I woke up feeling great. Being home again felt normal. I mean going to college is a great experience but so far from home, just makes me feel like I'm really alone.
I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I took a shower, brushed my teeth, did my hair and make up, then got dressed. I picked up my phone to call Leah. I heard it ring until it went to voicemail. She must not be up yet. I thought and grabbed my keys. I decided I'd just drive to reservation and go to the beach. I always liked to go to First Beach and just think. Barely anyone ever went there so I liked to just go there and watch the waves roll by.
I drove over to the beach and parked. I just sat in my car for a minute. Just taking in the sight before me. It looked the same as it always did. It was still early morning so it was foggy from the sprinkle of rain we had gotten last night. The sand was moist from the rain and you couldn't see anything past the water. But what really caught my eye was a person standing down by the water facing the waves. I zipped up my rain coat and put on my hood and got out of the car. I walked down to where the person was standing.
When I got to them, I found that it was Paul.
"Hey Paul." I said smiling at him. He looked over at me in surprise.
"Oh, hey Reyanne. I'm surprised you remember me from yesterday." He said smiling a little. He called me Reyanne. I know it sounds weird, but I liked it when people called me by my full name every once in a while. Made me feel more... adult. Like I'm being taken seriously.
"Oh, I'm good with names. Always have been. Anyway, what brings you out here so early?" I asked. He was a cute guy. He seemed nice enough. I wondered why Leah hadn't mentioned any of the boys. She usually told me when there were cute guys around. That's one aspect of girl talk.
"Oh I just like to come out here and think every once in a while. Nobody's out here this early so I thought I'd come out. You?" He asked.
"Actually same reason. I used to come out here all the time back in high school after I got my license." I said. He nodded. When he looked at me again, the same look was in his eyes. I didn' know why it was there, but I kind of liked that he was looking at me that way.
"So you're friends with Leah?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest and facing me. And may I say, his arms muscles were extremely sexy. I smiled a little at my thought but caught myself and smoothed out my face.
"uh, yeah. Been best friends since we were four." I said looking at him. He looked into my eyes and for a moment we said nothing.
"So you were around when she was with Sam?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yeah. They were great together." I said and he laughed a little. "What?" I asked.
"Well, it's just that Sam is so, well happy go lucky about most things. And Leah, well Leah just isn't. She's a very dark person I guess I'd say." He said looking out towards the water.
"Really?" I said doubtfully. "Dark. What do you mean by dark." I asked stepping into his field of view. Here he was insulting my friend and it was a little peeving. He put his arms down and he slinked back a little like he was realizing he made me upset.
"Well nothing. Just that she is kind of negative about stuff." He said looking to his feet.
"Well I think she has a right to be negative about some things. He father died, love of her life dumped her." I said. He looked back up at me.
"So she really did love him?" He said. I nodded.
"Yes. She really did. They were inceperable. I couldn't imagine a stronger love than what they had." I said feeling sad for my best friends.
"I can." He said looking back into my eyes. Suddenly I felt like he was trying to say something. Like he thought he had a stronger bond than they had. That's when the thought entered my head that he may have a girlfriend, or they all might. Maybe that's why Leah never said anything.
"Oh, well..." I said suddenly feeling stupid for thinking I could just have any of them. I know it seemed snobby to think like that but I really felt a connection to Paul like we could be a good couple. Until now anyways. I looked at my phone. It was almost time to head to Leah's. I had promised her we would go shopping for the morning. I still had my lunch date at Sam and Emily's. Matt would meet me there.
"I have to get going." I said starting to walk back to my car. Extremely embarrassed even though he didn't know that. I heard him walking quickly to catch up with me.
"Wait!" He said walking in front of me to stop me.
"What?" I asked surprised by what he was doing.
