HER – MIDNIGHT BEACH STROLL

Aya sat on the ocean-side balcony, her feet lifted up on the table, a glass of red wine in her hand. Despite it being nearly midnight, she wore nothing but shorts and a tank top, and she still felt hot. Lonely moon hung above as the sounds of ocean clashing against the cliffs echoed out into the night, with distant voice of a singer barely reaching her.

A few minutes later, she heard the doors to the room creak and open, and she glanced backwards. Tyson entered slowly, sighing in the process, as he locked the doors behind him. Spotting Aya, he nodded slightly before going over to a cupboard and taking out an entire bottle of gin, taking a glass, and joining Aya on the balcony.

“Did you finally develop a multi-personality disorder?” Aya asked, smirking.

“… I’m not looking to get drunk,” Tyson said. “But so drunk I’d need twelve days just to sleep it off.”

“So… where were you and Jared the whole day?” she asked coyly.

“You know damn well where we were,” Tyson said. “Good god, the guy’s like a fucking sixteen-year-old girl choosing a restaurant where her birthday will be held.”

“… ah come on,” Aya said, chuckling. “Give him some leeway. The dude’s about to tie a knot for life. Of course he’s excited.”

“… doesn’t it feel like everyone around us is just… growing the fuck up way too quickly?” Tyson said. “I mean, sis is just a few weeks away from birthing a freaking kid, those two idiots are getting married, and I heard that dean’s nineteen-year-old daughter just had twins. Has the world gone mad?!”

“Eh, they just know what they want,” Aya said. “Selena wanted family, Jared and Emma want the future together, and dean’s daughter wanted a pill, probably. Besides, you probably know those two won’t go past the Bachelor’s, so it makes sense for them.”

“… yeah,” Tyson said, sighing as he gulped half the glass and poured another half immediately after. “Do you? I mean, know what you want?”

“… yeah, mostly,” Aya said. “You don’t?”

“… oh, fuck you. We’re dating. You’re supposed to reflect and embody my insecurities.”

“Aren’t we dating exactly because I don’t?”

“… yeah, good point,” Tyson said, smiling. “So you want to get married as well? Start a family?”

“Someday, sure,” Aya said. “Just, please, don’t go asking me to marry you because you felt inspired by Jared’s choice.”

“But I already sold my kidney and bought a ring!!” Tyson exclaimed. “You just shattered my wholesome! How can you live with yourself?!”

“What does it say about you that for a moment I thought you were serious?” Aya asked, smiling.

“… I’m, uh, too much of a sweet, loving romantic?”

“Yeah, no, haha,” Aya laughed, throwing her head back slightly. “So, what place did he choose?”

“The pier,” Tyson said. “During the sunset.”

“Beautiful.”

“Yeah, it was,” he said, smiling lightly. “I actually want to take you.”

“Well, he won’t be proposing to her for twelve days, so I think we can pull it off.”

“… well, I certainly didn’t expect this vacation to unravel the way it did,” Tyson said, sighing lightly. “Talk about a twist.”

“Almost as good as the one in The Village?”

“I still can’t believe you enjoy that shit,” Tyson grunted, glancing at Aya with arched brow. I don’t, I just love how cute you are when you get angry over it… “I still love you and all, but damn…”

“Damn, when I remember how it was like when we first told each other ‘I love you’,” Aya said, smiling faintly. “And compare it to today, it’s amazing how far we’ve come.”

“… ugh, don’t remind me!! What did we say about mentioning our endless array of embarrassing moments?! Don’t mention them! Don’t mention them, dammit!”

“Ha ha, aww, come on,” Aya said, extending her arm over and pinching Tyson’s cheek gently. “You’re at your most adorable during those moments. There’s no way in hell I’m forgetting them.”

“Do you know when I thought you were the most beautiful?” Tyson asked, shoving Aya’s arm away.

“Oh boy, this ought to be good. Rile it on me, soldier! I’m ready!”

“… the second day after you moved in,” Tyson said. “I woke up a few minutes before you and I looked at your face. Your mouth was slightly open, drool all over the pillow, you had this weird half-smile half-grin on your face, and a bang of your hair was literally stuck on the corner of your mouth—“

“—oh my god!! Stop! Please stop!!”

“—and I thought, ‘damn, if she’s this beautiful while being ugly as fuck, I really struck gold’…”

“I know it’s supposed to be sweet, but I can’t get that image of me out of my head!! You asshole!!”

“Ha ha ha,” Tyson burst out in laughter as Aya leapt off the chair and raced back into the room, diving onto the bed and burying her head into a pillow. “Aaah, come on! I’m telling you you were beautiful! What’s wrong with that?”

“Fuck off, you pig!” Aya’s voice echoed muffled as she pulled a blanket over herself.

“… just as I know how beautiful you are at your ugliest,” Tyson said, sitting next to her. “I know you’re not hiding under a blanket because you’re embarrassed I saw you like that, but because I still thought you were beautiful.” … he knows me too well. Welp, time to break up.

“… can you go, like, to another dimension for a few minutes?”

“Nah, sorry.”

“Fuck you.”

“Can I snuggle into that fort of yours as well?”

“Hell no.” Aya replied.

“Do you wanna go outside and take a midnight stroll on the beach?” Tyson asked.

“…”

“It’s very dark outside,” Tyson continued. “I probably won’t be able to see your face.”

“… go out and wait for me.”

“Roger that!!”

