile was still in place and her eyes lighted up in delight, she said, "How can I not? It's beautiful." She turned to face me and tilted her head slightly. "Isn't it?" she asked.

'Beautiful? What is beautiful? I have never seen anything or anybody, whom I could call beautiful. This is one word that I have never used for anyone in my life.'

"It's splendid," I said, settling for another adjective. 'Splendid'? Who the f*ck says that word? This place was screwing my head. I could definitely do with not coming here again.

We sat down at our spots and kept our gaze towards the peaceful water. A comfortable silence settled between us and I decided to break it. I was never good with silent, peaceful moments. They were weird. "What is your problem with Claire?" I asked her. Not that I was remotely interested in Claire or wanted to know about her. I had been living next door to her for a week, and trust me; I knew enough to last a lifetime. I asked this question because I wanted to know more about the girl sitting beside me and Claire was like a common topic for us to talk about.

She picked up a pebble and threw it towards the sea, making the water splash. "You know how it is; bitchy, fake cheerleader versus the feisty tomboy," she said, shrugging. "She made my life hell a few years back," she paused, making me look at the cute frown on her face, which quickly changed into a mischievous smirk as she continued, "now I make her's."

I chuckled a bit and nodded. "Fair enough," I mumbled.

She looked at me with a confused expression. "Says the player?"

"Hey!" I started, in an effort to defend myself. "I might be a player-" she interrupted me.

"Might?" she asked, laughing.

I rolled my eyes and corrected myself, "I am a player, but I am not a bully. I am more into getting laid than bullying." I smirked smugly as she scrunched her nose in distaste.

"You are gross!" she declared, making me laugh. "Tell me something about yourself," she said, tilting her head to the side.

"Claire and I don't share a hate relationship, whatever we share is more on the lines of physical attraction," I joked just to annoy her.

I succeeded too, as she shook her head in disbelief and muttered under her breath, "Hungry, horny teenagers!"

I heard her and laughed. "I heard that, you know."

She smirked. "It was meant to be that way."

A chuckle escaped my lips and I answered her question, "I am going to college at the end of the summer, and I aspire to be football player."

She nodded thoughtfully. "That's cool."

"Yeah," I said, shrugging.

Suddenly, she started drawing something on the sand between us with her forefinger. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I looked at what she was trying to do. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Playing a game called Guess What," she answered.

"I don't have to guess the rules of the game. Do I?" I asked her, warily.

"No, silly! I'll draw something here on the sand and you have to guess what it is. Then, you have to do the same," she told me.

"That's so lame," I told her, rolling my eyes.

She scoffed. "You're saying that because you know you'll lose."

This time, I scoffed. "Let's play the lame game."

The rules of the 'lame game' were simple; the person who had to guess the drawing didn't have to look at the 'sand art' until the other person asks to do the same. At first, she made a rectangle and of course I guessed it as a 'rectangle', but apparently in Kim's world of Art, it was a building. I immediately pitied the people living in Kim's imaginary building for not having any windows and doors. Ventilation was definitely a problem there.

Then it was my turn to draw something. I have never been good at Arts but I was definitely better than Kim. She guessed my drawing as rat chewed pizza slices; a big slap to my Art side because I had made two hills with a river flowing between them. I argued, saying they were hills, but just like other arguments in the last six hours, this one too proved to be futile.

"These are pizza slices that have been chewed by rats from the sides, thus explaining the rough and distraught ends with ketchup flowing between them." This was Kim's view and the girl was the living definition of stubborn.

After a few more rounds and Kim's weird imaginations of whatever any of us drew, I lost by a huge margin in a game invented by the girl sitting beside me - her game, her rules and obviously her win.

She again started drawing something on the sand. "Hey, don't look here," she said loudly, when she noticed that I was looking and pointed towards the far end of the sea, "Look over there. Such a beautiful sight." She tried to persuade me like I was a kid, who was sucker of beautiful sights.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I looked at the sight, complying with what she said. After about a minute, she clapped her hands excitedly and said, "You can see now."

My eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion as I tried to understand the sand art in front of me, in the vague moonlight. For any normal person, like me, it was a drawing of a stick and two huge balls, but considering that it was Kim's creativity, I doubted that it was anything normal.

"What is this?" I voiced out my confusion.

"It's you who has to guess. C'mon, you can do it," she told me, in an attempt to encourage me.

"Um... Balls?" I answered, but it came out as a question.

Instead of saying that I was right or wrong, Kim burst out in fits of laughter. All I could do was look at her in confusion. Noticing my confused expressions, she calmed a bit and said between her laughter, "These are anything but balls." With that, she again started laughing, holding her stomach tightly and falling on the sand.

I again tried to understand the drawing, but in no vain, as I was a normal person. "What is this?" I asked a bit loudly, gaining her attention.

