Matthew Warren

I paced around the living room, extremely nervous at 6PM. I was patiently waiting for Matthew to arrive to go on our first date. My heart was racing, as was my mind. I had decided to wear a simple blue jeans, blue flip flops, and blue low cut t-shirt. My hair was out and flowing in waves to my waist.

“Damn . . . so simple, yet so beautiful.” Jeremy smiled and kissed my head. “You seem nervous.”

“I am.” I bit down on my lower lip.

“Don’t be.” He grabbed his board, waved and raced out the room.

“He’s right.” Matthew laughed from the doorway. “You have nothing to be nervous about. It’s just dinner.”

“I get nervous and freak out very easily.” I defended.

“Well, don’t.” he grabbed my hand and led me out the  house towards his car.

I was silent in the car, too nervous to even say anything. What if I said something extremely stupid?

“So, I take it you’re not the fine dining sort of girl?” He glanced across at me as he drove.

“Oh no, I’m not.” I sighed. “Unless, I have to.”

“Well, you don’t. I have something a little more casual planned.”

We drove up to the north coast and came to one of the KFC outlets. I burst into laughter as soon as he turned into the drive thru. I looked over at him, suddenly relaxed.

“Are you serious?” I grinned.

“Hell yes!” He looked at me as if I was some weirdo. “I love KFC.”

“I’ll take a popcorn chicken combo then.” I leaned back and relaxed more fully.

I saw him smiling at me as he ordered through the corner of my eye. We continued driving after collecting the food. He headed up the north coast hill to one of the most popular beaches on the island, Maracas.

“Oh, we’re not going to Maracas.” He saw me looking out intently at the beach.

We continued along the coast, passing Tyrico completely. I frowned slightly, wondering where he was taking me. He finally drove into the empty parking lot of Las Cuevas beach. I had only been to this beach three times in my entire life. For some reason, my family preferred Tyrico and Maracas. He parked and hopped out. I got out as he took my hand and led me down the steps to the beach. He had  a small blanket and the food in his other hand. I helped him lay out the blanket and sat down.

“You’re not the guy I thought you were.” I admitted as I took my box of food from him.

“What kind of guy did you think I was?” he wondered.

“Self centered.” I shrugged. “A guy who wants everything done his way, and is uptight.”

He released a comfortable laugh from the bottom of his stomach.

“I suggest, Miss Samantha, that you get to know someone before you judge them.” He grinned and bit into his chicken.

“And I suggest you call me Sammy.” I popped some of the chicken into my mouth.

We ate in comforting silence, glancing over at each other every now and then. Once he was done, he leaned back on his elbows and stared out at the sunset.

“So, now that you’re done with high school, what are your plans? College?” he asked.

“Yep.” I nodded and crossed my legs. “I’m hoping to go to college in the states.”

“That’s cool.” He smiled. “What’s going to be your major?”

“Well, my family expects me to something business related.” I sighed sadly.

“What do YOU want to do?” he looked up at me.

“I want to write . . .” I whispered. “I love creating stories, about magic, vampires, the supernatural!”

“That’s awesome.” He closed his eyes. “You should do that.”

“My parents would never approve.” I pointed out.

“You should always do what you want to do, and not conform or change for anyone.” His tone became serious. “For me, example, my parents want me to go to college, major in something worthwhile, but I already have a job lined up to work in a computer repair company.”

“That’s great!” I smiled.

“Yea.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “So, tell me something personal. How may ex-boyfriends have you had, and how far have you gone with them?”

“Well, I’ve never had a boyfriend, and I’ve gone nowhere with anyone.” I blushed quickly and looked away.

He sat up, touched my chin gently and turned my face back to him. He gently pressed his lips to mine. I leaned into him a bit and deepened the kiss.

“Now, you can say you’ve kissed a boy.” He whispered huskily against my lips.

My entire face turned beet red and I quickly pulled away from him. I stood up and stepped up to the edge of the water.

“I’m sorry.” He said from behind me. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t.” I murmured. “It’s just . . . you’re so different . . . at least . . . I thought you were. I’ve always had a crush on you, and this feels like a dream.”

“Sammy . . . I’ve liked you from the moment I saw you in that tight dark blue one piece bathing suit.” He touched my shoulder gently, making me turn to look up at him. “You were so beautiful . . . the way the water made your hair fall in front of your eyes, the way you walked with your a*s moving so seductively from side to side, the same walk you still do, by the way. You intimidated me too, the way you had that determined look on your face whenever you had to race. I had vowed to always try to beat you in a race, but that plan never worked. Sammy, I watched you at every practice, but I was a chicken back then. I was too scared to even talk to you.”

“Matthew . . . I had no idea.” I whispered, glancing at his mouth, wishing he would just shut up and kiss me again.

