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"No offense, Aubrey, but your bike is a piece of shit."
The 2-stroke on this old Yamaha was a total juddery crapshoot of an engine: it sputtered and backfired every few minutes, like its pistons wanted to be liberated from the world with every cycle. On the spindly spaceframe of this bike, each pulse of the engine hit directly onto our butts. By the time we were halfway to the beach, both me and my back were tired of the fun.
She just laughed. "You didn't have to ride on my 'piece of shit' bike if you didn't want to."
"Come on, Aubrey! You promised me you'd take me for a ride on it! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't take you up on it?" I capped it off with a giggle. I couldn't knock her friends' chutzpah: after all that they went through last year, I'm just glad that they all kept it together. This bike was some kind of collective present between all of them. I can't say that Aubrey wasn't proud of it or that I wasn’t happy for her for it... I just kinda wish it wasn't such a shoddy bike for whatever their budget was. It was super characterful though: definitely in Aubrey’s vein. Something rough and ready, and super cheerful.
"Beats pedalling, doesn't it?" We both laughed. She wasn't wrong. Somehow, the wind whipping my hair felt a lot better when it didn't come from thirty minutes of leg-cramp-inducing physical labour. Looking back at the rest of the guys on their bicycles felt equal parts bad and sweet. I let the both of us ride in peace, the two-pot motor filling the air in between.
"Come here, you guys, take your own." Aubrey stood at the beachside table as she set down the tray with each of our ice creams. We all ran over to her to get them. The summer wind was just enough to make the day feel that much nicer. The clouds overhead covered the sun lightly.
It was a perfect last day.
I looked at Aubrey. It’d been years since I’d first met her. She was so lonely back then. With everything that happened with her friends, she was a mess. I couldn’t help but see a lot of myself in her: all that festering loss, that struggle, that sadness.
And so, I took her in with the rest of us. It took some time, but she got used to being around us. She was a riot. We did so many things together around Faraway: whether it was hanging out by the lake or going around stealing candy and messing with the people in the park. It was good time spent.
I loved those days. I missed them.
I loved her.
And now, she was going away. Sports scholarship to some out-of-Faraway university. With today as one last hurrah for her before we send her off.
Today would be my last chance to tell her how I felt about her for the foreseeable future.
I planned it out, gathering as many ideas as I could of how to do it. I tried to prepare myself for the best and the worst that could happen. All I could hope for was for everything to go smoothly.
“–Kim, take your ice cream already! It’s starting to melt!” Aubrey’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. She held out my sundae towards me, her blue eyes staring me down.
I quickly took it from her.
The caramel sauce was already mixing with the ice cream. It was starting to melt into a million different things.
In a lot of ways, the ice cream and I had a lot in common.
The sun started its slow descent into the sea.
Right now, it was just me and Aubrey, sitting on the sea retaining wall. Thank God for Vance; he helped me distract the others for the time being. I really owed him one for this.
All the while, two seagulls lazed around overhead, their calls echoing off into the white noise of the ocean. The only other people on the beach were some swimmers and sunbathers, too preoccupied in their own summer vacation to care about us.
It was perfect.
I polished off the last of my ice cream. The sugar and cream seemed to stick to the roof of my mouth, making it feel clammy. I tried to shrug it off. My hands started to feel cold at the fingertips. I shoved them into my pockets. God knows I didn't need this kind of shit happening right now.
"Hey, Aubrey?" I kept my eyes to the ground. The idea of looking at her felt a bit... nerve-wracking.
"Yeah?" She turned to face me.
My heart was beating out of my chest. Jesus Christ.
"There's something I want to talk to you about."
My mouth felt dry. I thought about what I wanted to say. They were simple words. I'd even practiced them before. But why was saying them so hard? Everything else was working out so well: I couldn’t let the weakest link in my own link be me!
"So, um... it’s about you." My voice ended up soft and shaky. Aubrey shuffled over to hear me more clearly. My fingers started fidgeting in my hoodie’s pocket. Oh God, this can't be happening to me right now.
I took my right hand out to steady myself against the rocky wall.
Then, it happened.
A few candies spilled out from my jacket pocket. The candies fell out like sea wash lapping onto the shores, unstoppable. Holy shit. No-no-no-no-no–
The candies settled unceremoniously onto the space between us.
