Summer to Fall
"Collecting seashells, huh?"
Kairi heard a voice above her from where she was kneeling down, sifting through the sand. "Yeah, I make jewelry and some other things with them." She replied, still focused on her search. When she lifted her head to look at the person talking to her, her lips parted in surprise.
He was a boy around her age with tanned skin, messy brown hair, and striking oceanic eyes. "Can I help?" He asked, slightly extending his hand.
Kairi gave a shy smile, "Sure, if you want."
He sat down next to her, "I'm Sora, by the way."
"Kairi." She answered, "Nice to meet you."
"Same to you." He started to dig through the sand and broken shell pieces, "So where're you staying at?"
"The Dolphin motel; it's a ways down the beach. I was walking for a while. What about you?"
Sora looked surprised when she looked at him, "Oh. Uh, I live here. My house is about a ten minute walk from here."
Kairi laughed, a little embarrassed, "I should have guessed, considering how tan you are."
"Yeah, it's pretty obvious to most people." He laughed too, "But…it's a little more obvious that you're not from here since everybody knows everybody. You'd be surprised how empty this place can be when it's not tourist season."
"Do you like it when there's a lot of people during the summer, then? Just to see new faces?" She watched him curiously, her attention to the seashells almost completely lost at this point.
"Yes and no. Some tourists are really obnoxious." He continued to dig through the pieces of shells before looking up and adding, "You seem pretty nice, though."
Kairi smiled to herself, going back to searching, "Thanks."
"How long are you staying?" She heard him say.
"Another five days. We just got here last night." She answered and paused to look up at him, wondering why he was asking.
Up until this point, Sora had seemed like a fairly confident guy, but she could hear the nervousness in his voice as he started to talk again, "Cool. So, uh… Would you be interested in coming to a bonfire party tomorrow night?"
She gave a wide smile, "Sure, but only if I can bring my friend Selphie."
Sora smiled and nodded, "Yeah, of course." Scratching the back of his head, he suggested, "It's within walking distance so I can just meet you at your motel and show you the way from there, if that's okay.
"Sure. We're in room 103." She turned and picked up her zip lock bag of shells from behind her, "I think I've probably got enough and I should probably be heading back. Selphie's probably wondering where I am." She let out a small laugh as she stood up.
Sora followed suite, replying sheepishly, "Okay. Well, see you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow." She repeated, giving a small wave before turning around and heading off.
When she got back to her motel room and told Selphie what had just happened, the younger girl was clearly amused. "That's so unlike you. Meeting a guy on the beach and agreeing to go on a date just like that."
"I mean, he didn't say it was a date." Kairi replied shyly, standing beside where Selphie was sitting on the bed.
Selphie rolled her eyes, "Kai, it's definitely a date."
"You're the expert." She replied, continuing, "So I'm guessing that now you want to take me shopping."
"Does that even need to be asked?" Selphie giggled, "I mean, unless you already have something in mind."
"…No. Not at all." Kairi admitted with a shake of her head.
Selphie stood up and picked her purse off the table, "Then let's get going. Gotta find something that'll make his jaw drop, right?"
"Selphie." She answered with wide eyes, embarrassed.
XOX
Hearing a knock at the door, Kairi jumped up from the edge of her bed; her heart racing, "That's probably him."
"Take a breath and calm down." Selphie put her hands on the other girl's shoulders.
"Sorry." She inhaled, "I'm okay."
"You look great. Now go answer the door before he thinks we're avoiding him." Kairi looked down, briefly admiring her white dress with bright blue embroidery along the bust and down the sides as Selphie spoke.
Smiling nervously, she moved to the door and opened it slowly, greeting, "Hi."
"Hey," Sora greeted back, adding, "You look nice."
"Thanks." She pushed her hair behind her ear out of nervousness before steeping out of the way and pointing to her friend, "This is Selphie."
The brunette girl laughed, "Hi."
"Hi." Sora repeated before motioning outward, towards himself, "So are you two ready to go?"
"Yeah." She nodded, turning back and calling, "Selphie?"
Selphie stepped forward, "Let's go."
"Alright, follow me." Sora waved and started walking as the girls exited their room, Kairi turning back to make sure it was locked on the way out.
"So how far away is it?" Selphie asked, trying to break the brief silence that had washed over them.
"Not that far. It's by the pier." Sora answered confidently.
Kairi chimed in, "Oh, I was over there yesterday before I went the other direction and bumped into you."
"After you ditched me." Selphie added jokingly with a cross of her arms.
"I did not. You got bored." She retorted, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Selphie laughed and touched Kairi's shoulder, "Jeez, I was just kidding."
"I guess you're not into collecting seashells, then." Sora commented and looked to the younger girl.