Tyson immediately leapt off the bed and left the room as Aya slowly left the safety of her blanket, sighing as she fixed her disheveled hair. Grunting, she got up and took off her shirt, putting on the bra first and then putting the shirt back on. After washing her face with stern, cold water, she slapped her cheeks gently and left. All apartments, although seemingly individual, were part of an extended complex, and finding an exit was like a mini-maze game. However, whether by luck or orientation, she quickly found her way down and onto the beach, where Tyson was waiting while looking up. Spotting her, he smiled gently and, as she approached him, she extended his arm out and grabbed her hand gently. Thus, the two of them walked forward in equated pace, hand in hand, both barefoot.

“It’s been a while since we just went out and walked like this,” Aya said as slightly cold breeze blew past them, causing her hair to flutter upward slightly. “It’s nice.”

“Yeah,” Tyson said. “If only your hand wasn’t a literal inferno.”

“It’s yours that’s weird,” Aya said. “Seriously, go check your circulation. Both your hands and feet are eternally cold. It’s weird.”

“You’re weird.”

“No, you’re weird.”

“The one calling another weird is actually the weird one.” Tyson said.

“What are we, four?”

“Eh, give or take.”

“… then we’ve been very naughty for the four-year-olds.” Aya said, smirking.

“That’s just… disturbing…”

“Speaking of disturbing,” Aya said. “Why the hell do you have their entire discography on your phone?!”

“What? They’re awesome. Fuck you.”

“… you could literally just have three songs, and it’d be the same.”

“Hey, do I ever rail on you for never skipping Pink Floyd song, no matter how shitty it is?!” Tyson exclaimed.

“… all the time?” Aya said. “Besides, there’s no such thing as a bad Pink Floyd song, let alone a shitty one.”

“Khm,” Tyson coughed lightly. “Waiting for the velvet bride, with the scaly armadillo.”

“…”

“…”

“… you memorized that just on the off-chance we’d have this conversation?” Aya said.

“Yup.”

“Are you proud?”

“Yup.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Yet, I still am.” Tyson said.

“Never before did I know that it is possible to both love and hate someone with adamant passion.” Aya said. “So, you know, thank you for letting me discover that emotion.”

“Oh, wow, using adamant in an everyday sentence. That’s gotta be an achievement for you.” Tyson said, smirking mockingly.

“Yes, I’m quite astute. Aren’t you proud?”

“Yup.” Tyson said.

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Yet, I still am.”

“… actual conversations are bound to grow even rarer between us, right?” Aya said, smiling lightly.

“There’s time and place for the baby talk—“

“Hey!! Who said anything about babies?!!”

“—midnight beach stroll, as an idea, was basically conceived as a romantic event to just fuck around randomly.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re so wrong you went beyond the boundaries of excusable. And, who the hell said anything about babies?!”

“Ah, come on!” Tyson exclaimed. “How is this ambience suited for a romantic or, you know, an actual conversation?! I can barely see your freaking face, I nearly fell six times walking in this damn sand, and I’ve yet to make a reference to one of the most glorious romantic conversation of all time!!”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot that anything involving sand even remotely was completely destroyed as a romantic topic.” Aya said, shuddering for a moment. “Good god, even half-asleep and half-roofied I could have come up with a better convo.”

“First, I love that you used convo, gives you so much street cred,” Tyson said. “And, secondly, I think it’s universally accepted that the sand-is-coarse-and-it-gets-places is, by far, the most beautiful thing ever bestowed upon humanity. So shove your negativity back up the black hole it came from, and get real.”

“… well, that’s one way to tell me to shove it up my ass. You’re getting rather creative with those.” Aya said. “Although, I never realized my ass had that much gravitational pull.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Tyson said. “So many pairs of eyes gravitated toward it today that even I was like ‘whoa, chill guys. It’s just an ass’.”

“It’s not just an ass,” Aya said as she let go of Tyson’s hand and then pulled it to her behind. “It’s your ass.”

“…” Tyson exchanged glances between his hand and Aya’s hand, unsure whether to laugh out like a madman or like an absolute lunatic. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day—“

“Oh fuck, don’t ruin it!!” Aya exclaimed, bursting out in laughter.

“What do you mean ruin it?!” Tyson exclaimed back as he ran after her. “I was told I can never go wrong with quoting the master-lover, the ungodly gifted, the actual Casanova before the Casanova, the Shake-that-spear-baby himself!”

“… ha ha ha,” Aya laughed out as she stopped and sat down onto the cooling sand, proceeding to lie freely onto her back, spreading her arms wide. “You’re killing me…”

“You know,” Tyson said, grasping for breath, as he lied down next to her. “When I first met you, never in a million years would have I thought you were the type to laugh like a little kid at the stupidest of jokes.”

“What, you miss my old, Ayien-self?” Aya said.

“Miss her? I mean, sure,” Tyson said. “For a while back there, I truly did begin believing alien life had descended upon the earth—“

“—oh god, just stop… ha ha…”

“—but, I’d never trade her for a girl who takes my hand and places it on her ass, and tells me it’s mine. That’s just… I don’t even know what it is, actually.”

“It’s just my mysterious ways.” Aya said.

“By the way, let’s never do the guy-chases-girl-while-the-two-laugh-and-have-fun scene ever again.” Tyson said. “I literally can’t breathe.”

“Yup, I’m with you on that one.” Aya said. “As long as you promise never to again quote the master lover himself.”

“You and I both know that’s a promise I cannot make.” Tyson said, imitating a low and brooding tone. “For him, and him alone, can convey the—“

“—yeah, yeah, I get it. The only way to make you shut up is to start making out, right?”

“You could always kill me. Or, you know, sew my mouth shut.”

“Eeeh, I’d rather make out.” Aya said.

“Yeah, I prefer that one too.” Tyson said.

As the two inched closer to each other, ocean’s tide drifted ever-so-closer to the two of them, bearing the moon’s reflection on its surface. In the silence of the darkening night, the two kissed gently, tightening one another in a wholesome embrace.