Hellcat: Good to know.
Me: Got to go. Talk to you later?
Hellcat: Absolutely. Have a good lunch with Jules.
Carolina University and the town it’s located in are near the coast, slightly inland but close enough to do easy day trips to the beach. An hour’s walk on the beach would be a perfect way to start my day before I have to get ready for my lunch with Julien. I grab a water and a trail bar, slip on my flip flops and head out to my car.
Twenty minutes later, I park in front of a public beach access. I found a bikini halter when I was unpacking boxes, so that’s what I’m wearing this morning along with a pair of jean shorts. I pull my hair into a high ponytail. I’m still not comfortable showing my scars or tattoos, so I grab a long-sleeved overshirt to put on over my bikini top. As I walk down the beach access stairs, I take off my flip-flops and leave them on the side of the last step. The fine, white sand is already hot after soaking up the summer sun’s early morning rays. I curl my toes into the warm sand and breathe.
There are umbrellas and sunshades dotted down the beach from a few families enjoying the last of the summer. Several kids are playing in the waves, a few on boogie boards. The sun’s angle on the water creates a crystalline effect causing the rippling water to sparkle like it’s filled with brilliant diamonds. Along the horizon, a fishing trawler is moving out to deeper waters. And the smell of the ocean is heavenly, a mix of salt spray and coconut, which is weird because there are no palm trees anywhere. That’s when I see a mom spraying her little girl with sunscreen and I have the answer to why I smell coconut.
Pulling my sunglasses down to shield my eyes, I get out my earbuds and put them in, select a playlist from my phone, and start walking to where the low tide has left shallow wading pools of ocean water.
I dip my toe into a wading pool, the seafoam bubbles popping where my foot makes contact. A tiny hermit crab scuttles over my toes, tickling them with its little pointed legs. I reach down and pick it up. It immediately shuts itself inside its shell. Even though I have my music cranked loud, I can hear the sound of a man’s voice beside me. I look up from my hermit crab to find a guy smiling at me.
I pull my earbuds out with my free hand. “Sorry. Are you talking to me?”
The guy looks friendly enough. He’s tall and leanly built like Julien, not as muscular as Jayson or Ryder. Pieces of his dark blond hair escape out from under his baseball cap. He’s wearing dark aviators and a simple short-sleeved shirt and shorts.
“I was saying that’s a striped. The hermit crab,” he states pointing to it in my hand. I watch as the small crustacean pokes its head out of its shell before retreating back inside again.
“You know about hermit crabs?”
His smile widens. “Yeah. I’m a marine science major.”
I hand him the crab and he turns it over, the sun glistening off its pink and blue swirled shell, then places it back in the water.
“I’m Trevor. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Elizabeth. Nice to meet you too.” Okay, then. I start to walk off but he follows.
“Live around here?”
“Just moved here for college. You?”
“Ah, so you’re a CU Wildcat too.”
“Small world,” I reply, not wanting to be bitchy or rude but also wanting this guy to leave me alone. I came out here for some QT. I stop and bend over to pick up a shark’s tooth. It’s small but perfect. I place it in my short’s pocket.
Trevor picks up a shell in the shape of a butterfly and hands it to me. “This is a coquina.” I take it and notice that they are littered all over the beach. I am surrounded by multicolored butterflies, many of the shells broken. Broken butterflies.
My vision blurs.
She wanted to fly but her wings were broken.
Blond hair, hazel green eyes.
She dreamed dreams but they weren’t allowed to be spoken.
“I love you, Lizzie.”
“I love you too, Hales.”
Her feelings pushed down her throat left her choking.
Him.
“Don’t you see, Elizabeth?”
