A New Beginning
Sara stretched out in her plastic chair, slapping her
sunglasses onto her face and plopping a hat over her auburn hair. She glanced
out from under the rims of her pink plastic specs to watch a cute surf dude walk
by, admiring his dark tan and suave swim shorts. Suddenly aware of the rising
heat in her skin, she reached into her purse, groping around its jumbled
contents. Three metallic colored combs and a bottle of nail polish remover
later, she was studying the label of her economy sized sunscreen bottle. She
popped the top and squeezed some into her palm, then slathered it over her face,
shoulders and under her shirt, oblivious to the curious and sometimes disgusted
glances of the wary beach travelers milling about her on the crowded sand.
A young man of about her age walked by, his tanned arm clutching a worn and aged
surf board, looked strangely at her for a moment as she finished applying the
sunscreen to her cracked and already burnt skin. She closed the bottle and
slipped it back into her bag, then realized that a shadow had fallen over her,
momentarily blocking the glare of the sun. She glanced up at the young man, who
quickly started off in the other direction, his cheeks warming in embarrassment.
Sara frowned, her head swimming with confusion. Suddenly the part of her mind
focused on logical thinking kicked in, and she felt her own cheeks now blushing
with embarrassment.
Sara smacked her forehead, despaired that her own naïve and foolish mind had
played such a trick on her, then was immediately sorry as the sunburn on her
forehead began to sting painfully. She groaned then laid back against the chair,
accepting her sullen fate. She closed her eyes and relaxed as the cool sea
breeze wafted over her. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, the pain in her
forehead flared up painfully, startling her into full awarement. Her eyes
snapped open just in time to see a multi-colored beach ball bouncing away. To
her immense surprise, the young male surfer from before bent to retrieve the
ball, then jogged over to her, concern and guilt plainly written on his handsome
face.
"Sorry about that… oh man, I broke your necklace." He said, studying
to something on the beach floor. Sara sat still for a moment, rubbing her
slightly aching forehead, but managed to give him a weak smile.
"Oh that’s okay. I'm sure you didn’t mean any harm…and don’t worry
about my necklace... I don’t think it's…" she trailed off as she looked
down to find the object of the man's distress. Her mother's beloved golden cross
lay in the sand, glinting in the afternoon sun. It now bore several dents, and
the slight silver chain was lying in the sand next to it, several broken links
apparent. She gasped in surprise, and then quickly found herself immersed in
guilt and sadness as she picked up the mangled keepsake. The necklace had been
her only link to her deceased mother, and now she had degraded her memory by
allowing it to be broken in such a ridiculous situation.
Sara jumped slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see
the surfer dude kneeling in front of her on the sand, his tenor voice inquiring
if she was all right or not.
"Oh, sorry, I'm fine." She smiled sheepishly, and he smiled back, then
gently took the cross necklace from her hand. He studied it for a moment, then
looked back into her eyes.
"This necklace is really special to you, isn't it?" He asked, his
voice soft and full of tenderness.
"Yeah... it was my mom's…. she gave it to me just a few days before she
died..." Unbidden tears welled up in her eyes as she told him, and he put a
comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sure she's still watching out for you. Why don’t you come on over to
my house. We'll see if we can get this fixed up… and maybe I'll get to know
you a little bit better." He said, smiling as he finished his sentence.
Sara looked at him in shock for a second then nodded.
"That sounds like a good idea to me. But, well… what's your name?"
she asked, biting her bottom lip, her freckled forehead creasing with
nervousness. The surfer dude laughed at himself, then playfully smacked his
forehead in a gesture of forgetfulness.
"Geez, I haven’t even introduced myself! I'm Ronnie. Ronnie Makron."
He offered his hand, and
Sara tentatively gave hers, and was surprised when he lifted it to his face and
gave it a quick kiss.
"I'm... Sara." She managed to say, blushing furiously. Ronnie picked
up her bag, slinging it over his shoulder, then took her hand gently, tucking it
under his arm. Without another word, they began walking towards the boardwalk.
Halfway there, Sara stopped, then turned to Ronnie questioningly.
"How… how come… I mean, earlier, I probably looked like…" she
stopped herself, then began blushing again. Ronnie just smiled, and continued
walking, pulling her along.
"I think me and you are going to be friends for a while… besides, I
thought you were cute… little freckles and all." Then it was his turn to
blush. Sara felt herself blushing as well, and they gazed at each other for a
moment before bursting into outright laughter.
On the beach, a butterfly floated over the abandoned beach chair, glowing under
the afternoon sun with an ethereal aura. Anyone who noticed the beautiful
butterfly could have sworn that she smiled as the new couple walked down the
boardwalk, hand in hand.
Later On that Evening...
