Sea, A yourney to my love - 1. Sea

The first thing I felt was heat on my skin, a warm wind that was very pleasurable after the dark mouldy room I just left. As I became more aware of my environment I could also hear rustling of leaves far above me and the feeling of soft sand and old leaves under my naked skin.

While keeping my eyes closed I slowly sat up and asked, “You guys here too?” A couple of moans answered me from all around and sudden laughs as somewhere near me I heard someone puking his guts out. “Dude, are you okay?” I reached out and felt the air move around my hand as though it was water.

“Whoa, heavy, this is awesome,” the puking guy, Leyad, grabbed my hand and slowly pulled me to my feet “Open your eyes, Marc.”

“No thank you,” I laughed as my senses ran wild and my stomach disagreed with it's new position. When my body no longer felt like it would turn itself inside out at any moment, I slowly opened my eyes and couldn't do anything but stand there and gaze around. Everything was green.

The leaves filtered the sunlight and covered everything in a green glow, not only the trees but also us, five guys in their mid twenties. I reached out to pull another guy,Yuki, up and felt the resistance of the air again, making me stop in my tracks and realize that although my movements got restricted by the air my breathing didn't. I could see the same realisation set in Yuki's eyes, I grabbed his hand and pulled him up, holding him until he was steady in his feet. When we all stood we looked around and realized we were naked, we lost everything we had on us when we left for this place and we burst out laughing.

This wasn't our first time here, just the first time travelling this way.

The first time we came to this place we drove here by car, all five of us teens, packed into a small red Peugeot 205. We only had enough space in the back for two small tents and a change of clothes each. We stayed here for a week, hanging out at the small fishing-village, walking around at the market with it's colourful goods or snooping around in small souvenir shops, or we stayed at the sea. The sea here was amazing, it was clear and blue like the sky, and the dunes were separated from the beach by a small hill made out of sandstone rocks. That first time around, we found out that some rocks concealed ammonites and other fossilized sea creatures and we had a blast breaking them to find the hidden treasures.

The place itself was a hidden treasure, the small village was like an old French painting and the ten minute walk from the village to the beach was through a forest with only natural paths. No wood scraps on the floor, no poles for walkers or horse riders to show their way, no nothing, pure and simple. We liked this place for those things, the easy going nature of this place, no rush, no boundary's, just the people, the forest and the sea.

So the next time we got here we bought a small house, barely big enough for the five of us but it was all we could afford, and we return here a couple of times a year to relax and enjoy ourself.

As we walked through the door I saw that the place was as we left it and grabbed a change of clothes from my cupboard. I put on some loose jeans and no shirt, because it was too warm to even think about looking for one.

I loved the quiet walk from our house to the beach, it was only a five minute walk and the path was soft because of the loose sand. I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans and gingerly walked down the path, hearing and feeling the rising and falling of the sea before I could actually see it.

I walked down the rocks to the beach and stood in the low water, losing myself in the feeling of the sea streaming along my legs and the sand moving on top of my feet, covering them with new grains at every wave. I could feel the sea was pulling back, revealing more and more of it's pools full of treasures, and opened my eyes, looking at the setting sun. The beautiful orange and, just a few minutes later, the sweet red.

When the sun had set I turned back to the beach, fondly smiling as the other guys had already found a great spot for our fire and were lighting it. I walked back to the beach, slid into one of the chairs the others had brought with them and looked around. The beach was quiet now, everybody was off, probably having dinner somewhere, and except for us, it was silent. I looked around, still that fond smile on my lips, as I saw everybody's eyes reflecting the fire, it almost felt like the first time we were here.

One of the other guys, Adam, seemed to be looking at us the same way, because he remarked “Do you guy realize that it has been ten years since we first came here?”

Next to me Leyad shook his head and snorted in disbelieve, then raised his head en said in a breathless voice “You're not kidding. I was fifteen back then. Damn, time flies.” We all laughed at him, and he growled under his breath.

I petted him on his head like he was a little kid “Yeah and some of us have actually grown up. You know, we got a job and Jack even has a wife and a kid.”

Leyad bit the finger I used to point at Jack with, a smug smile on his features, and said “Yeah, well I'll be getting paid better for the rest of my life,” We always teased him like this, he was a medicine student and an easy target, since he was still in school. With a devilish smile but an angelic voice he called out to me “Oh and Marc, you can always come to my place to crash, if selling bunnies doesn't pay the rent no more.” He leaned back on his hands and looked me in the eyes, smug smile in place and tongue wetting his lips.

“You'd like that eh? Me coming over in the middle of the night, begging for help,” I said while leaning over en sliding off my chair.

Leyad's smile stayed in place as he whispered “Hell yeah,” and bend back further, almost begging me to jump his lithe body then and there.

I leaned closer over him and huskily asked “What would you have me do to grant that request?”

“Me,” he was able to breathlessly whisper before I caught his mouth with mine.

The other guys, the beach, the forest, the village, all forgotten as tension rose between us and the air seemed to be filled with magic. Maybe that was just my imagination but I couldn't care less back then.