She sat up, still laughing, which she controlled once she noticed my glare. She bit her lips and motioned me to wait with her hand. I raised my eyebrows as she started writing something above the drawing.

'Claire' was what she wrote.

This made my raised eyebrows to scrunch together in confusion along with concentration as I looked at Kim's piece of art. It was a matchstick drawing with a little circle on top, which was probably supposed to be Claire's face. At the end, the stick was parted in two, showing her legs. The most amusing and eye catching part of the drawing was the two huge balls joined together, depicting Claire's breasts. My mouth formed an 'o' as I understood the drawing, finally.

"These are definitely not called balls," I said, stressing on balls and I joined her when she started laughing again. Once we calmed down a bit, I kept my palm on one of the balls and sighed dramatically. "I could have been touching the real ones right now," I said in a mock sad tone.

This made her laugh even more and she said, probably for the fourth time in one night, "You are ridiculous."

"What?" I said, faking offense. "Can't a guy dream?" She just chuckled and shook her head in disbelief.

She spoiled her own little painting with her hand by spreading sand on it. I watched as she spread her legs in front of her and laid down on the beach beside me, looking up at the sky. 'What is she doing?'

"This, my dear friends, is what is called an easy lay." I addressed my fake audience a bit loudly, motioning towards Kim.

Her eyes snapped open, only to glare at me. "And what I'll do next is called destroying the reproductive system of a horny teenager," she retorted with a smirk. Her comeback made me laugh. I was amused by this girl; she could make me laugh with her smart comebacks, creative mind and funny expressions.

I asked her a bit more seriously, "What are you doing?"

"Lying down," was her reply.

"Why here?" I asked her, incredulously.

"Why not here?" she countered questioned me, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well, it's sand that you are laying on." I tried to explain.

My explanation made her sit up and gasp. "Don't tell me that you've never laid on the sand and watched the stars," she said.

"I've a very serious relationship going on with my pillow and bed, we don't like sleeping without each other," I told her as a matter of fact and she chuckled.

She looked at me for a moment with a weird look in her eyes and she smiled sadly. "Dude; you are missing out on a lot," she said and resumed her position.

I recognized the weird look in her eyes as pity and instantly, I felt anger, frustration and annoyance built up inside me. 'Why does she pity me? Why would anyone pity me? Its jealousy that people feel towards me, not pity. I have the perfect family, perfect friends, more than perfect looks and I've got everything I've ever wanted. There is no place in my life for anyone's pity. I have a perfect life.' I thought.

For a moment, I thought of leaving her here alone, enjoying lying on the sand, under the stars. But, I thought better of it and dropped the idea as I had no idea that where we were and how to go back.

Then, I thought about giving her a piece of my mind by arguing with her, but I dropped this idea too, as she was a girl and I have been taught by my parents to never talk back or argue with girls.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to control my anger and looked at her. She was still in the same position; lying straight on the beach, looking up at the stars. Hesitantly, I copied her actions and laid beside her. All the anger, frustration and annoyance that I was facing, evaporated the instant my eyes landed on the sky above me.

It was mesmerizing.

Silence filled the air as the only sounds that could be heard were the slight sounds of crashing waves and our calm breathing. I didn't know for how long we stayed like that. It was so peaceful, and for the first time in almost nineteen years of my existence, I felt as if I was withmyself.

I turned my head to look at Kim and found her eyes closed. Involuntarily, I found myself taking in every feature of her face. Her eyelashes were long and curled, touching her cheeks. There was no trace of any kind of make up on her face.

'She is cute,' I thought.

'And a lesbian,' a voice within me reminded me. 'Don't make her do A Walk To Remember on you, dude. She is just a cute lesbian and definitely not your type,' the voice continued, making me sit up straight in an instant. I shook my head in order to get rid of the weird thoughts and voices in my head.

In the process of shaking my head, my eyes landed on the sight in front of me. The sky was slowly changing its color. "Hey, wake up!" I shook Kim without removing my eyes from the view in front of me.

"Urrghh! I am already awake, c**dom-man." She groaned.

"Damn! Look," I told her, still not looking anywhere else but the changing color of the sky.

"Wow!" she whispered, when her eyes got fixed on what I was watching.

We watched in awe as the sun peaked out from behind the endless water and graced the earth with its first rays. The blazing sun rose with all its glory. The view was spectacular and left me completely speechless. We just stared at it for some time, neither of us saying a word. Silence completely dominated us.

"I'm getting in the water," she announced while getting up and started moving towards the sea without giving me a chance to reply. I watched her retreating back as she took steps in the water, fully clothed. She kept walking till the water was up to her waist level. She turned to look at me and offered me a small smile, as if inviting me, or knowing Kim, I should say, challenging me to join her.