She shook her head, "Nah. I'd rather lay out and tan."
"And I did that with you even though I get bored." When Sora glanced at her, she added, "I'd rather go swimming. I hate just staying in one place for too long."
"I get that." Sora nodded, "I'm kinda prone to falling asleep if I'm in one place too long. That's honestly the main reason why I'm so tan." He lifted his arms, showing them, and they laughed.
"I wish I could get that tan." Selphie pouted.
"Move out here; it'll happen pretty quick." He suggested jokingly.
She laughed, "I wish. But Kairi is actually about to transfer to the university here. It's kind of why we're here but she's trying to disguise it as a vacation."
"Oh?" Sora raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kairi, intrigued.
"Yeah." She nodded sheepishly, "Do you go there?"
"Yep." He grinned, "But why here? Just curious."
"The first and most important reason is that I'm just really not happy at my current school and this school seems like it could be a lot better for me. The second reason is that my parents used to have a condo here when I was younger and I've just always liked it here. It seems like a great place to live." As she finished, she saw Selphie was making a grumpy face, "I love rooming with you, Selph, but that's about the only good thing I have going on right now."
She smiled softly, replying, "I know. I like rooming with you, too, but I'd rather see you happy."
"Thanks." Kairi smiled back.
Sora looked between the two girls, "I'm guessing you've been friends for a long time, huh?"
Kairi nodded, "Mhm."
"I can tell. You two seem just like how I am with my best friend Riku." He smiled, turning back so he could look forward, "He moved somewhere else for college but he comes back home every so often so we can still hang out. I'm sure you two can make it work too."
"I know. It'll just be different." Selphie gave a little sigh before smiling again, "But we'll get used to it."
As they neared a group of people on the beach, a tall boy with silver hair waved. Sora called out to him, "Hey!"
"Is that Riku?" Kairi took a guess, judging just by how they reacted to each other.
Sora nodded, walking closer, "Yep, that's him."
"Hi Riku, I'm Kairi." She introduced herself and held out her hand.
Shaking her hand, he answered, "Hey, Kairi. Sora hasn't shut up about you since yesterday so it's nice to finally meet you."
"Wow, thanks." Sora replied sarcastically, angling himself away from them so that they wouldn't notice the little bit of red that had tinted his cheeks.
Kairi just laughed as Selphie introduced herself, "I'm Selphie."
Riku shook her hand as well, "Nice to meet you too."
"I'm gonna go ahead and introduce you to everyone else before Riku finds another opportunity to embarrass me." Sora gently nudged Kairi forward, Selphie following after them.
"That'll only work for so long!"
Riku called after them but Sora ignored him and continued walking towards the group. "This is Tidus, Wakka, Lenne, Roxas, Xion, and Lea." He pointed to them individually as he said the name, each saying a different mix of greetings as he finished.
"Don't you need to get started on the fire, Lea?" Roxas elbowed him.
Lea groaned, "Yeah, yeah. I'll get to it. I just got here, give me a break."
Smiling at Lea's response briefly, Sora turned back to Kairi and Selphie, motioning, "There's drinks in the coolers over there. There's not much for food, but someone will probably order pizza later. Or I can walk with you to go get something else if you'd rather do that. I think that's about everything there is to know."
Selphie nodded along, "Good to know."
"Thanks." Kairi smiled, suggesting, "So I guess we should go sit down by where Lea's trying to set up the fire. It seems like it'll be pretty entertaining to watch."
"Oh, believe me. It is." He grinned and took a few steps forward, "Right here's probably good."
Kairi reached into her tote bag and began to pull out a towel before she noticed Sora was trying his best to hold in a laugh. "What?" She raised an eyebrow.
He apologized, waving his hands, "I'm sorry. That's just such a tourist thing to do; most of us just sit in the sand unless it was raining earlier in the day."
"Told you." Selphie muttered in a sing-song voice. Kairi's shoulders slumped, holding the towel halfway out of the bag and unmoving.
"It's okay, really." He tried to console her, "It's not a big deal at all. It was just kinda funny since I'm just used to my friends. Plus you're wearing a nice dress, so it's understandable that you wouldn't want to sit in the sand." He would have continued if Kairi hadn't of waved him off, signaling it was okay before she finally took out the towel. As she unrolled it and laid it out, Sora suggested, "I'll try to warn you about other things in the future."
"Please do." She gave a small laugh before sitting down on the towel, Selphie sitting down beside her. The two girls turned and watched in amusement as Roxas and Lea struggled to start up the fire before hearing the sound of a radio click on.
Kairi turned her head to see Xion, who smiled sheepishly, "We just put it on to have in the background. Sometimes people will dance too. Depends on who all shows up."
