8/25: Blue Winter Beach - Alixandria Thomas

After we ate each ate 2 whoppers, large fries (2 of those for Chan-hee), and some shared cookies (and of course having some drinks with it), we go on our way to Blue Winter Beach. As best friends, we'd always went there during the summer or whenever we could all together. We would go into the water, or build sandcastles, or even make a campfire when it was dark out and talk about things we had remembered.

Now we were gonna go back to the beach, probably our last time going back to it. This was now our senior year at Blue Winter High, the last year of school ever. The year where we now had to take things really seriously. The year before going off to college in another city or state. Honestly, I didn't want to be without Chan-hee or Khalil anytime. I mean, they're my best friends. Khalil's been with me since kindergarten and Chan's been with me since middle school. Would you really want to leave your best friends if you've known them basically forever?

To be truthful, I rather for all three of us to go to the same college, that way we're only broken up by dorm rooms and some college classes. But, unfortunately, life doesn't work that way and not everybody gets accepted into a college they want to go to. Chan's planning on going back to Seoul, South Korea, her hometown, and go to a college there to study music. Khalil's going to go to some college off of a football scholarship. I'm not exactly sure what college I'll be going to, but I'll either be studying creative writing or mathematics and statistics.

I realize I'm about 5 miles from the beach when I'm pulled out of my thoughts. Chan-hee's playing her favorite music (only BTS) from her phone, while Khalil's arguing with her to not play it on my radio. I chuckle at them, knowing that this is NOT the first time they've bickered with each other over this. Every time we've gone somewhere together, no matter how long it was gonna take to get there, Chan has always been trying to play her music from her phone. Khalil and her would fuss over it until one time there was a compromise. That compromise was for each of them to take turns each ride that we had, but unfortunately, that was quickly forgotten. If I was to say something about it to them, ALL of us would be arguing. Hell, we would get into an accident from it. So, I just learned to get used to their arguing with each car ride we go on.

I turn into the parking lot of the beach and find a space close enough to it. When I do, I turn in between a pale red pickup truck and a gold minivan. I turn off the car and then turn to my friends. They're still arguing with each other when I say hey to them three times. At that point, I just take a deep breath and then scream out 'shutup' to them, which finally gets them to stop. They give me blank looks like they didn't do anything.

"Now that I have you guys attention" - 'finally' - "we are going to have a good time at the beach. Understand?" They nod their heads in approval before I go on. "We're gonna make the most of it since this might be our last time here at this beach. Hell, we mind as well act like kids again, making sandcastles, playing in the water, and doing other kid-like things. Understand?" Again, they nod their heads in approval. "Now, let's get out, and GO HAVE FUN! By the way, last one to get to the water is a rotten egg."

I'm the first one to get out of the car and start taking off my turtleneck, jeans, and boots, exposing my sky blue triangle bikini top and sporty bikini bottom, then throwing my clothes and boots on the floor in front of the seat behind the driver's seat. I suddenly see Khalil to my right side running to where the sand is in his shorts and flip-flops Chan and I got him from the mall. I also see how perfect his abs are before I start thinking, 'Damn, I never knew how good his abs looked.' Then I think about what I just thought about. 'Wait, why did I just think that?' I snap back into reality as I see Chan-hee on the other side, going through the bags for something she had bought for the beach. I go through each bag on my side and find the pink and blue striped beach towel I'm looking for. I wrap it around my bottom and instantly close the door afterward. I go back to the driver's seat, grab my keys, and close the door before locking it.

Before I start running off to where Khalil is, I look at Chan-hee as she looks up at me with her eyebrows scrunched up above her heart-shaped sunglasses, and all I do is stick out my tongue. I hear her mumble something before I see her face light up and close the door with her BTS-themed beach towel in her hand and her sunglasses on her face. I quickly turn around and start running to the fence that stands between the parking lot and the beach. When I pass through the fence, I can hear Chan behind me, which only makes me speed up. I keep running until I run into Khalil when my attention is turned back at Chan and fall onto the sand.

When I look up into his eyes, I swear everything around us stops for a moment. Even though as the sun is shining into my eyes, Khalil's body blocks it. I see his black hair that he put into little twists, his gleaming eyes, his curious look, his six-pack of abs, his muscles, and every other feature on him. It almost seems like he's admiring how I look to him before I hear Chan coming up to us. That's when everything returns to normal, and Khalil offers his hand to me to help me up. I take it, and he pulls me up with all his strength. Somehow, I end up stumbling into his arms, making almost every part of me he touches burn with the delight of feeling him on my skin. When I look up at his face, I see his mouth moving, my senses then coming back to me when I realize what he's saying.

"You okay, Ali? he asks me again. I pull away from him and start rubbing sand off of me as I say, "yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Although, I'm really not, 'cause I don't know why I'm feeling differently about Khalil.

"I'M ALMOST TO THE WATER!!!" Chan-hee yells out to us. I take off my beach towel, wrap my keys into it, put it on the ground next to Khalil's flip-flops, and run after Chan. Khalil almost immediately follows me when I take off with extra speed. Chan ends up being first to the water and jumps with delight as the water around her splashes. I'm the next one to the water, pumping my fists into the air. When Khalil catches up to us, he sulks next to me and says, "this is not fair." Chan and I laugh at him before he then adds, "oh, that's funny to y'all?"

Before we realize it, he splashes some water onto us, making both of us squeal a little. Suddenly we break out into a water-splashing fight, constantly throwing onto whoever.

After about 5 minutes, we stop and go back to where my and Khalil's stuff is. I sit down after spreading out my towel and putting my car keys to my side. Khalil sits next to me since Chan only likes for her to sit on her towel. "Too bad we didn't get an umbrella," I say jokingly to Chan. She chuckles a bit before we turn our attention to the setting sun. The sunset at the horizon of the ocean is so perfect along with the pink-ish and purple-ish clouds in the orange sky. 'Everything about this is perfect.' I think to myself. I then feel a hand touch mine, seeing that it's Chan-hee's. I give her a smile before I let our fingers interlace with each other as I do the same with Khalil's, feeling a tingle go through my body as soon as I touch him. He looks at me curiously before smiling at me. We all turn back to the sunset and sit there until it's completely gone.