“Ugh, what time is it?” I mumbled as I sat up rubbing my eyes. I immediately hugged the blanket to my chest when I realized I was still naked underneath.
“About five in the morning.” Anthony whispered, “Get your clothes on; I checked and it’s not that cold out so anything will do.”
I tilted my head in confusion causing Anthony to explain, “We’re gonna take a walk to somewhere special, ok?” I smiled,
“Okay.” I didn’t mind standing up and getting off the couch in my birthday suit, in fact, I loved the attention that Anthony gave me with his hungry eyes as I carefully snuck into my bedroom to get a simple T-shirt and shorts.
I walked back into the living room to gather my underwear and start to get dressed. When I was finished, I looked back at Anthony who was near the door ready to leave.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Shhhhhh,” he put his finger to his lips, “It’s a surprise, now common.” He took my hand and led me out the door.
It was still dark outside but warm like Anthony had described. The sound of crickets had died down to a minimum of a couple of chirps a minute; the noise of morning birds dominated our ears instead. We trotted downstairs to the parking lot, I expected him to get inside his car so I separated our hands to walk over to it. He followed me and took my hand again,
“Where we’re going, we don’t need a car.” He said softly and continued to walk.
My mind circled around where he could be leading me. “Somewhere special” “it’s a surprise” I needed more than two subtle, lame hints. I was going to die of curiosity. Anthony took me to the streets behind my apartment complex. The roads were still empty except for some early morning joggers and a car or two. It made it easy for us to cross the usually loud, crowded street to another apartment complex. We crossed through the parking lot of that building and got to another lifeless street. By now I was sort of getting an idea about where he could be leading me. I just hoped it wasn’t much further away because I didn’t want Ian and Nicolette to get worried about where we were.
Finally after crossing another street, I saw it. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid to not notice it before. It was the beach. I beamed from ear-to-ear as Anthony led me to the soft Californian sand. I sat down as soon as we got there to take off the converse and socks I had put on. Anthony followed my example as he kicked off his shoes and socks as well. We stuffed the socks into the shoes and left them in the middle of the beach; there was no one out at the time so we had no worries if someone were to take them.
I took Anthony’s hand again so he could help me stand up and we rushed into the receding ocean shoreline. The wet sand found its way in between my toes and I squished them together in delight. I looked over at Anthony who was smiling at me. His smile was bright and warming; he was the most perfect man I’d ever known.
We stood in the shoreline alone for a while, kicking the water and giggling before I decided it wouldn’t hurt if I waded in it. My shorts were pretty short so I didn’t mind getting my legs wet. Anthony watched as I jogged further into the water. The ocean was freezing cold but for some reason, today, I disregarded that fact and motioned Anthony to join me. He just stared at me, thinking of what to do. Finally he shrugged and bounded towards me; he picked me up in a hug and pretended to throw me in. I laughed, not caring if he did or not.
When he put me down I knelt down to splash him with the saltwater. Specks of water sprinkled on his shirt and he inhaled sharply in surprise. He laughed as he reached down and splashed me back, returning the favor. We spent a minute or two splashing away at each other, laughing and enjoying our last morning together.
Suddenly, in the middle of our splash fight, Anthony stopped and stared at the ocean behind me. I turned around to see the bright orange sun slowly creeping over the ocean. I stepped back so that I was standing next to Anthony. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close as we watched the sun rise. It was a beautiful sight; and out of all the years I had lived in California, I had never seen a sunrise on the beach. I was more than delighted to have shared it with my one true love.
When the sun was a quarter of the way passed the brim of the ocean, Anthony turned to me and spoke for the first time since we had left.
“I love you more than anyone in my life,” he began, “nobody can take my love away from you. You are the only reason I breathe, the only reason my heart beats, the only reason I live; I live for you Taybe; for you only.” He smiled to prove he was sincere.
Tears rushed to my eyes, “Nobody’s ever said that to me before,” was all I could think of saying, “You are the most perfect person I’ve ever met and I don’t think anyone could love you as much as I do.” I made him smile even wider.
Our lips touched softly and I wrapped my arms around his neck, making our morning as perfect as possible. There was no way I could let him leave me for New York; I couldn’t bear to not see him for two weeks. We finally separated but our hands still touched and we walked back to where we left our shoes. By then, more joggers had showed up and were running along the shore where we had so passionately declared our love for each other.
I didn’t bother to put on my socks because my feet were dirty and wet so I just slipped on my converse, making sure I didn’t get the exterior dirty, but I didn’t bother to lace them up. Anthony had the same idea and stuffed his socks into his pockets.
We interlocked our fingers together again and made our way back to the apartment, passing a couple of love-sick teenagers who couldn’t have been over fifteen rush to the beach.
“I bet they have the same idea as you.” I laid my head on Anthony’s side as we continued to walk.
“If that boy is as smart as me then I think those two will last for a long time.” He kissed my head.
We walked slowly across the streets, this time it took a little longer to wait for the multiple cars to drive pass but we didn’t mind; we wanted to waste as much time outside as possible.
Finally I saw my apartment building and I began to drag my soggy converse.
“I don’t want you to leave.” I finally admitted, “Not now, not ever.”
“I’m sorry,” Anthony stopped in our tracks, “But I’ll only be gone for two weeks and I won’t ever leave you again. If I do leave, I’ll make sure to buy extra tickets and bring you with me.” He kissed my cheek and we slowly climbed the stairs to my front door.
Opening it up, no signs of Nicolette or Ian being awake were around. Again, it was just Anthony and I. I took off my shoes in the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels to wash my feet off. Anthony grabbed some more and once again followed my example. When we were finished I made a cup of tea for myself and one for Anthony. We sat at the kitchen table drinking tea and staring out of the big window back to the still-rising sun.
Anthony suddenly took my unoccupied hand and kissed it. Right then and there, I knew that even if today was one of the best days of my life, it would also be the worst.
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