Christen was excited.  She had spotted a beautiful little cove off the highway earlier that week and managed to get a day off with her best friend, Seirina, to check it out.  It was a bit out of the way but the two passed the time in the car singing “Make Me Feel” since Dirty Computer was on repeat for the sixth time and one can never have enough Janelle during a car trip.

Seirina was Christen’s closest friend and after four years together, their brains were basically synced at this point.  They met at University and followed each other across the country to work in the same city.  Every party required a plus one, and half of their friends thought they were married.  The only thing they didn’t do together was hit the high notes, which Christen still could not believe how effortlessly her friend was able to make it seem as they turned off onto a dirt road.  Not even an accidental trill as they went over the bumps.

This was something new, though.  Over the past few months, Christen was beginning to feel their friendship had developed a flair of something else.  She was terrified to think about reading too much into it, especially with how close they’ve been.  It would kill her on the inside to force a wedge into what they had.  However, as the weeks went on, Seirina’s flirtatious nature seemed a bit more focused on her.  At least, Christen hoped it was, and it wasn’t an onset development of mid-twenties dementia and narcissism.

The nail in her worrying coffin came earlier this week.  Christen had always loved swimming.  She had been on the swim team all through University and still kept it up as a hobby.  The beach was paradise for her, one of the reasons both of them decided to move near the ocean.  However, Seirina never wanted to go.  And if she did manage to convince her, she’d just stay on the beach, reading a book or watching the waves.  However, when Christen had mentioned the cove she saw, it was Seirina that suggested they go.

“Are you sure?  I know the beach isn’t your favorite place.”

Seirina shook her head.

“Oh no no, I love when we go to the beach.  I just don’t like the water.  You know, my phobia and all that.”

“Nah, Seirina, I can just go sometime later.  Plenty of good weather still.”

“No, no!  Let’s go!  We can finally get a seat someplace without the crowd.  Plus, you’ll get to see the new swimsuit I just got.  You’ll love it.”

Don’t read into it don’t read into it don’t read into it.

Christen came back into reality as she reached the end of the dirt road, which fell away to the beginning of their sandy destination.  She parked near the road in case the jeep dug into the sand a bit and needed pushed out.  As the sounds of Ms. Monae ended and the alarms of open car doors began, Christen’s nervousness began again.  However, Seirina’s voice broke her out of her fog.

“Wow, this place really is beautiful!  I wonder why no one’s tried to come here?”

“Maybe the waves aren’t good enough for the surfers.  You don’t think someone owns this, do you?”

Seirina shrugged.

“There weren’t any signs on the way down and it’s not like we’re trashing the place.”

Christen smiled, “Oh really?  I thought with the amount of vodka you brought we were giving out rations to invading Russian troops.”

Seirina picked up her bag of said intoxication along with her towel.

“It’s only three bottles.”

“...And four mixers.  For two people and at most four hours on a beach.”

“Okay, so we’ll have little left over.  Still getting my money’s worth.  Besides, I’ve been stressed this week.”

Christen grabbed the umbrella and shut the door to the jeep, locking it.

“What’s up?  Matt harassing you about TPS reports?”

“Do businesses actually have those?  I legit thought that was just bullshit from Office Space.”

Christen shrugged.

Seirina sighed.  “No, I’ve just been thinking about… things.”

Christen worried.  It wasn’t like Seirina to keep stuff from her, especially anything stressful as Seirina was known to be a master of the art of monologue after a bad day.  However, Seirina saw her look and brushed it off.

“Anyway, we’re here and the place is great.”  She held up the bag of alcohol and various mixers.  “Let’s make the most of it!”

Christen rolled her eyes but smiled.  Whatever it was, she’d probably blab as soon as she started using her hobbyist mixology.

The two of them walked down the beach together.  The sand was sparkling with the midday light, making the beach look less picturesque and more of walking into the light of God with all of the refracting.  Hopefully, once a cloud passed over, they could actually see where they were going.  Christen looked to her friend and saw her wearing large shades, causing Christen to curse her short-sightedness for leaving hers at home.  They found a spot near the highest point of the Tide and set up camp, with Seirina leaving her towel out of the shade of the umbella for some sunbathing.  She immediately got to unpacking her bag of drinks and brought out a book as well.

“...Shoot.”

“What’s up, Seirina?”

“I, uh… Forgot to pack some food.”

