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“Fine, fine!” I say, laughing. “We can go.”
“Good girl.” He kisses me one last time, before leaving me down.
“Perv,” I whisper and he winks at me as he pulls his Hilfiger t-shirt over his head.
“Come on, let’s make the most of today while we’re still young,” he says and we go back down the path towards the beach.
The afternoon is cooler and the water is icy now as I walk barefoot on the shallow parts of the shore.
Grains of sand shift underneath my toes, drifting out towards the ocean as another small wave crashes and foams against my ankles.
And the ocean continues to breathe gently in its steady back and forth rhythm.
When I was younger and lived in North Carolina for a while with my grandparents, I used to love going to the beach, walking along the shores like I am now, collecting the weirdest of seashells and pieces of sea glass, watching the sand travel underneath my feet. It always feels magical.
Pulling myself out of the daydream, up ahead is a small lighthouse positioned on a sandy hill, with bands of white and red paint covering the lighthouse’s surface and just below that is a huge crowd of people gathered on the beach.
Several bonfires are lit, with red and yellow flames dancing in the air. Metal buckets filled with crushed ice are overflowing with beers and cans of sodas.
Under My Tongueby Katastro is playing in the air and I feel completely relaxed.
I grab Hudson’s hand and gently pull him towards me. “Let’s dance.”
“Parker, no. I can’t dance,” he says as I wrap my arms around him.
“Why not?”
“Because,” he shifts uncomfortably, averting my eyes. “I don’t dance.”
“Which person can’t dance?” I tease. “Come on, just one dance.”
“Stop,” he whispers, before glancing down into my eyes.
“I came to this bonfire to have fun with you and it’s fun to dance. If you don’t dance, then what fun will that be. It’s part of life, you have to dance at least once in your lifetime,” I say as I reach up to caress his smooth jawline.
“Well, it’s not fun to me, so quit insisting!” he snaps and brushes my hand away.
My face burns with heat as I feel several eyes looking towards us, so I do the only thing I can think of to save myself from humiliation and walk away from Hudson as fast as possible.
Pieces of driftwood dig into my feet and the wind whips against my face, but I don’t care as the stupid tears break free and fall against my cheeks and I let them.
“Parker!” Hudson shouts behind me as I head towards the lighthouse.
“Parker!”
I continue to trudge up the hill until he grabs my arm and turns me to face him. His expression is twisted with irritation.
“Leave me alone. You don’t get it, do you? You can’t just talk to me however you feel like, Hudson! I’m not your brother and I’m not your parents. You and I? We just do this stupid thing called dating if that’s what this can even be called.” My voice shakes as I give him a piece of my mind. “And don’t ever think you have the right to touch me like that again!”
His face goes blank as if he never expected me to say any of this to him. “You might have had your way with other women in the past, but I won’t be one of them, because I’m not one of them.”
“You’re breaking up with me because I didn’t want to dance?” he asks as if that’s the only wrong thing with this whole conversation.
I laugh incredulously. “Do you even want me to stay? Couples do things like dancing and holding hands. I don’t get you. One moment, your warm, the next your cold. And I have no idea what I ever did to you to be treated like that.”
“Jesus, Parker. I don’t do things like that. I can’t do things like that. It’s like you keep expecting me to do these ridiculous things and I don’t want to,” he says walking towards me.
“Then what’s the point of coming here? Of being with me?” The tears are blurring my vision now. “I don’t want this. Take me back to the house. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with you.”
