Chapter 1: Her

The night was young and people in an abundance too large for me to count scattered throughout the beach. Fireworks lit up the sky and they all stared up in awe, colours with a beauty so vast, time would dissipate. But not me. I was staring at something much more beautiful and vast than I could ever learn to comprehend. I could just make her out in the distance. Who was this girl? And then there were cheers and laughs, light shows and unfinished drinks in-hand. And I was fixed on her. Auburn hair and a crown of leaves and twigs intertwined around her head. Her sundress was etched with cherry blossoms all over. She twirled around and kept her face to the sky but her eyes were closed. The blossoms floated lightly off before touching ground. She giggled and it tore my heart in two. I thought, 'That laugh can recreate the whole world over and all the bad that ever was or ever would be will be no longer.'  And it amazed me. How was it that a laugh like hers could break my heart and mend it all at once? She slowed down, time moving with her as if she demanded it and it listened. The girl opened her eyes but didn't break from smiling. The world was hers and she was life and I wanted to breathe her in and hear that laugh until my heart stopped beating.

"Noooooaaaaah," an intoxicated Alice wailed out from behind me.

I turned to her and smiled, forcibly bringing my cup up and extending it to her in a cheers, thanks for ruining the moment kind of way. And as I turned back around,the smile that lit up my world was gone. That girl had disappeared. I thought, I might never see her again.

"Noooaah," Alice said again, this time more cheerful than the last. As I turned around, she clumsily made her way to me with a red plastic cup full of beer. She giggled. She always giggled.

"Hey," I said, half-annoyed like someone would be if you woke them up from a deep sleep.

"Oh, cheer up! So, why were you staring at that tree?"

"I wasn't," I said annoyingly. "Never mind."

I sighed the frustration out. I couldn't be upset at Alice, even if my life depended on it. She was really short - about 5'1 with brunette hair that stopped at her chin. Her eyes were the deepest shade of blue I had ever encountered. The ocean would be envious of its depth.

"Do you wanna daaaance, lover boy?" She clumsily put her hand out to me and hit my cup, spilling some beer on my shirt. I didn't care, I was too confused by 'lover boy'.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh please," she giggled. "I saw you staring at, burp, the girl over there!

"I thought you saw me "staring at that tree."

And then Alice gave me the most adorably confused face.

"Huh? I didn't say nothing. Noooah, are you drunk?"

"No, but you are." She stuck out her tongue and we laughed.

I took her hand still stretched out before me and smiled before walking off with a drunken Alice. We danced and spilled more beer than we drank. Alice was a great dancer, even when under the influence and I'm pretty sure I made myself look like an a*s but I didn't care. I spun Alice and she shut her eyes, laughing so loud that she fell in a comedic embarrassment from the beer. And then I fell too. We laughed a little more before she let out this sigh of relief. I turned my head to her as we lay on the warm blanket of sand.

"I'm glad that you're my best friend."

Alice continued to stare at the fireworks.

"You should be honored, stargazer."

"You can't really see the stars when there's a million explosions in the sky."

She laughed at me.

"Silly, I was talking about that girl you were admiring!"

I turned my head to the spot where I last saw that girl and smiled.

"Oh. Her."

"Yeah. Her."

Author's Note

This chapter is meant to be a short one, leaving the reader enticed and reaching out for more. If there are any grammatical errors, please note it in the comments section along with any feedback and positivity. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Relic]

Not a bad chapter to start with. I can see you edited some words out by the spaces in between some words. I'm curious as to what those little green swirly things are?

[Gio S.P.]

To be honest, it's spam, I think... I have no idea how to get rid of them, at all. My laptop may have a virus and it blows. Overall, thank you for taking the time to read this, Relic!

[Relic]

No problem, when I get the time I'm interested to see what happens in ch. 2.

[613]

This was great!

The part where Alice is burping, however, I feel could use a little editing. The flow was just a bit off for me.

Overall, nicely done!