"Well, it might be a little messy, but it’s the best I've got to
offer." Ronnie said bemusedly as he opened the door to his house, revealing
a well kept and tidy home. He ushered her in, grinning, and got her to sit down
on a comfy looking white couch before she could manage to utter a single word.
"Wait right there, I'll go get you something to drink." He said, and
walked off to what Sara guessed must be the general direction of the kitchen
before she could even manage to collect a sane thought in her befuddled mind.
Sara looked around hesitantly, and found herself chuckling at Ronnie's earlier
statement about the house being messy. It couldn’t be any cleaner if a maid
had done the dusting herself.
Psychedelic paintings and pictures of past surf adventures were taped neatly to
the wall in organized little clusters, and even all of the furniture matched in
color and style. Finally Ronnie returned from the kitchen carrying two drinks,
both with tiny straws and a split slice of lemon on the edge of the cup. Sara
chuckled lightly as he gently handed her the drink.
"Ginger ale on the rocks." He said, seeing that she was in a humorous
mood. She sipped gingerly at the drink and found it refreshing, then managed to
gulp the rest of it down within three seconds, further ignoring the provided
straw. She looked up to see Ronnie staring at her incredulously over the rim of
her cup, and blushed to see that he had barely taken a sip out of his own drink.
"Burp?" She said aloud, and they both burst out into laughter
simultaneously. As the laughter died down, their eyes met, and Sara found
herself leaning instinctively towards him, with Ronnie doing the same. Just
before they made contact, he cleared his throat and sat back into his seat. Sara
pushed down a tiny feeling of rejection, knowing what that previous action would
probably have led to.
She held back tears of mirth as he noisily drank the rest of his drink,
obviously trying to non-verbally change the subject. Finally he set the cup down
on the wooden table with a quiet thunk.
"So... why don’t I go see if I can get this fixed up? You can come watch
of course." He blushed furiously, causing Sara to launch into another fit
of chuckles. She followed Ronnie down a set of stairs into the basement and into
a small workroom in the back.
“Take a seat.” He said, flashing her an impish grin. She sat down lightly on
a wooden bench in the workroom and looked around, then picked up a small gadget
she couldn’t identify and began to toy with it as Ronnie set up several small
tools on his worktable.
“Comfy?” He asked, a wide grin on his face. He reached over to a small boom
box and switched it on to omit soft rock of some romantic sort. Sara chuckled
lightly and stood up then moved over to stand behind him.
“Think you can fix it?” She asked, standing on her tiptoes to look over his
shoulder. He had set the silver chain in a little bowl with the broken links and
set the pendant next to several small hammers and screwdrivers.
“Of course. I am mister fix-it after-all, aren’t I?” He said, grinning as
he immersed himself in self-ego for a moment. Sara looked at him incredulously
for a moment.
Instead she just nodded vigorously and pulled and old stool up next to the
worktable so she could watch him work on her necklace more closely. He began
working on the broken chain links, using the hammers and a pair of pliers to
squeeze them back into their proper shape, then to relink them. He finished
fixing the silver chain, stealing glances at Sara whenever he thought she
wasn’t paying attention, then set it down on the table gently, beaming proudly
at his small accomplishment.
“See? It’ll turn out all right.” He picked up the pendant and began using
the small hammer to bend it back into shape, then began speaking to her as he
worked.
“So where do you live?” He asked, just a hint of reluctance in his voice, as
if afraid to hear her answer.
“Oh... I live just a couple of minutes from here. I go to UoV.” She said,
hoping that he knew she was referring to the University of Virginia. He seemed
to brighten a little, then turned to her, smiling.
“Wow. Junior? What’s your major?” He asked. She chuckled lightly, then
scooted a little bit closer.
“Yeah. I’m a biology major.” She answered, blushing a little bit at the
thought of her being a “smart” girl.
“Oh, a smart girl eh? Cool. Very cool. I used to be a lit major... it was a
two year course. I work mainly in business though. I’ve got a little bookstore
down on Main Street.” He finished, then laughed lightly at the astonished look
on her face.
“A bookstore? Whoa… creepy.” She said, then shut her mouth quickly,
realizing how rude she must have sounded.
“Its not that creepy, although it does scare me every once in a while…” He
turned and suddenly handed her necklace, fully repaired. She stared at it in her
hand dumbly for a moment, noticing its new gleam and shine.
Suddenly her happiness burst through and she stood up and hugged him.
“Thank you so much.” She said, and then noticed that he still held her in
his arms. She looked up at him, and noticed a difference in his eyes. She found
herself slowly edging upwards on her toes until their mouths met briefly for a
kiss that seemed to last for an eternity. When she pulled away slightly and
opened her eyes again, she found that he was smiling down at her, still holding
her in his arms, and found that the one thing she wanted most was to stay in his
arms forever.