Finally, the weekend arrived. I was very tired from school activities, except for our project, which is going very well. Yesterday, my father's offer for the house was accepted, so we will be moving soon.
Today I woke up early, as usual, got dressed, and called Kimba to walk on the beach. I tried not to make much noise since everyone was still asleep, but just as I was about to leave, I heard footsteps approaching.
"Are you going to the beach?" Luke asks.
"Yeah, but I didn't want to wake you up."
"Don't worry. Can I come with you?"
"Yeah, sure."
His freshly awakened face marked with dark circles. I don't know where he gets the will to go for a walk on the beach at six in the morning.
"Are you sure you want to go and not stay sleeping?" I ask.
"I'm going because you are going," he says, running a hand through his hair. "And besides, I'm not very sleepy."
"Your dark circles say otherwise."
The sun, which had risen just a few minutes ago, illuminated every grain of sand with its rays. The sea with its calm waves breaking on the shore generated a peace that made you want to stay there forever.
Every moment like this, so simple, is the most beautiful for me.
We both sit on a wooden bench under some palm trees, and there is a moment of silence where we are both lost in our thoughts until Luke breaks the silence.
"Vicky, I don't know if the guys told you, but today we are going to a beach outside of Waikiki, in case you want to come."
"Oh yeah, I think Caleb mentioned something, but I don't know where they are going."
"We are going to spend the day at Pipeline."
"That beach sounds familiar. I think I saw the movie 'The Momentum Generation' about surfers who went there, but everything ended badly."
"Yeah, I saw it too. It's really good," he says.
"Isn't the beach a bit dangerous?"
"Well, yes. It has big waves, but today we checked and the sea is quite calm. Are you joining?"
"I have to ask my parents if I can leave Waikiki. Maybe they'll let me."
"I already told them and convinced them to let you go," he says with a small smile.
I never imagined Luke would convince my parents to let me do something.
"Well, thanks, you took a weight off my shoulders."
We both laugh and leave the beach. On our way home, we bump into Danna.
I remembered what I talked to Luke about her, so I'm not going to start a war. I prefer us to be on good terms if we're going to be neighbors and avoid conflict.
"Hi, Danna!" I greet her kindly.
"Since when do you greet me so nicely?"
This is going to be difficult.
I'm not going to engage in an argument with her and I'll just ignore her.
"How are you?" She looked me up and down, as usual, but at least she responded.
"Fine."
"Good."
"And you, Luke, how are you?"
"Fine... thanks."
"I'd love to keep talking, but I have to go," she says and leaves.
I think those were the shortest seconds with her but the most normal ones, without any retorts. Ignoring her is the best. Luke looked at me astonished. First, because I tried to be friendly with her, and second because Danna had no choice but to back off and not attack.
"This is an achievement. We should celebrate," Luke says, and we laugh.
When we arrived, there was already movement in the house, so we went to the garden where everyone was and had breakfast.
"Did you go to the beach?" Mary asks.
"Yes, and now we're going to prepare things to go to Pipeline," I said, taking a sip of juice.
"Oh, Pipeline... be careful. That beach is dangerous," Javier says.
I agree, but I want to go, although it's a better idea if an adult comes along.
"Yeah, but don't worry, we'll be fine. If the sea is too rough, we won't surf and just spend the day at the beach," Luke says.
I nodded because I agree with what he says, so our parents won't be worried.
"Vicky, do you remember the documentary we watched about the surfers who went to Pipeline? In the end, they all became professional surfers," my dad comments.
"Yes, that's why I know the place, and Luke saw it too."
"The important thing is that you have a good time and if it's not good for surfing, don't get frustrated," my mother says.
"Yeah, of course. Maybe we'll come back at night, we'll let you know," Luke says, finishing breakfast.
"Excuse me, I'm going to pack things," I say and get up from the table.
Luke did the same, and each of us went to organize our things, but he stored everything very messily.
I was so focused on packing everything when I heard Romi's voice and jumped. She always appears as if she were a ghost or something.
"Are you going to move alone with your love?" she asks.
"Ugh, stop scaring me like that."
She snorts and comes over to me to snoop around.
"I'm not moving anywhere, and he's not my love," I say, annoyed by her joke.
"You wish he was."
"Where are you going then?"
"We're going to Pipeline with Laila, Caleb, Iván, and Zac."
"Can two more people join?" she says and smiles.
According to my suspicions, I think she's talking about the boy, but I'm not sure, so I played dumb.
"And who are those two people?" I asked, glancing at her.
My sister, without a word, gave me the answer with her gaze, and I realized she was talking about Alex.
