"Right before everything went black, you want to know the very last thing that entered my mind? You." - John Tyree
Toby Cavanaugh was leaning against the railing of the dock enjoying the warmth of the sun against his bare chest when he first heard her voice. He looked up to find her long chocolate-colored waves falling down her back as she talked amongst her group friends. He tried not to stare but it was nearly impossible considering how utterly gorgeous she was. She seemed like one of those girls who didn't have to try very hard to make her appearance breath-taking, it just came naturally to her.
He looked up again just in time to see one of her friends jump up to sit on the railing and accidentally knock her bag into the waters beneath them. He heard her voice too, only louder this time.
"Oh no! Noel! My whole life is in that bag!"
"Don't worry! I got it, I got it," the shaggy brown-haired boy, who's name was apparently Noel, called back assuringly while running down to the water.
Before he could even think about what he was doing he was jumping over the railing and into the cold, refreshing waves. He went under and began searching for her bag. After finding it and resurfacing, he looked up to see a look of relief on her face.
"Dude! I was gonna get that, thanks," her friend Noel sputtered out of breath while trying to take the bag from Toby as he walked back to shore.
He pulled it slightly away from his reach, "No, it's okay. I got it."
"No dude really, I can take it," he tried again.
Toby just ignored him and continued walking towards the girl while she ran towards him.
"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed while grabbing the bag. "Wow it's a mess. You are a lifesaver, I'm Spencer."
"Toby."
"Toby, I have to say I owe you one. This is my life in here," she said referring to the bag.
"Don't worry about it," he replied turning away.
"Nice to meet you Toby," she called.
"Nice to meet you too, you guys have a good night." And with that he started walking back down the beach.
He got about halfway before he started thinking about how sweet and inviting her bright brown eyes had seemed and how warm and welcoming her melodic voice had sounded. So he turned around and started jogging back to her and her friend who was ranting about who knows what. As soon as he approached the two her friend stormed off in the opposite direction and him and Spencer began a nice, easy conversation.
"Hey Toby, um, my house is close and we were about to have a barbecue. Would you care to join us?" she asked sweetly.
As much as he would've loved too, he didn't want to get in the way of her plans.
"No, that's okay. I don't want to intrude on you guys and what not," he responded.
He noticed her eyes flash what he thought was disappointment, but he could've been wrong.
"Oh, okay. Well can I at least give you a beer as a welcome?" she smiled.
"Where is it?" he chuckled referring to her house.
She giggled back and pointed off in the distance, "Over there."
They began walking towards her house when Toby accidentally hit his surfboard on one of wooden poles holding up the dock causing them both to laugh.
After the barbecue the pair started walking along the beach, getting to know each other.
"When do you go back?" she asked referring to his Army deployment.
"Two weeks," he replied.
"It must be scary what you do."
"More like boring. There's occasional flashes of scary."
She smiled as they walked farther down the beach and looked up at the moon.
"Full moon tonight," she stated. "Do you ever notice how big the moon is when it's rising?"
He looked up at the sky also, "It's really just your perspective."
"Really?"
"Yeah. No matter where you are in the world, if you put your hand up and close one eye, it's never bigger than you're thumb."
She laughed sarcastically but put her thumb up anyways, "Wow."
Toby turned and smiled at her, "Told you."
She bowed her head bashfully.
"Hey would you maybe want to do this again tomorrow night?" he asked nervously.
"Tomorrow's...chicken and I don't think you're going to want to try it," she replied.
He chuckled at her dry sense of humor.
"Yeah I was kind of hoping maybe we'd let someone else do the cooking part."
She nodded her head, "Okay."
"Yeah?" he asked to make sure he was seeing correctly.
She only nodded again and smiled, assuring him he had seen correctly the first time.
"Okay so I guess I'll stop by around..six," he hesitated.
She shrugged her shoulders still smiling, "Okay."
Toby started to walk away but stumbled over a rock causing him and Spencer both to laugh again at his clumsiness.
"So I'll see you?" he asked before walking off.
"I'll see you soon," she nodded.
With that, Toby began walking home, surfboard in hand.
"Two weeks. That's all it took for me to fall for you." -Savannah Lynn Curtis