Christen laughed, “What, won’t be able to make it a few hours?”

Seirina nervously smiled.

“No, I… just hadn’t eaten today so… Anyways, we won’t be here forever.  Just means the alcohol will hit me sooner.”

Christen shrugged and finished setting up.  Now that there was a bit of shade to see, Christen noticed how beautiful the water was today.  A perfect shade of light blue, with easy visibility.  The sand seemed barely disturbed, like the clean, first morning after a big snow.  The waves were lazily lapping up onto the shore, showing little current to swim against once Christen got out there.  The smell of the ocean surrounded her as she took a deep breath and remembered why she loved this so much.  The beach was her own slice of heaven and she was always glad when she got to share it with the one she cared so much about.

Christen turned to say something but ended up just staring with her mouth open.  Seirina had already started to shed her attire, leaving her in a two-piece that fit her perfectly.  Christen noticed how the sides were less strings and more of a perfect graceful pattern that hugged Seirina’s curves.  The top crossed the collar bones in an X and only reconnected when it went up, over the shoulders, and down the upper back, leaving plenty of openness around it.  The colorful pattern of fruits and flowers adorned the whole outfit with greens and oranges that worked well with her Mediterranean skin and brown hair.  She looked gorgeous.

Christen turned away before Seirina would notice her gawking.  As she began to undress, she sighed.  In comparison to Seirina, Christen’s swimsuit was completely unstylized.  A simple sporty two piece that she’d kept since college, the same one she wore to most practices.  She convinced herself she found it more annoying to swim in something fancy but, in truth, she was just way too lazy to buy a new one.  Though, now she wished she could show off, with just the two of them.

Christen finished undressing and turned to get the sunscreen out of their beach bag.   As she did, she noticed Seirina innocently dart her eyes away from her friend’s figure, but knowing she was caught, gave her a wink.

“I know you never go all out but you still manage to look fine in that, you Greek Goddess of a sports bod.”

It was her jokes like this that always had her internally reeling.  She did it all the time and Christen still couldn’t figure out if it was her flirtatious nature or what Christen secretly hoped for.  She nervously tried to joke it off.

“If you’re jealous of the muscles, you could actually come work out with me some day.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.  If I ever did, it’s because of my growing addiction to those fish tacos at Velvet’s next door.”

Ah, sighed Christen, just a joke, then...

After putting on the sun protection, Christen decided to clear her mind.

“I think I’ll go ahead and head in.”

Seirina waved her hand as she brought out her starting mixer.

“Go girl, get yoself them triceps.  Us non-sporty heathens will be here when you get back.”

Christen smiled at her friend and started her way down the beach.  As hot as the day was, the water felt refreshingly cold as it slowly lapped onto her feet.  As it receded, the gentle pulling felt calming, like the ocean was pulling her into its embrace.  Christen moved forward until the water was up to her hips and the dove in.  The shock of the cold water felt wonderful as she stayed under and let her body get adjusted to it.  The water was incredibly easy to see through, and Christen even saw a few brave fish swimming near the shore not too far from her.  The sloping of the bottom was very gradual and barely any sediment seemed to move, allowing beams of light to scatter their way down and form patterns on the sand below.

Christen finally pushed up to break the surface for some breath.  She wiped her eyes and looked back towards the shore.  It was interesting to see Seirina had actually moved her towel a foot further back.  Christen smiled at the odd phobia her friend had, but she’d never actually tease her about it.  Mostly because she had made a pact of silence in exchange for Seirina to always be on spider-killing duty.

However, it was then that Christen saw something odd.  Rather than read her book or sunbath, Seirina was just nervously fidgeting at seashells at the foot of her towel.  She seemed lost in thought, and there was a very serious look on her face.

Christen turned from the beach and began her swim parallel to the shore.  As she got a good pace, her mind drifted to Seirina.  She thought back to a few years ago.  She had only known Seirina for a few months and at the same time, had only just recently found out more about herself.  Seirina was the closest to her and Christen hated the isolation she felt.

Finally, she mustered up enough courage to tell her.

"Seirina?"

Seirina hadn't looked up from her book.

"I… I've been thinking about this a lot, and, I wanted you to know… Um, like, don't freak out on me but, um…"

Seirina looked up, annoyed.

"Look, I won't freak out so just spit it out, Chris!"