Aubrey laughed. "Don't mind if I do, then." She picked up a piece of toffee. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as she spoke. “So, what’s up?”
The plan in my head fell apart in an instant. I was scrambling for words. My mind felt like a party of young Chicago teenagers who suddenly got the cops called on them and had to scatter. My tongue was completely tied. I couldn’t decide on what to do. The candy was such a cog in the works–
The candy. Yes, the candy!
For all I knew, it might've been a sign from God. Or the Devil. Or something in between. But hey, when the world gives you a sign, you should take it, right? I didn’t have anything left to lose at this point today. I might as well shoot my shot in the corniest way possible, if serendipity asked for it.
I gently plucked the wrapped toffee out of Aubrey’s hand. Her grip was gentle on it. She let go of it as soon as I laid my hands on it. Our fingers brushed for a moment, sending a jolt to my heart that I tried my best to subsume.
I had to deliver the next line flawlessly. Mustering the last of my self-esteem and confidence, I powered through my fear.
"Will you be my sweet-heart, Aubrey?" I held the toffee up towards her, while I tried not to let the cringe show in my smile.
Her face went blank.
I messed up big time, didn't I? I tried to keep my smile up as I waited for her response. My brain, once again, decided to scatter into a million different hidey-holes trying to wrack together an escape plan.
After a few moments, she smiled.
"You big dork!" She put me in a headlock. More of my candy spilled out onto the space between us as she gave me a noogie. I let out a small shout at the surprise.
She gradually softened her hold on me, moving her arm to my shoulders, hugging me tight. Was she… okay with me being into her? I thought about asking, but then I realised: I didn’t want to break up the hug to ask. Right now, being in her arms was enough. I lingered in her warmth.
"Of course, Kim."
Wait…what did she just say? "Could… could you say that again?"
She chuckled. "I said yes, Kim. I'll be your sweetheart."
Those words meant everything to me. My heartbeat stayed fast but it stayed calmer somehow. I started smiling, probably like an idiot if anyone was watching. I laid there, cocooned in her arms, letting her warmth cover me. Her hoodie draped over me a little bit, shading me from the sun. It was super comfortable, even in the summer heat.
She let go of me. She suddenly darted around, scanning the perimeter. I was confused at what she was doing but then, after her scan was complete, she turned to me. Lightning fast, she moved towards me. I didn’t know what she was going to do. Wait, why are you getting so close–
She kissed me on the cheek. Oh my God, she kissed me on the cheek!
We stayed there for a little while longer to hang out at the beach. We ended up playing some of the beachfront games, running up and down the pier like dumb kids once again. Angel and Charlene found some fun trinkets to buy to give Aubrey as a keepsake for college. It was a good day.
Soon enough, the sun started to sink below the horizon. The sky turned a beautiful shade of purple. Some lodestars came out, twinkling out their cosmic distance.
We went over to our bikes.
"What do you say we go to Gino’s, guys?" Aubrey hollered out to the rest of us. We all yelled out ayes in response, like crew hands on a pirate ship, which prompted a good round of laughing and giggling from all of us. As we were about to go, I turned to look at the beach front once again. The setting sun was cut in half by the sea and the horizon, stretching out into infinity. Everything was falling into its place in the world, and all was well.
I thought about today, how it felt like everything was going right, then going wrong, then it went more right than it ever was before. Today was a good day.
“Ready to go, babe?” Aubrey was already on her bike, buckling her helmet on. “Or are you trying to delay riding on SS Piece of Shit?”
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her. Man, she's getting snarky with me. “Alright, captain, let’s go!”
She threw my helmet over as I ran to her. With a quick strap, I put it on and got up behind her to ride pillion. With a rolling, shuddering rip, the motor shook to life once more. Thankfully, the vibrations died down once we set off.
I felt the wind whip my face as we sped. Some stray hairs fluttered out of the front of my helmet. The sky above gradually turned a beautiful shade of purple as the stars started coming out one by one, until the night sky became a twinkling mosaic of light. We talked as we rode, about the future, about pizza, about everything, really. We sang songs together, shouting the lyrics out off-key into the wide open road. It felt nice to do things like that with her. It felt fun to just shoot the shit with her. It felt warm to be that close to her.
Holding onto Aubrey, it felt like the day would last forever. And even if it did, that would be perfectly fine by me.