Page 6 of Beyond the Blues
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CHAPTER 3
and picked the first one both my mum and dad could agree on, thank the Lord I wasn’t a boy otherwise my name would’ve been Ophelio.” I chuckle, picking at the olives in front of me, avoiding the brown ones and scavenging for the bright green ones in the bowl.
“You know I hate olives.”
“You hate olives? I’m afraid Nora, you’re going to have to sit over there” I point to the bin almost overflowing with napkins.
“Away from me because we can’t be friends anymore.” We laugh in unison. Nora stands up, sighing, jokingly about to walk away. I grab her wrist and pull her back to me. Nora holds her hand out to me.
“Care to join me for a beach walk?” I put my hand into hers and walk towards the beach, the sky getting darker with each step. The beach is sandy, laced with volcanic rocks throughout, blue and white striped umbrellas shoved into the ground. We walk over to a sunbed and sit on the same one, our legs touching.
“Can I ask you something?” Nora asks. I nod.
“Do you like women?” I nod again. The moment I realised I liked women is still fresh in my memory. I saw two of my female friends kiss in front of me, and then it hit me. I didn’t need to like men, andthere was a reason it made me so uncomfortable to be intimate with men. Then after that, I never looked back. Women are a lot more enjoyable to be with. I mean, I’ve not really dated a woman, sure I’ve had the occasional fling, but nothing really impactful to me.
“You?”
“You can’t tell by this haircut?” Nora jokes.
“It’d be wrong for me to assume.” I defensively put my hands up.
“Just like when people assume I’m straight because of my ‘feminine’ persona” I add.
“Fair enough, very true.” Nora responds.
We sit in a comfortable silence, watching the stars fill the night sky, the waves filling the beach with its vibrations. Nora stands up and pulls another sun bed next to the one I’m on. We lay back on our sun beds,our legs still grazing each other.
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BEYOND THE BLUES
“You can put your legs on me if it’s comfier?” Nora offers. I place my legs over her thighs, and she places her hands on top.
I look at the stars, the sky clearer than in England, and a lot more beautiful. “There’s Mars.” Nora points up to what looks like a star, but on closer
inspection has a red aura to it.
“Do you know a lot about the sky map?”
“No, I just always look for the reddish looking one and know it is Mars. The rest are just stars with a secret I have no clue about,” Nora says, turning her focus onto me. The moonlight faintly gives me a glimpse of her face. Who’d of thought my first day on holiday and I bump into the girl I always had an underlying crush on at university? Nora digs her hand in her shorts, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, placing one in her mouth and offering me one, which I accept. Nora sits up, leaning over to me, lighting my cigarette for me before lighting her own.
“Can I ask another question? If it’s not too intruding?” Nora asks. “What is this? Twenty-one questions?” “If you wish.”
“No, no, it’s fine, just ask me.”
“How long ago did Coco pass?” The question hits me like a ton of bricks, unexpected. I sit up on my sunbed, crossing my legs, trying to find the words to the simple yet heartbreaking question.
“She passed six months ago in February.” And I still remember the moment so vividly, finding out my best friend died. The shock of it all made my heart heavy, and it felt like the world stopped for me, but everyone else just kept living the same. It almost felt surreal, like she’d walk in through my bedroom door and tell me it was all just one big joke. Instead, it was my mum walking through the door, tears streaming down her face, unable to form words. I feel my eyes swell up, so I stand up off the sunbed, brushing the sand off my dress.
“Do you mind if we go back to the hotel?”
“Oh Ophelia, I’m sorry if I intruded too much. I didn’t mean to upset you.” “No, no, you haven’t upset me.” Tears are still in my eyes.
“I just woke up at 4am, I’m exhausted.”I lie.Nora nods, a silent
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