"That's cool." The red headed girl nodded.
Looking up and seeing Roxas and Lea, Xion sighed, "I guess I need to go help those dummies. But let me know if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay, thank you." She smiled appreciatively as Xion passed by her. Turning back to Sora, she asked, "So how long have you guys been doing this?" She motioned her hands around in a circle.
"Since we started college, really. In high school, we would just mooch of the older kid's parties. But only during summer since that was pretty much the only time our parents would let us stay out that late. So yeah… Sorry in advance if random high school kids show up. It's less likely to happen since there's probably better parties going on somewhere else down the beach, but you never know. Some kids are desperate." He finished with a laugh.
Tilting her head, she questioned, "So do you do this during school, too?"
"Yeah, on the weekends as long as it's warm. I'd say most people would rather go clubbing but we're out here instead. It's definitely cheaper to do this and I just hate being crammed in a room with a bunch of people. Especially people I don't know. I'd rather be out here with friends." He looked off towards the ocean.
"Agreed. Clubbing has definitely never been my thing, so if you don't mind me tagging along, I'd like to come to more of these." Kairi tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she spoke.
Sora looked back to her and smiled, "Of course you can."
"I like a mix of both." Selphie chimed in, "The outdoors are nice, but the bugs are killer. Plus the weather can ruin everything."
"That's true, but still. I'd rather hang out at someone's house or a restaurant if it rains. Riku dragged me to one of those clubs when I was a freshman and… ugh. Never again." He waved his arms before crossing them.
Kairi and Selphie laughed, the younger girl responding, "Understandable."
"Got it!" They heard Lea announce, causing the three of them to look towards the wood pile in the center where they were flames slowly beginning to spread.
Now that the fire was lit, the others all began to gather around in a circle; Riku and Lenne sitting by Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Lea next to them, and Tidus and Wakka next to Selphie. In the beginning, the conversation involved everyone but eventually began to break off into smaller groups, from which Sora and Kairi were both left out.
"Do you wanna go for a walk?" Sora suggested to try and break the awkwardness that had begun to settle over them as they attempted to strike up their own conversation.
"Yeah, that sounds nice. Hold on, though. I don't want to leave without saying anything to Selphie." She nodded.
"Okay." He stood up and took a few steps before waiting for her.
Kairi leaned over, tapping Selphie on the shoulder and interrupting her conversation with Tidus, "Hey, I'm gonna go walk along the water with Sora, okay? I won't go far, I promise."
"Okay. Be careful." Selphie answered and watched her as she walked over to Sora.
"Alright, I'm ready when you are." She smiled softly.
He pointed up the shore, "Let's go to the pier and back. It's pretty well lit up till there so no chance of stepping on a jellyfish or anything like that."
Kairi winced, "Ouch. Yeah, no. I'm good with not stepping on jellyfish, so sounds like plan to me." She gave a small laugh, both of them starting to walk. Looking over to him, she asked in a joking tone, "So… do you do this for a lot of tourist girls? I mean, the nice ones."
Sora let out a small laugh before looking away and shaking his head, "No, not at all. I was kind of relieved when Selphie said you were transferring here because I was starting to think it was crazy for me to want to spend more time with you when you were just going to leave. Which is what Riku let slip, since I was talking to him about it yesterday."
"What were you going to do if I was?" She asked sweetly, intrigued.
His eyes flickered back to her briefly, answering, "Just make the most out of the time you were here and if there was definitely something there, try to work something out. Or just let it go if there wasn't."
"So is there something there?" She questioned, using the same tone as before.
He looked back to her with a grin, "You're just full of questions, aren't you?" He looked off again, "I dunno yet. You tell me."
"Maybe." Kairi answered coyly.
"Maybe." Sora repeated with a laugh, "I guess I'll take that."
"Who said I was single anyway?" She teased.
He rolled his eyes, "Would you really have agreed to come if you weren't?"
Kairi grinned, "I guess you have me there."
He suddenly reached out his arm and nudged her backwards, "Watch out or you'll get your shoes wet." He pointed at the wave coming up the shore.
"Honestly, I should have left them by the fire with Selphie." She stopped and slipped them off, leaning over and picking them up by the straps with one hand. Standing back up, she said, "There we go. Now I don't have to worry about it."
Kairi started to walk again and Sora followed after her, commenting, "That works." Letting a moment pass by, he asked, "So do you and Selphie have anything planned for the rest of the days you're here?"
She paused, thinking, "Aside from going to the university to get some paperwork done, we were just planning on going to the aquarium one day. The rest we were just going to improvise."
"Have you been to the aquarium before?" He asked.
"When I was a kid, but I don't remember much." She giggled a bit, "I just remember being terrified by the sharks."
