Chapter 791: Carolina Beach
Thursday, March 30th, Morning
It was before the sun rose when he got out of bed and went for a drive. He meandered his way through the streets before he ended up along the Atlantic Coast. Finally, he parked and walked out onto the beach. He kicked off his shoes and crashed down on the sand. His jeans will be soaked as he dug his toes in. Where he chose to crash down was a few feet from the high tideline. He sat with his knees bent up and resting his arms on his knees, which hid the slumping of his shoulders. The sun started peering over the horizon, turning the midnight blue water to a fiery reddish-orange color.
Keith shook his head; it was another night of what was, at best, fitful sleep. Izzy would be back tonight, and he needed to be whole and rested for her, but he was not sleeping; the loud noises and the kinetic thoughts robbed him of sleep.
The scent of the sea was being replaced in his nose with the smell of expended gunpowder and warm blood. The loud cracks and clangs filled his ears, and his arms felt heavy and numb. The sky was of fire; all that was missing was the tall, oily black pillars of smoke and its acrid fumes. The fires, those funeral pyres, were the only natural light; what was planted was now reaped.
"Keith?" someone asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. He shook his head, looked around confused, and felt his body covered in sweat.
"What?" Keith asked, confused.
"You were screaming," the feminine voice said.
"Oh, sorry," Keith said.
"Don't worry about it," she said and came into view. She was a tall woman around Keith's age; she wore her dusty, shaded, dirty-blonde hair short, and her nose was covered with freckles.
"What was I screaming, Dusty?" Keith asked.
"I only could make out a few words, like target, splash, it made no sense to me," Destiny "Dusty" Garland said.
"Umm," Keith said, "That's, I don't know."
"Can I sit with you?" Dusty asked.
"It's a free beach," Keith said.
Dusty took a seat next to Keith and hugged her knees. Keith noted she was in skin-tight running shorts and a sports bra. Keith suspected Dusty worked out twice a day religiously, but Dusty would never confirm it because Dusty was insecure about her looks around her supermodel cousin Aurora Drake.
"Were you thinking about Jermaine?" Dusty asked.
Keith shrugged, "I don't know," he said.
"It seems that way," Dusty said.
"Dust, I came here to, well, I guess, to watch the sunrise," Keith said.
"But you found more," Dusty said.
"No, well, okay, yes, I found you," Keith said.
"That's not what I'm talking about, Keith," Dusty said, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Keith said, "Nothing is wrong."
"What if I say I don't believe you?" Dusty asked.
"That's your issue," Keith said.
Dusty nodded and looked out to the ocean. They sat silently for what seemed like hours, but only a minute or two. The sun was now visible above the horizon, and the morning gray had an orange tint. Finally, Dusty sighed and looked at Keith.
"I miss him too," Dusty said.
"What?" Keith asked.
"I miss Jermaine, too," Dusty said, "It's okay to miss him."
"You two were broken up," Keith said.
"Keith, you, of all people, should know that you can miss someone while being broken up," Dusty said.
Keith nodded, "I guess you're right," he said.
"I know I am," Dusty said.
"Yeah, so what else is new?" Keith asked.
"Jermaine and I were talking about, well, maybe, reconciling when y'all got back," Dusty said.
Keith nodded, "Yeah," he said.
"You could talk about it," Dusty said.
"Talk about what?" Keith asked.
"Missing Jermaine," Dusty said.
"I'm good," Keith said.
"Mind if I talk about him?" Dusty asked.
"It's a free beach," Keith said.
"We, Jermaine and I, talked about that trip about five years ago when we went out to the Outer Banks and how much we enjoyed it. We talked more about it, and I remembered how you and Izzy went out to Ocracoke before y'all deployed. I remember you saying you liked it, so I was trying to convince Jermaine to take us out there when y'all got back," Dusty said.
Keith nodded, "Ocracoke is a nice and quiet place, but not Jermaine's type of place," he said.
"That was the point. To go someplace quiet where we could see if we could, well, you know, work on us and see if we could be us again," Dusty said.
"Yeah, I get you," Keith said.
"Are you even paying attention?" Dusty asked.
"Yes," Keith said.
"I never got a chance to see if Jermaine and I could be something, especially with the Old Dragon gone and my mom being more worried about Connie. There would be nothing in the way from my family," Dusty said.
"Barnett?" Keith asked.
"Uncle Barnett has other things to worry about, including Aurora's coke habit," Dusty said, a little bitter and almost spit when she mentioned Aurora.
"Yeah," Keith said.
"No family is perfect, Keith," Dusty said.
"Don't I know it," Keith said.
Dusty nodded and looked towards the fiery ball of the rising sun. She shook her head and grunted. "What are you thinking about?" Dusty asked.
"Simon and Garfunkel," Keith said.
"Simon and Garfunkel?" Dusty asked.
"What song?" Dusty asked.
"Grim," Dusty said.
Keith nodded, "Yeah," he said.
"Before that?" Dusty asked.
"The Supremes Reflections," Keith said.
Dusty nodded and lowered her chin to her knees. They sat in silence as the sun rose. Finally, they got up and went their own ways.