'I-I think I'm gay!"

Seirina stared at her, her face still hadn't changed from the annoyed expression.  Christen couldn't read it and her mind was moving miles per hour trying to process some kind of response to no input.  Finally, Seirina looked back to her book.

"Same."

"...What?"

"Girl, same!  You'd think I'd freak out about that?  You've got a battle sister right here with ya and even if I wasn't either, that's never going to change how I feel about you.  We're friends, Chris."

She held out her fist.  Christen slowly and awkwardly bumped it.

"Now," she looked up from the book again.  A serious look on her face.  "I listened to you so now you have to promise me something."

"What is it?"

Seirina smiled, warmly at her close friend.

"Don't ever be afraid of telling me anything.  If you robbed a bank, I can keep a secret."

Christen smiled back and hugged her.

Since then, they've never been shy to share with each other.  Which is why this was so odd for Seirina to be specifically not wanting to talk about something.  And whatever it was, was giving Seirina some serious anxiety.  She'd have to confront her about it when she got back to shore.  It was going to be weird for her to try and pry when Seirina usually was an open book.

Christen stood up and then dove back the way she had come from.  She glided along for a few minutes until she reached where she had started and stood up in the water, breathing heavily.  She let the waves pull on her lower body for some time as she caught her breath before heading back up the beach.  The pull was calming, like being pulled into a mother's embrace.  The warming of the sun on her exposed upper torso made the embrace that much more comfortable.

This experience, she thought, catching her breath and bathing in the rays, this is part of why I love the ocean.

However, as much as Christen liked it, it was time to return to a friend that needed her.  Christen headed back, slowly, making sure she was breathing fine again by the time she reached her towel.

When she arrived, Seirina was still moping but Christen noticed that one of her vodka bottles was already half out of friend-fuel and Seirina was toying with opening a second one.

"Hot damn, Seirina.  I was only gone for maybe twenty minutes.  Hitting them hard, huh?"

Seirina's speech came out relatively normal but with the small creep of a slur beginning to appear.

"Had I?  Hadn't noticed."

Christen sat down next to her on her own towel and flicked salt water from her still wet hand onto her friend.  Seirina twitched and covered where it had landed on her arm.

"Okay, spill.  Something has you down and we're gonna talk about it."

Seirina waved her free hand, "It's not that bad.  Just thinkin' about future stuff.  Where I wanna be in a few years."

"Planning on moving?"

"No, just, you know, wondering what I'll be up to.  Who I'm… gonna have with me then."

Christen looked concerned.

"Well, whoever else is in that picture, you know I'll be there."

Seirina took her hand off her arm and pointed at Christen, smiling coyly.

"Don't you start getting sappy on me."

"Pff, you started it."

Seirina sighed, "Forget about it.  We're here to relax."

Seirina looked out to the ocean, her face very much not relaxing.  However, she began to sing.  Christen picked up on it immediately.  They always sang this together when they were goofing off.  It was Seirina's way of relieving stress and sadness with her friend.  She joined in as well.

I wish you would step back

From that ledge my friend

You could cut ties with all the lies

That you've been living in

And if you do not want to see me again

I would understand

I would understand

 Christen and Seirina laughed at the stupid nostalgia.

“You know, Seirina, I’ve always loved how you can take the simplest melody and make it sound like freaking art.”

“Haha, Oh yeah?”

A frown slowly appeared on Seirina’s face.

“Was that… the reason you initially approached me?”

Christen was confused.  Why her friend would feel so self-conscious about her gift.

“To be honest, I was more focused at the time on why this babe had the whole beach to herself and so I thought I’d crash your loney party.  The voice was just a bonus.”

Seirina smiled at the response but seemed distant as she looked down the beach.

“Good.  I’m glad…”

They sat there staring at the sea together.  Christen kept wondering why Seirina was being so weird today but knew the frontal approach wasn’t working.  She had to steer the conversation to it.

“You know, I still don’t know why you rent a beachfront property when the prices are way higher, not to mention your… condition.”

“Hey, I may not swim but I still like the ocean.  Reminds me of home.”

“Oh yeah, you said you grew up near it.  Where exactly?”

“Uh, just some tiny town in Greece no one knows because it’s not the big cities.”

Christen was about to ask where, exactly.  However, before she could say something, the sound of a stomach growling as loud as a lion erupted from Seirina...