"Heh." Sora smiled, "Well, it's a great aquarium. I actually volunteer there whenever I have the free time."
Kairi's eyes widened, "That's so cool! What do you do?"
"I'm usually one of the people that leads the kids around and teaches them stuff about the ocean and all the animals, but I do a bit of everything. Whatever they need me to do." He explained, sheepishly running a hand through his hair.
"Aw," She smiled sweetly, "Do you want to work with kids in the future?"
Sora nodded, "Yep, that's the plan. Though I honestly have no idea what subject I'd wanna teach. I just like doing this; that's all I know." He laughed before asking, "So, what about you? What are you majoring in?"
"English, though I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it either. I might become a teacher for a little while, too, but I don't know. I just figured that English was a good place to be since I like writing poetry and sometimes fiction." She dragged her feet, kicking up sand with every step.
Sora folded his hands behind his head, "Well, you've got a while to figure it out. But a teaching certificate would come in handy even if you end up doing something else."
She nodded in acknowledgement, "Yeah, that's true."
"So speaking of school," He lowered his arms back to his sides and looked back over to her, "When will you be coming back?"
Kairi looked off in thought, "Um… The second week of August? I'm just going to live in the dorms for now. I might look for an apartment for spring."
Sora nodded as she spoke, "Okay, cool. Well, if you need help moving in for either one, just let me know and I'll round up some people."
"Thanks, but I don't have your number." She replied with a playful smirk.
He smirked as well, "I'll just have to write it down after I walk you back to your hotel, then."
"I guess so." She noticed that it had gotten dark and looked up to see the pier looming overhead, "We're at the pier, so now what?"
"Well," Sora dug his feet in the sand, "We can turn around and go back. Or…" He gave a playful grin, "We can stay here."
"And do what exactly?" She turned to him, a smile on her face as well.
He laughed, answering, "Whatever you want."
She took a step closer to him, staring at him intently, "Before I make any decisions, I'm curious about what you want to do."
"What I want, huh?" He repeated, his eyes looking upward in thought. Lowering his glance back down to her, he answered, "If I'm being honest, I want to kiss you."
Kairi felt her heart begin to race in her chest but she tried her best to imitate his calm attitude. "So that's why you dragged me to this shadowy area away from everyone else." She commented jokingly.
"Yeah, kinda." He answered sheepishly and she giggled.
When Sora didn't say anything else and stayed in place, she called out expectantly, "So?"
He lifted his head, "What?"
"Aren't you going to kiss me?" She teased, the words barely escaping her lips and her heart still fluttering.
Sora blinked and stared at her before her words finally sunk in. He didn't answer but nodded and swiftly moved in towards her, one hand lightly resting on her waist as he closed the distance between them. Kairi closed her eyes and shivered at the sensation of his hand moving from her hair to her neck as he kissed her, eventually stopping to lightly grasp her shoulder. She leaned in against him and kissed him back, letting her shoes fall to the ground before raising her hands to his chest. Sora deepened the kiss, moving his hands down her sides and stopping just above her hips. Kairi continued for a moment before pulling away and mumbling, "Don't get any funny ideas or I'll have to shove you in the ocean."
He laughed, kissing her again. When they finally separated, she asked, "So now that you've accomplished your goal, should we head back?"
"Only one goal. You avoided the question before." Sora corrected her, one of his hands still on her waist.
Kairi squinted her eyes as she bent down to pick up her shoes, trying to remember, "Which one?"
"If there was something there." He replied, his voice soft, "If this is going to actually turn in to something when you come back or if it's just going to stay this."
"I think there is." She answered confidently as she stood up, "And I'd love to see it grow further but let's just focus on the next couple of days for now." She moved to him and intertwined her fingers with his.
He smiled and squeezed her hand lightly, "Okay."
XOX
Kairi sat on her bed in her new dorm room admiring the small collection of seashells on her bedside table. After talking to him on the phone almost every day since she left, he came to her dorm building on move in day to help her move in just as promised. After introducing himself to her parents and making a few trips from the car and back, he pulled a zip lock bag out of his pocket and revealed that he had been collecting shells for her since she had been gone and followed by asking her out to dinner.
She of course said yes.
Sliding off the bed, Kairi straightened out her body hugging navy blue dress and headed out the door. After making it down the stairs and out of the front door, she immediately spotted Sora waiting beside a nearby palm tree. "Hey!" She called out loudly, catching his attention.
"Hey." He greeted, "Ready to go on our first real date?"
"First real date?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Fine, first real solo date. Selphie and all my friends are great, but I'm looking forward to spending time with just you without having to sneak off." He laughed and held out his hand to her.
Putting her hand in his, Kairi smiled and answered softly, "Me too."