FRAMES OF SUMMER
I’ll never forget my first summer on that beach.
It was the summer I fell in love.
By all standards, it was just another boring outing with my boring family ultimately doomed to become another argument topic at the dinner table. Thinking back on it, the way it all came together could be called destiny.
It was really just another Saturday evening for me. I’d just finished another successful round of LoL and was just about to load Fakku! for my daily doujin dose when my Mom stormed into my room, unannounced as usual. She said that on Monday the family would take a week-long vacation to my uncle’s newly opened beach-side hotel. I said I didn’t want to go as I looked at my prominent one-pack belly; got a 10 minute earful as a reward. Long-story short, my authority and wishes to conceal myself during summer break were utterly ignored.
The drive there was pleasant enough, and the hotel was actually very welcoming. For whatever the reason, I was allowed a room for myself, probably not to slow the family down with my habit of fapping during the morning shower. I secretly brought my laptop with me and spent the first evening ganking the hell out of pitiful noobs. I blurbed to my team where I was and our leader asked me to take some pictures of the hotel and surrounding areas to help him with his photography project; put-off for yet another evening it would seem. I agreed after he threatened to kick me out of the troupe.
That may have well been the moment my life changed.
I decided to go out early, eager to avoid the crowds of judging eyes and stares. I took a few shots of whatever seemed interesting, saving the peer I had seen when we arrived for last. One could see an oil tanker in the distance; made for a few decent pictures. I sat on the edge, eager to warf down a bag of chips I’d carried around all morning.
“Hi.”
My bag of chips fell into the tide. I almost didn’t want to turn around and meet the owner of such a delicate voice.
I’d never seen a more beautiful woman. Hazel hair falling down to her shoulders, a yellow bikini hidden under a blazer and biker shorts, long legs showing off her creamy, slightly tanned skin. The whole scene looked like something out of a movie. I was spellbound.
“Hey, you’ve been taking pictures of the place right? Show †˜em to me.”
She sat next to me and my heart almost stopped. I obediently handed her my camera and swallowed hard as she began making compliments about my photography skills.
“I’m Emma by the way. What’s your name?”
“Uhh…”
She laughed a little. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Uhh.”
It was like I was in a waking dream. Miss Emma decided she wanted to hang out with me for the rest of the day. We went swimming, built sand castles, had lunch together and tried just about every form of entertainment the hotel had to offer its patrons. I was hopelessly self-conscious the whole time. That night at dinner was probably the first time I had just a salad. She invited me to accompany her the next day as well. I lay in bed considering what had happened and what was going to happen. Women avoid me. Period. All of them except for Mom. I avoid them as well. I know what I look like and that’s that. Here’s a girl, a beautiful girl who just gave me the best day of my life and wants to be with me tomorrow as well. How did this happen? I had no clue.
I didn’t want to think too much about it, lest the magic would wear off.
Over the next few days I got to know Emma pretty well. I was surprised to find we shared many overlapping interests. Sunday was approaching fast and I could do nothing to slow down the passage of time, which for once in my life, seemed to advance far too quickly. All the pictures we’d taken together seemed to miss catching the true emotions I experienced with her.
I knew that this was coming to an end. I had to make it last, or at the very least, make sure I didn’t have any lingering regrets in case I could never see her again. I steeled myself and decided to confess. I marked the date on my phone, heck I even planned out the whole damn thing. The way it went was completely different than what I had envisioned.
Before I even had the chance to start speaking, she hugged me and pressed her lips to mine. She tasted like the very sunshine; she smelled as angels should smell. Instinct took over and I knew just how to kiss back, how to hold her against me, how to mold her body to mine.
“I’m leaving tomorrow too. I want to spend the night with you,” she whispered to my ear.
Inexperience and nervousness almost turned the entire evening into a complete disaster. I had to call upon every ounce of knowledge and imagination I could muster to bring myself to perform at least slightly properly. She guided me with words filled with care and affection. As we lay together, basking in the warm aftermath, my mind couldn’t hold back the question that had plagued me all week.
“Why me? A beauty such as you could have any man she wanted. So wh-”
She placed a finger on my lips.
“I’ve had 3 boyfriends and been with only one other man. Most of them have been more worried about how they look than I usually am. They were empty, with no love of anything and no knowledge to share.
You however, have taught me things that I didn’t know. I’ve felt challenged, inspired and comforted. You can make me laugh, what more could a girl want?”
She straddled me again and I barely heard what she said with my heart beating so loudly it clogged my hearing.
“And I’m about to make love again to the best man in the world.”
When I woke up the next morning she was already gone. I asked if anyone in the front desk had seen her or her party. Not too surprising, no one had. For a moment I thought it had all been a dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I smiled to myself and headed back to my room to pack.
For days after returning home, all I could think about was how she’d called me the “best man in the world”. I framed a picture we took together and put it next to my monitor. I suddenly didn’t like how I looked next to her. That day I played a little less and went for a walk around the block. I started doing that often. Walking turned to jogging and my appearance started to change. I felt better, stronger. I started reading more; sociology, psychology, among others. It actually made me a better gamer than I had been.
Three years have passed since that summer vacation. I visited the hotel a few more times, in hopes of somehow finding her there, waiting for me. Life, it would seem, was only generous to me once. Not a day has gone by that I don’t kick myself for not getting her contact information. I never moved the picture from where I first set it. The boy who had his heart stolen in that frame is long gone. A better man than he is who I am now.
I often wonder where she is, if she’s happy. I smile when I look at our picture.
Ironic, it would seem to be, that on the first day of summer break while waiting for a match to load, I opened the door to my apartment to tell off whoever had been knocking so hard.
“Uhh…”
“You’re a hard man to find, Mr. Uhh.”
I think our team lost that round. I couldn’t have cared less.