“I never gave you the chance to have an idea.” He sighed. “Have you kept up with the swimming?”

“Yes.” I murmured, still looking at his lips.

“Prove it!” he yelled as he grabbed my waist.

He threw me across his back, ran into the cold water and threw me into it. I quickly surfaced and stared at him dumbfounded. He couldn’t stop laughing. I narrowed my eyes, grabbed his head and dunked him. He surfaced, tackled me and began tickling me underwater. I squirmed and stood up, laughing hard and grinning up at him.

He grinned down at me, grabbed my head and pulled me closer to him. He covered his lips with mine and began prodding his tongue against my lips. I slowly, and unsurely, open my mouth. His tongue flew in and began to rub against mine hard. I tentatively rubbed mine against his and released a moan. He pulled me closer and groaned against my lips.

“Wow.” I whispered as I pulled away slowly.

“I know . . .” he stared at me surprised. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

I smiled as he grabbed my hand and led me out of the water towards the blanket. He wrapped up the food and handed me the blanket to dry off. I smiled at him as he led me back up towards the car.

“So . . . can we go out again?” he asked as we pulled up to the front of my house.

“Definitely.” I smiled at him, leaned across and kissed his cheek.

***

I was in love. He was everything I ever wanted, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The way he felt, the way he moved . . . he was perfect.

“Thank you!” I kissed my dad’s cheek as I began to wax my new surf board.

“No problem, sweetie.” Dad ruffled my hair and drove off with Jeremy laughing.

I grinned excitedly as I kept waxing. I wanted it as smooth as I could possibly get it.

“Cool, a new board.” Matthew smiled as he walked over to me.

Matthew and I had been dating for the past three weeks, and he finally asked me to be his girlfriend.

“Yep, I just called Brian.” I stood up and handed him the wax. “He should be coming over soon to surf with us.”

“Awesome.” He smiled as he bent down and kissed me gently.

“Hey guys!” Brian waved over to us.

“Brian!” I jumped up and skipped over to him.

Brian grinned, wrapped his arms around my waist, lifted me off the ground and kissed my cheeks gently. I kissed hugged him tightly as he placed me down gently.

“So, you guys ready?” he looked over at Matthew.

“Yep.” Matthew stood up and stretched. “Let’s go.”

Surfing is the easiest way to get rid of any built in anger, or organize your confused thoughts. For me, surfing was a godsend. It was my way of shutting out the real world and entering my own world. While most people focused on controlling the wave, and over powering it, I did something different. I blended in with it. I became one with the wave and entered my own magical world where anything can happen. Where I can fly, or become a mermaid and roam the seas for eternity.

We surfed for three hours straight before Matthew called it quits. We swam back to shore and sat on our boards, staring at the sunset. Neither one of us spoke. I placed my head against Brian’s shoulder and sighed relaxed.

The truth was, even though Matthew was my boyfriend, I couldn’t let go of all the things I used to do with Brian. I still told Brian everything first, I still spent most of my time with Brian; I still clung to Brian like a parasite. He was the only person in the entire world, besides my father and brother, who I trusted. No one could come between us, because our bond was stronger than anything imaginable.

“Hey, I got to get home.” Matthew stood up. “My mom needs me to do a couple of things for her tonight.”

I nodded, stood up and kissed him gently.

“I’ll call you later tonight.” He whispered.

He waved to Brian and ran off with his board. I sat back down and curled up against Brian’s chest. Brian slowly began to stroke my hair. I closed my eyes and smiled up at Brian.

“He seems like a really awesome guy, you know.” Brian said softly into my ear. “If he treats you wrong, you’ll tell me, right?”

“Of course.” I murmured. “Besides, if he tries to hurt me, I’ll kick his a*s.”

Brian chuckled, scooped me up in his arms and took me back to the house. He walked into my room and placed me on the bed.

“I know when you get tired, you just want to sleep.” He kissed my head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Board.” I said.

“I’ll get it.” Brian ran his fingers through my hair one more time before disappearing from my room.

I don’t know how long I was asleep, but I know that I was awakened by the strike of a leather belt against my stomach. My eyes shot open as I sat up and stared into the murderous eyes of my mother.

“You were home all day and you didn’t even make dinner? What good are you?” she screamed as she brought the belt down on me again.

I ducked quickly, enraging her more. She grabbed my hair and threw me to the ground. I tried to crawl away, but she brought the belt down on my back. Since I was still wearing my bathing suit, the belt sliced through my skin. I gasped. After all the years of beatings, I had moved on from screaming out and crying. Now, it was just gasps of shock.

“You worthless piece of s**t!” she yelled.

She kicked my ribs hard, causing me to wince and grab my ribs hard. I crawled over the wall and struggled to stand up. I pressed my head against the wall, breathing in and out heavily. I saw her smirk out of the corner of my eye as she lifted the buckle of the belt and struck me with it. I turned too late, causing her to hit me face instead.