"Haha, I can't believe you're still with him, it's an achievement."
"He's different from everyone else... Anyway, can we go?" she said with the typical puppy eyes.
"I don't know, I'll ask Luke if two more can join."
"I heard my name, what's up?" he says, appearing at the door of the room.
"Oh, it's just that Romina and her..." I stopped the sentence there because I don't know if to call him her boyfriend or whatever he is to Romina.
"Friend, friend," she adds.
"Sure, they can join to go to Pipeline."
"Oh, of course, they can."
"Wait, did you ask mom and dad if you can go and if he can come?" I ask because I don't even know if they've met him yet.
"Yes, I already introduced them."
I was offended by that response; he never introduced me to him.
"Did you forget about me?"
"But you're going to meet him today."
"Well, yeah, but what if I didn't know him and he kidnapped us?"
"Stop being dramatic and keep packing your stuff," he says and leaves the room to call Alex.
With everything packed, our parents accompanied us to Caleb's house, who has the van to go to Pipeline.
"Please take care of yourselves, because if something happens to you, I'll die," my mother says as she hugged me as if I were going to another planet. Well, it's not unusual for mothers to be like that.
My father also said goodbye, but less dramatically.
"Well, are we going, or are we waiting for someone else?" Zac asks.
"No, let's not wait, we're just missing Alex."
"Oh, yeah, your boyfriend," Laila says.
Romi glares at her.
In the distance, Alex was coming with a bag, and well... a surfboard.
"Hi! I'm Alex, sorry for the delay."
"Oh, yeah, you..." Ivan says, very serious.
That was very strange; Ivan acted strangely. I think he's jealous, but I ignored that and paid attention to Alex.
"Yeah, we all know who you are," I said, squinting at him.
Romi hit my leg so hard it left a bruise.
"I'm Vicky, your... friend's sister. If she's your friend or... I don't know, you'll tell us later."
Alex laughed; I think he took the joke well.
We tied the boards on the roof of the van and left. For now, Ivan is driving, and later he'll take turns with Zac; they're the oldest in the group.
On the way, everyone talked about anything, listened to music, or read a book. As always when I travel by car, I appreciate the landscape; it's something I like.
My sister was sitting next to Alex the whole time, talking and smiling. They both looked happy, but the only one who doesn't seem happy is Ivan, who looks at them through the rearview mirror, half serious and half sad.
I took advantage of Caleb sitting next to me, and since he's Ivan's best friend, I have to ask him.
"Caleb, a question. Do you notice Ivan acting a bit strange?"
"Strange? In what sense?"
"When Alex arrived, Ivan made a comment that seemed jealous to me."
"Ah, yes. Well, it's because...," he pauses and leans closer to me so the others can't hear. "Ivan is very much in love with your sister, since he saw her."
That left me frozen; poor Ivan may have a silent love because I don't think Romi ever noticed him.
"Oh, no..."
"Yeah, but don't say anything."
"No, don't worry."
I wish I could do something, but I'm not going to distance her from Alex for her to notice Ivan. Things have to work out on their own, so there's nothing else to do but wait.
Continuing the trip in the van, I searched for information about Pipeline, and from what I read and saw in pictures, it's one of the most powerful waves on the planet.
After almost an hour of traveling, we finally arrived. We parked under the shade of palm trees a few meters from the beach. Before setting up the camp, we admired the sea, and it's very dangerous. A 5-meter peak was forming on the wave, creating a tube. The wave is so big that when it breaks, the foam reaches the sand where we are.
"Does anyone want to surf? Who's up for it?" Zac asks.
"Better set up camp and see how the experienced ones surf," I comment and go to the van to get the cooler.
While I'm on my way, I see Alex putting on his wetsuit and waxing his board. I can't believe he's going to venture out with those waves.
"Are you going in? Seriously?"
"Yeah, why not?" he says casually.
"Are you crazy? That could kill you."
"I know how to surf, and I know what to do to stay safe."
"What? It's not like you have Superman's kryptonite."
"I don't care, I'm going anyway; I'm not going to miss this opportunity," he says, smiling, and walks away.
I already don't like him.
I ran after him. He can't be so irresponsible; it's not like it's the end of the world, and this would be the last thing you'd want to do.
The guys were all distracted; no one saw Alex running towards the shore.
"He's going to surf!" I shout, agitated, as I ran.
"What!?" Romi shouts.
Everyone looked at him and ran after him.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Luke shouts, putting both hands on his neck.
"We can't stop him; he's very determined," Laila says.
