Archive | June 2014

CeCe and a Shore Thing

Multi-colored pendant with accents of blue, green, and ivory



CeCe wished she knew how to swim.  Then maybe she could join in on all the revelry down by the water.  Instead, the prone-to-sarcasm teenager stayed up by the blankets and umbrellas, listening to her friends’ parents drone on and on about irrelevant topics: “Did you hear that so and so got a new car?” , “I’m thinking of dying my hair blue tomorrow.”, “I don’t believe that cats really have nine lives.”

She grabbed the nearest beach towel and plopped back down on the tattered blanket to tune out the nonsense.  Day one of her week-long vacation hadn’t turned out nearly as interesting as she’d hoped.  Was it too much to ask to just lay on the beach, read a book on the balcony, and play some video games?  Why were her friends insistent on visiting every single shop in this rundown beach town?  If you’ve seen one store filled with broken shells, boat replicas, and corked bottles you’ve seen them all.

“CeCe, you’re not seriously just going to lay there all afternoon are you?”

“I am,” her muffled response.

“Get up.” Monica pulled off the beach towel and tossed it aside.  “Come on.  You don’t have to actually get in the water, you big baby.”

The bad part about having friends who know you so well is that they know you so well.  CeCe glared at her best friend and attempted her most serious of scowls.

“Not working,” Monica retorted with a wave of hand.  “Let’s go.”

“Fine,” CeCe relented.  She rested on her forearms and sighed.  “What?  Am I not moving fast enough for you?”

Monica raised an eyebrow.

“I hate you sometimes.” CeCe brushed the sand off her body, taking a little longer than normal to do so.

“No, you don’t.  You may not like me but I can deal with that.”

CeCe laughed and gave a half-sincere smile.  “Better?”

“Yes.  Okay,” Monica yelled to the girls kicking water at one another down by the shore.  “I’m coming!”  Her I-mean-it glare only made CeCe laugh more.  “Two minutes, Cecelia.”

As her friends played, the shrieks of laughter  extinguished some of CeCe’s annoyance.  She listened to the waves crash against the shore, the seagulls call from above, and children giggle behind her.  She wrung her hands in an attempt to calm her fears, and took a few deep breaths.

“OMG, I saw the funniest video about a dog playing the piano yesterday…”

“Wait for me,” she called. CeCe tossed her hands in the air and ran towards a new adventure.