I grabbed my cheek as I felt the blood trickle down. She smiled smugly, rolled the belt up and walked out the room. I bit down on my lower lip to prevent myself from crying. I stumbled towards the stair case and walked down to the living room.

“Yea, that’s right.” She smirked at me from the kitchen. “Go for a drive and gather yourself before your precious father gets home.”

I grabbed my car keys and walked out the door to my car. I started the engine and drove off. I glanced at my cell phone in the car and quickly texted Brian. I drove quickly to our beach, parked and walked over to the rocks.

I stood there, for a few minutes, just staring at the moon’s reflection on the waves. I don’t know what came over me, but I pulled off my surfing shorts and dove into the water. I swam out till I was a few yards from the shore, floated on my back and stared up at the moon. I closed my eyes as the calm waves moved underneath me like a vibrating chair. I heard Brian’s whistle and slowly swam back to the rocks. He grabbed my hand from the water and pulled me out easily.

He noticed that I was trying to keep my head down. He slowly touched my cheek to make me look at him and I winced at the touch. He frowned, grabbed my chin and made me look up at him. He shook his head in disbelief and gently touched the deep cut.

“She actually hit you on your face . . .” he whispered, trying not to cry.

I nodded my head and fought back my own tears.

“I can’t believe this.” He blinked and kissed the top of my head. “I really think it’s time you tell your father.”

“No!” I stared at him in fright. “He’ll never love me . . .”

“Damn it, Sammy!” he grabbed my shoulders angrily. “Your father loves you more than anything else! You need to tell him everything!”

“No!” I said with a final tone in my voice.

Brian dropped his hands and started crying gently. I quickly wrapped my arms around him and held him close.

“I can’t stand seeing you get hurt.” He whispered through his tears. “You mean too much to me.”

“I know.” I gently touched his tears and wiped them away. “But only a few more months, right?”

“Did you start applying yet?” Brian wiped his eyes quickly and stared at me seriously.

“Um . . . we need to talk about that.” I stepped away from him. “I know you want to go to Florida, but . . . I’m applying for schools in Virginia. You know, near aunty Simba.”

“Why?” he frowned and folded his arms.

“Because . . . daddy and aunty wants me to spend some time there.” I sighed. “And I want a change. Something away from all this. I know that I’m going to miss the swimming, and the surfing . . . and the food for sure.”

“So . . . we’re going to move to Virginia, not Florida?” Brian stared at me.

The idea of Brian moving with me had never crossed my mind. I always thought that Brian had his mind set on college in Florida. I never thought he would even considered moving with me. The idea of both of us in Virginia made me feel more secure about college, but the last thing I wanted was for Brian to feel as if he was obligated to move to Virginia with me.

“Brian, you don’t have to move with me.” I touched his shoulder gently. “I can do this on my own.”

“I will never let you do anything on your own if I have the ability to be there with you and help.” Brian kissed my head.

He grabbed my hand and led me back to my car. I sat down in the driver’s seat and stared out at him.

“I love you, Sammy.” He smiled gently. “I’ll always be there for you. We’ll start applying for colleges in Virginia tomorrow. Oh, and we got to study for the SAT’s this weekend.”

I nodded my head and started the engine. As I drove back home, I couldn’t stop thinking about how perfect Brian was.

I had known Brian for such a long time in my life, and we had become inseparable. Brian and I had both grown and changed in our own ways, but we both adapted to each other, and things always felt natural . . . and safe with us. Brian was the first person I went to whenever anything went wrong. He was the first person to know about all the big and little events in my life. He supported me through it all. He was perfect.

Over the years, I had to admit, he had become extremely gorgeous. His hair was straight and dark brown. His eyes were just as dark brown as his hair. His body was slightly muscular and fit. He was at least 5’10 in height. His skin was tanned, but lighter than mine. It was his goofy smile and the happy air around him that made girls so attracted to him. Yet, no matter how beautiful or great they were, he never dated them.

As I drove up to the front of the house, I saw my dad’s car parked. He was back home with Jeremy. I rubbed the sides of my mouth gently to put on my fake smile. I killed the engine and quickly walked up to the house. Everyone was in the kitchen, bustling about, getting whatever they wanted for dinner.

“Sammy!” Jeremy exclaimed first as he saw my cheek.

“S**t!” Dad gasped. “What happened?”

“I fell.” I lied, watching Jeremy as he glared at our mother.  

“You need to be careful.” Dad whispered as he walked over to me and touched my cheek lightly. “You’re always clumsy.”

“I know.” I muttered. “I’m sorry.”

“Come on.” He grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs. “Let’s put some rubbing alcohol on it.”