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Liam immediately leapt from the car still dressed in his white button up, and black slacks while his tie was left behind on the passenger seat.
“Thanks, mom! See you tomorrow!” He shut his door and without a second thought, followed two girls to the party around the fire, abandoning his role as Maybelle's companion a lot faster than she had anticipated he would. Maybelle groaned loudly as she dropped her head back against her seat.
Stephanie twisted to face her, giving her a sympathetic smirk, "Come on, Lovebug. Be brave, be confident and have fun. Go find that boy, Trey. I’d bet he’d stay with you.” She said in a soft, motherly voice but followed it with a teasing, friendly wink.
Maybelle rolled her eyes and laughed, “Love you mom, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then she was exiting the car and making the walk down to the beach.
Maybelle still wore her powder blue dress, but she replaced her graduation gown with her black zip up hoodie to keep her warm against the cool ocean breeze. She wrapped her arms around herself protectively as she stalked the outer shell of the social circle, not in the least bit interested in inserting herself into the thick group.
Instead, Maybelle completely bypassed the party to where the ocean met land. She stopped just outside of where the waves crested the sand sitting herself on a dry patch.The waves crashed on the beach while a few kids swam in the shallow area and couples did god knows what on top of each other in the dark water.
Maybelle slipped off her strappy sandals and dug her toes into the slightly damp sand. She loved the beach, she couldsurvive the night if she could stay right there, unbothered to watch the waves and do all the people watching she’d like.
But that was sadly, short lived.
“Maybelle?”
She turned from the crashing waves to see a tall young man, black hair, tanned complexion, and very dark eyes peering down at her.
“That’s me.” She confirmed.
He took a step closer, “Daniel, Daniel Aguilar? We had math together.”
Maybelle smiled up at him, finally recognizing Daniel for the quiet handsome boy who hid in the back of class. They probably have exchanged only a few ‘hellos’ before this moment. With both being shy it made it a little difficult for them to converse much more than that. She acknowledged that it probably took a lot for him to approach her like this. Maybelle knew she wouldn’t have had the guts to approach any of her peers the way Daniel approached her now.
“Right, I remember. How are you doing?”
Daniel stuffed his hands into his front, dark, denim, pant pockets, “I’ve been good, you?”
“Been mighty dandy.” Maybelle blurted, immediately berating herself internally.
What the fuh, Maybelle? Dandy? Run while you still can, Daniel.To her surprise, instead of cringing Daniel smiled and softly chuckled before asking, “Can I join you?” He gestured to the area next to her.
“Oh, please do.” Maybelle invited as she patted the sand to her side. Daniel sat with his knees up in front of him and placed two tatted arms on top of them.
Daniel was the type of hot that screamed bad boy.
Tall, dark, tatted and a solid shadow along his strong jawline. Maybelle didn’t know much about him except thathe drove a motorcycle everywhere and smoked between class periods behind the buildings. She did notice his sweet, small, smile and the fact that he held the door open for her and anyone else when presented the opportunity to do so.
She also recalled a time that they had been paired up in art class their junior year to create a poetic piece of art based on the color gold once. Daniel barely said a few words to her throughout the whole project, even when they got together at lunches to work on the said project.
It wasn’t until presentation day when Maybelle thought they would be presenting nothing, looking like two tongue-tied idiots that Daniel revealed a masterpiece.
He had painted a beautiful, professional worthy piece that depicted an angel bedecked in gaudy, white fabric with coiling locks of gold billowing out around her, melting into painted rays of sunlight. Maybelle had thought brazenly that the angel had looked a lot like her, with frizzy curls of gold but quickly stuffed that notion far far away because who the hell thinks that highly of themselves?
Rather, she focused on the fact that Daniel had saved their butts, and she owed her A plus on the assignment to him and his amazing talents because her own art skills would have earned them anything less than a C minus. She wasterribleat art. Even her simply drawn stick figures were atrocious. Moral of the story, Daniel was nice, Maybelle liked Daniel.
The next moments were spent mute because who would have guessed the two quiet kids sitting alone would lead to a painfully awkward silence.
Maybelle sure as hell didn’t.
Frantically, she started searching her brain for conversation topics, desperate to fill the stillness.
“So, any post-graduation plans?”
Daniel shook his head, “No, not really.”
Oh goodness, he was not making this any easier. Maybelle started to fidget with anxiety realizing that Daniel may be nice and artfully gifted, but he was a type of quiet that made her want to try drowning herself in the little hole she just made in the sand with her toes that the waves filled with salt water.
