Natwerk Designs

More of my story, opinions? goes with my previous question?

Elliot wasn't someone I was waiting for. He wasn’t someone I thought I needed. And most of all Elliot’s arrival into my life was improvised. I don’t remember little things about our friendship like: the first time I ever saw Elliot, the first time I looked at his gorgeous hazel eyes, or the first time I heard his laugh. But I do remember the day we met and how accidental our friendship came to be. My favorite memories stem from the summer vacations I shared with my family at our beach house. The little shack we own sits directly on the Atlantic Ocean. And while our house is tiny and old, the view we have is priceless and is one of the only reasons we still own the run down place. In the summers my whole family would travel out to the South Carolina shore. Mom would stuff our minivan full of suitcases and more food than necessary for the six hour drive to our beach house. We always left at the crack of dawn so we could get there just as the sun reached the highest point of the day. We spent our summers in bathing suits and sand in our hair. It was magical. This summer changed everything. My three siblings and I picked our favorite seats of our van and fall asleep before we were out of Tennessee. I have no recollection of my parents waking us up when we were getting close to our beach house. There was an automatic trigger, the salty ocean air hitting our noses, which always woke us up. It’s something that we have all grown to not notice. Before my dad could stop our van completely, my siblings and I were racing down to the beach. Items of clothing being stripped off with every running step we took, until we were down to our bathing suits. The suits we wore under our clothes every year. My older twin brother and sister, Anders and Stella, always reached the beach first. They are highly competitive, especially with one another. They sloshed through the water and glided in belly down. My younger brother, Liam, and I reached the shore a few paces behind the twins. I gently eased into the ocean and floated around daintily. As I crawled out of the water I noticed a boy sitting on the beach creating a design out of seashells. There was sand between his toes and his hair was a matted mess. But something about him caused me to pause and observe. The seashells were forming, what looked like, a rather complicated maze. An idea of that manner would never cross my mind. I slowed down my pace so I could get a closer look. Yes, he was definitely making a maze out of seashells. “Hey, why are you making a maze?” I ask curiously. “Is this how you always introduce yourself, by criticizing someone’s creative work?” he responds arrogantly. Not knowing what to say, I turn around, mutter a- hole under my breath, and head towards home. “Wait, don’t leave yet. My name’s Elliot.” I turn back around, and pause before I say something hasty. Now that I’m actually looking at him, Elliot is quite an attractive guy. Even with his matted hair, full of sand, and his somewhat awkward and lanky stature. “I should get home; my parents get worried when I’m in the ocean too long.” “Well, do you have time to tell me your name? Just in case we ever run into each other again, I’ll be able to say hello.” I shrug my shoulders and smile slyly as I continue on home. I turn around when I’m about twenty paces away from Elliot. “I guess you’ll just have to say hello anyway.” I break into an easy jog and don’t stop until I reach our front door. I tumble into our tiny mud room and slip my squeaky flip flops off. I’m walking into our bright kitchen when I hear a light tap at the door. I skip back to the door and throw it open. There Elliot stands with a huge grin on his face. He does an awkward waving motion and stares into my eyes, waiting for me to say something. Maybe this was the moment I noticed his gorgeous eyes. “Can I help you?” I say trying to sound annoyed. But I am actually forcing my smile away. No one has ever chased after me when I wouldn’t tell them my name. It’s probably good no one has though, that could be creepy. “Right, okay.” He pauses, and takes a deep breath before sputtering out, “My name is Elliot, and I live in the cute little shack 50 steps away from your cute beach house. Since we’re neighbors, it would make sense that you tell me your name as well, right?” I laugh and smile, “Well, that does make perfect sense. I’m Analeigh. I live in a cute beach house 50 steps, apparently, away from your cute little shack. It’s nice to meet you.” He smiles wide, “it’s very nice to meet you as well, sea Analeigh.” “Right, well that’s a new one. Will you answer my question now? What was up with the seashell maze? Not because it was weird but I just would never think to make something like that out of seashells.” An extremely long pause followed my question. Pauses’ like that always make me nervous. There’s still silence after 30 seconds. Crap! Why do I ask such stupid questions?

Public Comments

1. Could use a bit more structure and description....