I looked down at my clothes - beige cargo shorts, blue Abercrombie T-shirt and Rado watch. I looked at her again and found her smirking in my direction.

"Screw it!" I muttered under my breath and got up. I jogged towards her and soon, I was in the water, fully clothed, playing and enjoying with Kim.

After a lot of splashing water at each other, she said, "We should leave, before anybody sees us."

Reluctantly, I nodded and we stepped out of the water; completely wet from head to toe. I looked at Kim as water was dripping from her baggy pants and her loose T-shirt. Her hair was a complete mess, but she had a huge grin on her face, which showed that her clothes getting wet was the last concern on her mind. We laughed as we took in each other's appearance and started moving towards the little fence.

"Where to next?" I asked, absent-mindedly while wearing my footwear. She answered with silence which made me look at her as she looked at me with a blank face. Thinking that she didn't hear me, I repeated myself, "Where to next?"

"It's dawn now," she said.

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as I tried to understand her answer and then, it hit me. The Deal! Our deal was till dawn. "Oh! Yes," I mumbled, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Let's go. I'll drop you," she said, climbing the fence.

"You know my Grandpa's home?" I asked as I climbed the fence.

She chuckled. "I know Claire's house." My mouth formed an 'o' and I nodded in understanding.

This time, I took the helmet and sat behind her without any arguments. Neither of us said even a single word on our ride. The hot breeze of Miami felt cool because of our completely soaked clothes. Silently, I saw the houses, stores, buildings all pass by. Miami looked different. I felt different.

Too soon, she brought the bike to a halt in front of Grandpa's house. I got up and pulled the helmet out of my head. She tied my helmet to the handle in front and un-did her own. Her hair was still a mess, a complete mess. Unconsciously, my hand went to my hair and I brushed my fingers through them.

Suddenly, I realized that I was going back home today and maybe, I won't ever meet her again. 'You should have gone grocery shopping on your first day here,' that little voice told me. I ignored it and found myself saying, "Give me your phone number."

Her lips twitched in a smile which quickly converted in a smirk. "You had fun?"

I decided not to answer her and instead asked her, "What do you want me to do?" I asked this because I had lost the deal by a very huge margin.

"I'll tell you the next time I'll meet you," she replied.

"When will we meet again?" I asked, frowning. "I'm going back today, in like five hours," I told her.

She gave me a small smile and said, "If it's a part of God's plan, we will meet again."

"You believe in that crap?" I asked her, wide-eyed.

"No! My best friend made me watch Serendipity too many times," she answered with a chuckle, making me roll my eyes. "I want to see what God's plan is, for me," she continued and I knew she was serious this time.

I reluctantly nodded and said, "I hope we'll meet again, Kimberly,"

She mock glared at me and dismissed, saying, "Whatever, c**dom-man." This was probably the last time I was hearing this name.

"This is it then?" I asked mumbling. This was weird, way weirder than I ever thought saying goodbye to anyone, that too a girl, would be.

She nodded. "This is it."

I gave her a small smile and turned my back to her. I took a few steps towards Grandpa's house, but her voice made me stop. "Keith?" she called and I instantly turned to look at her. This was the first time she had called me by my name.

"I'm not a lesbian," she said loudly, with a huge grin on her face. I looked at her dumbfounded, but laughed when she started laughing. Once we calmed down, she said with a small smile on her lips, "I hope so too." Before I could understand what she said, she put her helmet on and drove away. She had just given me the reply to what I said before. She too hoped that we'll meet again, some time, whenever, God had planned for us.

After a few moments of looking at the way she drove away from, I sighed and turned back to move towards Grandpa's cream colored house. I spotted Grandpa watering his little garden in the front porch. He had a habit of waking up too early and the first thing he did after waking up was water his plants.

"Good morning Pa," I greeted him.

He looked up from his precious plants and his eyes landed on me. A smile slowly crept on his face and he said cheerfully, "Ah! My favorite grandson, good morning." He looked at me head to toe while adjusting his spectacles and his cheerful expressions changed to that of confusion. "Did it rain just now?" he asked and looked at the sky above.

I looked at my soaked clothes and a chuckle escaped my lips. "No Pa, I just had a very crazy night."

He looked at me and smiled, all confusion from before erased. "So, was it a nice night?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

'Was it a nice night?' I repeated his question in my head, asking myself.

I ditched Claire, rode around the town sitting behind a girl on her bike, hid behind some bushes, peed at a stranger's front door, ate burgers at three in the morning, got splattered with coke, was called c**dom-man too many times to even count on fingers, laughed like a maniac, broke into a secluded private beach, lay under the stars, watched the sunrise, swam fully clothed in the sea water. Was it a nice night?

My answer came out just as a whisper. "It was... the best."

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A/N- 

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Side --> Picture of the Sunrise in South Beach Miami. (I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE)

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