Seaside Entries - 5. Do whatever you want

There is a tradition in our town that we’ve had for as long as I’ve lived here. Every July, the town would hold a sandcastle building contest at the beach, right next to Danny’s Cove. It was a fun little event for the locals, especially kids, but since it happened in the middle of summer, we’d always have a lot of tourists participating too.

I wasn’t competing this year, though. My plan was to stuff myself with street food, judge other people’s work, and have fun with the guys.

“Dude, how are you still not ready?” Jay threw a slipper at me from where he was sprawled in my bed, but missed. Probably because he was looking at his phone rather than me.

“Chill, it’s not like we’ll be late. I’m just trying to find something to wear,” I continued going through my wardrobe, but couldn’t find anything decent. My own fault for keeping it so messy. It never bothered me because I would usually just throw on the first thing I grabbed.

“Just go like that, you look fine. It’s not like we’re going anywhere special. You’ll get sand all over yourself anyway.”

“I told you I’m not competing this year,” I pulled out a green shirt with short sleeves and inspected it. It looked nice, I’d only worn it once before.

“Why not? Is it because you always lose?” Jay asked.

“I only competed twice, so…” I put on my shirt and black denim shorts, ignoring his jab. “I just want to chill today. You know it’s going to be all kids out there anyway.”

“True.” He nodded as he sprang out of bed, looking ready to go. He could never stay inside for too long. “There, you look nice. Are we going now?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” I followed Jay out of the room and down the stairs. Once we were out of the house, I locked the front door, and we were on our way to the beach. “Are you competing?”

“Nah. You know I don’t have the patience for it.” He shook his head. “If it was beach volleyball, that’d be a different thing.”

I just gave a nod in agreement. It was true, I couldn’t imagine Jay sitting in one place, taking his time to build a sand sculpture. Leo would absolutely smash a challenge like that, at least judging by the dishes he makes. They always looked so meticulous. I could even see Fabian doing a good job at it, but not Jay.

When we arrived at the beach, the crowd was already quite big. There were dozens of kids and teenagers milling about, some with their parents. Food stalls were set up in a neat row by the boardwalk, and the delicious smells were already mixing in the air, whetting my appetite. I needed some fried chicken so bad.

“Oh look, there’s Leo,” I heard Jay say, pointing to my left.

I turned around and there he was, walking towards us. I couldn’t see his eyes because he wore sunglasses, but there was a big smile on his face. It’s almost like it was infectious, because I found myself smiling too.

“Hey guys, you’re here! They have a Mexican stand over there. The tacos are amazing.” Leo seemed in a good mood as he came over and fistbumped us.

“You already ate?” Jay looked personally offended. “Didn’t even bother waiting for us?”

“Umm, of course I ate. I was hungry.” Leo shrugging his shoulders and me laughing only seemed to annoy Jay even more. “When you smell the tacos, you’ll get why I couldn’t wait.”

“Well, they better be good now that you’ve hyped them up so much.”

“What better be good?” a voice behind me spoke.

We all turned around at the same time, finding Fabian standing there with a girl that looked like she could be his sister. His much shorter sister. Granted, the guy was six foot three, so that was no surprise.

“You guys remember my cousin Luisa,” he introduced her with a proud smile, as if he was the one who created her in a lab or something. Even though I wanted to, I don’t think I rolled my eyes. Or maybe I did, because Leo gave me a look. Whatever it was, I could feel my stomach doing flips.

“Of course we do!” Jay didn’t waste any time in walking up to the girl and shaking her hand, all smiles. Not his usual smile like when he was happy about something. His fake smile, which he put on when he wanted to impress someone. Usually a girl. It was always funny seeing him in flirt mode, but it was even funnier how some girls fell for it. “How long will you be staying here then?”

“About two months, till the end of August.”

“Nice. Plenty of time for you to enjoy yourself here.”

“I hope so,” Luisa smiled back at him. “I haven’t been here in two years… Feels like way more! I can’t wait to see what’s new around here.”

“Uh, not a lot,” Leo and I replied almost in unison.

“Really?” she seemed a little disappointed at hearing that. “What do you guys do for fun? Do you have any good places to go out?”

“Course we do. Where do you think all the tourists go? Aside from the beaches, of course,” Jay was quick to explain. “And today we’ve got the sandcastle contest.”

“Yeah, Fabi’s told me about it. Are you guys competing? Because I might. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

“You’d need a partner then,” Fabian jumped in. “Maybe you and Leo could team up?”

“Actually, Leo and I are competing together,” the words just came out before I could stop them. “Sorry.”

I couldn't help but notice the smirk on Leo's face as I put my arm around his shoulders. I knew he was surprised, but so was I. It’s not like this was part of some plan. But as his eyes gazed into mine, I knew he wasn’t going to question me. He was along for the ride.

“Yeah, Noah and I are a well-oiled sandcastle building machine,” he said. “You might as well give up right now.”

“What do you say we crush these fools?” Jay suggested as he turned back to Luisa.