"Um, well... I kind of wanted to ask you something." He said nervously. And of coarse, being me, my mind started to wander. Was he going to ask me out? Then I started to think of what it would be like to date Paul. I didn't know anything about him other than his name and that he was friends with Sam and wasn't that fond of Leah. But really, who other than me is really that fond of Leah? Paul was right. She was dark these days. Losing her dad was tough considering how close they always were. Then losing Sam, that was heartbreaking. Even to watch, it crushed me as well. They were my example of true love. Now that they were over, it kind of made me doubtful that true love actually exsisted.
"Ok." I said crossing my arms over my rain was drenching the front of my hair that poked out of my hood.
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out... with... me?" He asked slowly. I smiled a little at how nervous he was. But I still didn't know anything about him and my father always warned me about going out with men who I didn't know. But I guess I'm weaker than I thought.
"Sure. I'd love to." I said with a smile on my face. He smiled widely.
"Great. Pick you up at six tonight?" He asked. I nodded happily.
"Sure. Sounds great. Do you know where I live?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yeah. I help your dad fix things around his house sometimes." He said. I nodded smiling wider. So he was in with my dad, that was good.
"Ok then. See you at six." I said. He smiled and stepped out of my way. I smiled and waved goodbye and walked to my car. I got in and started the car. Looking through my windshield, I saw him walking back towards the group of houses down the beach and every few steps, he would look over his shoulder smiling. It made me feel special that we was so happy about our date. Though I think I wanna ask Leah about him. Maybe she'd be able to tell me more about him. I drove over to the Clearwater's and parked. Leah came out of the house, as usual no purse in hand. Just jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers on. She got in the passenger side and had a big smile on her face.
"Hey!" She said buckling up.
"Hey! How was your night?" I asked backing out of her drive. She shrugged.
"No different than the rest." She said. I nodded.
"Yeah well I'll tell you, it was great to be sleeping in my bed again. Though it felt different not having Matt and Logan in the rooms next to me." I said reminising on the good old days. I miss my brothers being home with me. I was so close with both of them but them being in the Army does have it's strain on communication. They can't exactly go into detail about their day.
"Yeah. I get that." She said. It was silent for a minute because I was wondering how to word my next sentence.
"Hey, you know I went to the beach this morning." I said. She looked over at me with a smug smile.
"Really? Reliving old times?" She asked. I laughed a little. We did a lot of crazy things on that beach. More than just me thinking. Drinking parties, bonfires, dates, and just beach days.
"No. Just went there to think. But you know who I ran into? Paul." I said gauging her reaction. Her eyes flashed a little but too quickly to dwell on.
"Really." She said toneless.
"Yeah." I said.
"What'd he have to say?" She asked crossing her on her chest.
"Nothing really. We just talked about Sam... and you." I said watching the road. She looked over at me and turned slightly.
"Really? What about Sam... and me." She said.
"Oh he just asked me about the two of you. What you were like together." I said. Her eyes grew sad.
"Oh." She said and turned back to face forward. I put my hand on her knee.
"Hey, you know if you wanna talk, I'm always here." I said looking at her. She smiled a little.
"Of coarse I do. It's still hard though. Living so close to... them." She said. I nodded.
"Yeah I know. But hey, maybe you two breaking up was a sign that you guys weren't right for each other and your soulmate is still out there." I said.
"Pssssh. Yeah right." She said doubtfully.
"He is! Come on! Your kind and smart and beautiful, your perfect guy is out there. Plus, you didn't enlighten me that there were so many cute guys around the reservation." I said looking at her smugly. She laughed a little.
"Yeah well, if they weren't all brain-dead, then I might have mentioned them." She said laughing a little. I laughed along with her.
"Yeah well, I guess at least one isn't brain-dead because Paul asked me out this morning." I said smiling. She looked at me eyes wide.
"Really? Well you didn't say yes did you?" She said seriously.
"Actually, I said yes." I said just as seriously. She looked at me with a little anger in her eyes.
"Why!" She asked.
"Because I liked him!" I answered. She sighed.
"Yeah well... he's not your... type." She said.
"Ahaha, excuse me? Not my type?" I asked.
"Yes, not your type. He's... I don't know. Just not your type okay?" She asked calming down.
