Cafe Hitch-hike

2022-12-10

No place I’d rather be

I smiled this morning when sand dropped on my bedroom floor from the jeans I wore last night. I moved them and felt the grains drop on the top of my foot and then I stepped on them.

He picked me up last night and I smelled the alcohol in the car although the windows and his sunroof were open. I went along with it. He was very happy to see me and put on a so-so song, and we cruised with the soft sea air through our windows. I laid back in the seat, felt the air and took it all in. I had a feeling he was perfectly ok with that, a nice girl in the car, cruising, and on an easy southern winter night.

I didn’t know things would be this awkward for him, but he really tried. At one point, he quietly admitted he hadn’t been on a date in a long time and then it all made sense. For some reason, we both relaxed more after that admission and then he talked to people around our table (and I didn’t felt left out one bit, I enjoyed it).

He wanted to go to another place to dance (and he was still a bit inebriated), but I wasn’t up for it and wasn’t sure that would be good for him. It was too early to go home so I made a suggestion…

I took him to the stretch of the city beach that had the small catamarans from the local sailing club. I went there lots of times at night to chill, and as it turned out, the moon had risen high over the ocean and the eastern horizon. I waded in the unseasonably warm water and he relaxed on the sand. He laid down. I thought for a moment he was asleep but then asked me about a star above us; maybe he had to tell me he wasn’t. I pointed out Jupiter to him (to the west and behind us) and he was really impressed. He said he never knew what that was.

We sat quietly on the sand for a bit, and it was the least anxious I had seen him all evening. He turned to me at one point and warmly smiled. He seemed perfectly content. I almost felt like there was no other place I’d rather be at that moment.

There wasn’t crazy sex. We didn’t grope all over each other. We weren’t trying to impress each other, either. We simply sat next to each other in the sand under the moonlit beach, with the waves shimmering from the moon’s rays. I felt grateful to be in his presence at that time and place, and after all that has happened these past 3 years.

I asked him out because he was very easy on my eyes, and he had nice brown eyes besides. The times we had talked, it seemed really easy for the both of us and he was funny.

I woke up still a little drunk last night and needed to take out the dog. I reached for my pants, and then came the sand, reminding me of last night.

I think it was all we needed, at that time and place.

downwind | upstream