“You know what, let’s do it!” She grinned, shaking his hand with excitement. “I came with Fabi because I was bored, but now I actually want to win.”

Well, you know what, Luisa? So did I.

Leo and I quickly made our way to where they were handing out plastic buckets for anyone who didn’t bring their own. He scanned them all and then picked a few; he seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

“You already have a plan or something?”

“Yeah, there was this cool castle on the cover of ‘Treasure Hunters’. I want to try making that,” he explained as we went and found an empty spot on the beach. He seemed as eager to win as I was.

There seemed to be at least twenty pairs of people around us - mostly kids. For a moment I felt bad for competing against them, but it was hard to feel bad when doing something fun with Leo. We got to work, scooping up wet sand and making our castle. I was mostly following his instructions, since he seemed to know what he was doing.

“Treasure Hunters… Isn't that the book I got you for your birthday? Like, four years ago?”

“Six,” he corrected me. “And yeah, that's the one. It's really good.”

“Heh, nice,” I felt proud of myself for that one. I was usually terrible at choosing gifts.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to compete,” Leo said without even raising his head. He seemed so focused on shaping one of the towers. “How come you changed your mind?”

“I… I don’t know. I just felt like it.” I shrugged. What else was I going to say? “Should I do the other tower?”

“Yeah, sure.”

I started working on my tower, trying as best as I could to replicate the one Leo made. I didn’t even hear him calling me until he grabbed my shoulder, almost making me mess up the castle.

“Dude, look at that.” He was staring over my head. “Are they for real?”

“What? What did they do?” I immediately turned around to find Jay and Luisa, only to find their lopsided castle was barely even standing. “So? It looks like shit.”

“No, not them. Over there!” Leo pointed further to the left. I could feel my eyes popping out of my head when I saw two kids sitting besides a mini replica of one of those step-pyramids from Mexico. As much as I hated to say it, it looked spectacular.

“Are you kidding me? How did they make that?!”

“Those are Mr. Romano’s kids. He’s an archeologist,” Leo explained.

“Well, that’s just unfair advantage.” I was ready to complain, but seeing Leo so amused made me burst out laughing.

“Ours isn’t too bad either, is it?”

“Nah. It looks awesome actually.” I had to agree.

We did a great job, even if we didn’t win in the end. But at least Jay and Luisa didn’t either. We all stood and watched as Isabella and Toni Romano got a gift card for a toy store as their reward. And before the applause even died down, their sand pyramid was somehow already in ruins.

~~

I sat at a rock near the sea, looking at the horizon as I licked the ice cream Leo bought me. Aside from a couple of sailing boats far in the distance, it was just the two of us.

There was barely any wind, but we were so close to the water that the smell of the sea was strong. The summer sun was playing hide and seek behind the scattered clouds, burning us one moment, then vanishing the next.

“Ok, I'm definitely never competing again,” I grumbled.

“Four defeats would be too much, huh?” Leo nudged me with his leg. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah. I fear I wouldn’t survive it.”

“At least Jay and Luisa didn’t win either, right?”

“Heh, as if that was ever a possibility.”

“She seems fun, right?” Leo asked. I could feel his eyes on me, so I turned to find him looking at me almost too closely. It was as if he knew something I didn’t. Some funny secret, an inside joke I wasn’t in on.

“I guess.” I went back to licking my ice cream, buying myself some time. I felt like I wanted to say so much, but what? Maybe if we just sat there quietly and let the time pass like the clouds in the sky, things would somehow become clearer.

“So, when Fabian wanted to pair us up, were you jealous?”

Was I jealous? I didn't want to think about it. Things seemed easier if I didn't think about them too hard.

“Jealous? Hah! Of course not.” I looked away, afraid he’d know I was lying if he looked me in the eyes.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I went out with her?”

It felt like he slapped me right across the face, then punched me in the gut for good measure. I turned back to Leo, his eyes never leaving my face.

“What? Didn’t you say you weren’t interested?”

“I did, but that’s because I thought you’d mind. But if you’re OK with it…”

“I… What am I supposed to say?” I felt awkward sitting there next to Leo, unable to say anything, holding the ice cream cone in my hand. I wanted to throw it into the sea, and maybe myself along with it. “You can do whatever you want.”

“Fuck, you’re so annoying sometimes,” he rolled his eyes at me, and when he reached out with his hand, for a moment I thought he was going to punch me. “Are you seriously not going to say anything?”

“I…”

Whatever I was or wasn’t going to say got stuck in my throat when his hand touched my neck, his thumb caressing my jaw. My heart was racing, and I knew whatever was going to happen next would change everything.

“We’re on the same page, right?” he whispered, his face closer to me then I ever remembered it being. I could clearly see every detail—his bright green eyes, the tiny mole by his eyebrow, the sudden quirk of his lips. I could do nothing but nod as I tried to swallow, but my throat was as dry as a desert.

Just before I closed my eyes, I could see Leo leaning in. I reached out and grabbed him, holding his waist with both hands as I felt his lips on mine.