"Well, I guess I'll find out what you mean on our date tonight." I said looking out at the road.
"Just... be careful okay? I don't want you to get hurt." She said. I nodded.
"I know. I'm always careful. I just really feel like we connected." I said. She just looked out the windshield ahead of us. But then hr face twisted and looked really confused but then looked like she had a revelation.
"Wait... did you say connection?" She asked looking at me. I was confused now.
"Uh, yeah, I did. Why?" I asked. She looked like she just found out something horrible.
"Oh my god." She whispered to herself. "Oh my god!" She repeated.
"What?" I asked worried. She controlled herself and closed her eyes to calm herself.
"Nothing." She said. We spent the rest of the ride in silence though Leah seemed upset about something.
At the mall we picked out some clothes and I got a new outfit for my date. A casual blue summer dress that acsentuated my cleavage and a white cardigan. I thought it looked cute. Then I picked out some cute blue heels to match. Not too high, still casual.
Leah started to lighten up halfway through and we had as much fun as we used too. On the ride home, we sung to the car radio and had the best time. I pulled into her driveway and she unbuckled herself.
"Okay, so call me tonight after your date? Let me know how it went?" She asked nervously.
"Always do." I said smiling. She smiled a little.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She said and got out.
"See you." I said and pulled out of the drive way. The sun had peeked out of the clouds and it was really beautiful out now. I drove to Sam's and parked. I got out and walked to the door. Before I could even knock, Sam opened the door.
"Hey Rey!" He said pulling me in for a hug.
"Hey! Matt already here?" I asked. He pulled back and back away to open the door wider for me to come in.
"Yup. Also a few of the guys came over too." He said smiling. I nodded and came in. I followed Sam into the kitchen and saw Matt, Emily, Embry, a guy who I didn't know, and Paul sitting at the table. I waved to everyone and smiled at Paul. I was kind of glad he was here. I really realized when I was talking to Leah that I really liked him. Even though she didn't tell me anything about him, just thinking about him just made me smile.
"Hey Reyan." Matt said. I waved.
"Hey." I said placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing.
"Rey, this is Jacob. You haven't met him yet, have you?" He asked. I shook my head and smiled at him.
"Nope. Hi Jacob." I said waving. He nodded his head in my direction. "Hey Embry. Hey Paul." I said smiling when I said his name. His smile was even wider than mine. I sat down next to Paul and smiled. He smiled back.
We had a nice lunch and caught up a lot. I really got to know Emily, Embry, Jacob, and most importantly, Paul. On our way out, we all walked together. I hugged matt goodbye and Paul walked me to my car while Embry and Jacob were still talking to Sam about something seeming important.
"So, I'll see you tonight?" He asked hopeful. I laughed a little.
"Of coarse. See you at six." I said opening my door. He was smiling.
"See you at six." He said. "Can't wait." He added. I smiled wider.
"Me either. Bye Paul." I said getting in my car.
"Bye Reyan." He said. I closed my door and drove back to my dad's house. I got back and brought my new clothes inside. It was two now, so I had four hours until Paul came. I know it was weird, but I kind of missed him. I don't know why I felt such a connection to him. I barely knew him and really only saw him three times. It was weird how connected I felt to him.
I hadn't been on a date in a while and I was excited. The last guy I went out with wasn't the classiest of guys and he tried to get me into bed on the first date. I know I'm no virgin, but I'm not that slutty. My first was a guy who I thought was my prince. Turns out, so did another girl. Though She thought he was her prince for two months longer than I did. Yeah, he was a mistake, but that's what college was for. To make mistakes. But I don't regret it. I know that those mistakes make me who I am today.
I decided to do some laundry and set up my room a little bit more. So by the time I finished, it was four. Two hours left, so I thought I'd watch some TV. I found nothing on so I turned it off and just sat there thinking. I wondered what Paul and I would end up doing. Dinner? A movie? I was excited nonetheless. Maybe he would be my next prince. And this time... maybe it would be permanent.