I went with my sister, who was almost crying from nerves, but Ivan was with her too.
We're all on the shore watching Alex enter the water. He's definitely crazy; I don't know how he doesn't understand that wave could kill him. Nor do I know how he surfs, but that doesn't mean he can catch the wave.
"He's an idiot," Caleb says, laughing.
Zac was as amazed as I was.
"I told him not to do it, but it didn't work," I say, still watching Alex closely.
At one point, the foam pushed him back, and he had to paddle again. This time he waited for no waves to come and paddled again.
"If the wave doesn't kill him, exhaustion will," Laila comments.
"He's going to tire out, get a cramp, and drown," I add.
After 5 minutes of nerves, waiting to see what he was going to do, Alex comes out of the water.
My sister ran to him; I thought she was going to hug him, but no, she slapped him and cursed at him. It was clear she was really angry; if I were in her place, I would do the same.
"Haha, oh Romi," Laila laughs.
Alex headed towards us; I guess he's going to apologize for the stupidity he did.
"I'm sorry," he says.
"Really? You made us all nervous, and when I went to tell you not to do it, you completely ignored me."
"Yeah... it's just that being able to surf this wave is a dream for me. But I have to know when to go in and if I'm ready... and above all, respect the sea because it's very dangerous."
"Good that you admitted it, bro," Caleb says, patting him on the back.
"Same here," Zac says.
"Don't talk to me for the rest of the day," Romi says and walks away to walk along the beach.
"You were wrong. Romina had a hard time because of you," Ivan tells him.
"I know. I won't do it again," Alex says and heads to the van.
He seemed like a little kid in the middle of a circle of adults scolding him.
Moral of the story: we all have to accept when we can't face situations like this, where the limitations, in this case, are respecting a dangerous sea.
Everyone was calmer after the situation that happened a few hours ago, and we continued to enjoy the rest of the day at the beach.
We played a soccer game, bathed in the shore of the sea because obviously we weren't going further in.
Laila, Romi, and I sunbathed.
"Photo, photo," Laila says.
The three of us took a picture where the shadows of the palm tree leaves were drawn on our faces.
"It turned out really nice, send it to me," I say. I'm almost always the one asking to send the photos because I never take them.
A few meters away, Luke was having a drink, and I don't know what the others were doing; I just noticed him.
His abs.
He has abs.
AAAAA.
I want to look away, but it's impossible; he looks like a Hollywood actor.
Look at the sea, look at the sea.
"Vicky!" my sister shouts.
"Ugh! What!?" I cover my mouth with both hands because I sounded very angry.
"Alright, calm down, lady," Laila says.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that..."
"Yes, we know you were busy," my sister comments, raising her eyebrows.
I'm going to ignore that and try not to blush, which, to be honest, I can't help.
"So, what happened?" I ask.
"Well," Laila begins. "The other day I was with Luke, and I saw his phone wallpaper... it's the photo I took of you guys that day at the beach," she says excitedly.
So much happiness and excitement overwhelmed me that I almost screamed.
I covered my face with both hands because I'm sure I was a tomato.
"I can't believe it. Well..., I also have that photo as my wallpaper," I said, showing my phone.
My sister screamed with excitement; I think she was blushing too.
Amidst all the screams and giggles, we didn't realize Luke was next to us. We quickly straightened up and looked at him, surprised.
"What?" Laila asks very seriously, something I couldn't manage.
"I came to see what you guys were doing."
"Oh, no... nothing weird," I say, and then Romi bursts out laughing. Laila and I look at her wanting to kill her.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that Caleb fell in the sand and made me laugh," she lied.
"Well, uh, Vicky," he says. This sounds like a proposal and nervousness.
Luke nervous?
"Yes?"
"I came to ask if you wanted to go for a walk with me."
I don't know what response I processed; I just said, "Yes," quickly and got up from the sand.
We walked a few meters; the sunset was reflected in the water, and the birds flew in a line to go to sleep.
Everything is so beautiful.
And the person next to you too.
Without a doubt.
Nobody had spoken until I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"What a beautiful day."
He smiled at me.
"And this moment too," he said, looking at what little was left of the sun.
I looked at the sand and took advantage of my hair covering my face to smile.
"Why did you invite me for a walk?"
He thought about the answer for a few seconds and replied, "Because I like watching sunsets with you." We smiled at each other. Then he put his arm around my shoulders, and we kept walking.
If I could save this moment as if it were a cassette tape of music, I would, except it would be a tape of the best moments of my life.
It wasn't just a walk like the ones we take to go to school or the beach; this was our walk on the beach.
And the most beautiful one.