Summer Heat

The sun warms my skin as I soak up the sounds of the gulls and crashing waves, the smells of sunscreen and salt, and the enrapturing words of Angela Carter. I feel the grains of sand between my fingers and the pages, and then I notice the pain in my elbows and shoulders - time to turn over, I guess. I slip the bookmark back in place and rest the book down on the towel next to my drink. I push up off my elbows until I’m on my hands and knees and can swing around onto my butt. Someone shouts in the distance, and I look up just in time to see the football fly straight into my drink. It explodes all over me and my book and I scream involuntarily. A guy is running toward me looking guilty as hell.

“Shit, I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” 

I look up at him, squinting with the juice in my eye. “I’m fine,” I wipe off my face. “My book and my drink on the other hand aren’t looking so good.”

He bends down to wipe the book off on my towel. “I’m so sorry, honestly. I’m a terrible shot.”

“Oh, so this is all your fault then?” I say.

He smirks. “Guilty.”

“Well, I’d say you owe me about $25 then, buddy.”

His face drops. “Oh shit, um ok. I don’t have any cash though.”

“That sounds about right.”

“The juice bar is just up the road though, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well how about I make you a deal. You come with me to replace your juice.” 

I laugh and raise an eyebrow. 

“Hold on, let me finish.” He says. “We go get you a juice so I can pay on card, and then I can get enough cash out for you to buy two books, just in case another jerk like me comes along.”

“Well, that sounds like quite a deal, but it also kind of sounds like you did this all on purpose to get me to go get a drink with you.”

He feigns shock, “I would never!” and offers a cheeky smile and a wink. “But no, seriously, I feel really bad and I just want to make it up to you.”

“Ok then, I’ll take your deal.”

“Excellent choice.” He stands back up and offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me up. He grabs my towel and throws it over his shoulder while I grab my bag and gather the rest of my things. He smiles a huge cheesy grin and we head back toward main street.

“So, what’s your name?” He asks.

“Sydney. What’s yours?”

“Well Sydney it is lovely to meet you. My name is Josh.”

“Do you always speak so formally, Josh?”

“Ha! Nah that only really happens when I’m nervous.”

“And what’s there to be nervous about in getting me a drink?”

“Well, you're insanely pretty and seem really nice. Plus, you were reading at the beach, so you’re obviously smarter than me.” 

I can’t help but blush and I let out an awkwardly loud laugh.

“What? It’s true.” He smiles

“You’re a bit of a charmer, hey Josh.”

“I just call it like I see it, and what I’m seeing is pretty amazing.”

“Alright, settle down Romeo. You’re just replacing my drink.”

“And your book.”

“Oh yeah, can’t forget about that.”

“By the way, what were you reading?”

By this point we’ve reached the juice bar and the woman at the counter is standing there looking at me, waiting for us to hurry up and order. I look back at Josh and it’s like he has no idea. I turn back to her and order the super mango blast.

“Actually,” he cuts in, “that sounds pretty good. Can you get us two of those please?”

She puts it through the till and he swipes his card. 

He turns back to me. “So yeah, what were you reading?”

“It’s called The Passion of New Eve”

“Ooh sounds sexy.” He flashes his eyebrows up and down.

“Not really.” I laugh. “Well maybe in some parts, but that’s not how I would describe the story at all.”

“How would you describe it?”

“I think I’d have to use spoilers to explain it - there’s nothing else really like it.”

“Well now you’ve got me intrigued. And to be honest, I kind of like spoilers. I wanna know what’s going to happen right from the start.”

“Oh, you’re one of those are you?”

“One of what?”

“A control freak. You have to know so you can decide which characters to invest in emotionally.”

“Wow, ok Dr. Freud. Nah, but honestly I think I enjoy knowing spoilers because, one, it lets me see how they work up to the key moments better, and two, I won’t give up on it early if I know how interesting it gets.”

“Don’t you think that’s kind of the same thing?”
            “Stop messing with my head girl. You get this deep on all your first dates?”

“Woah now, who said this was a date?”

The woman calls out our drinks number and he turns around, effectively dodging the comment. He grabs both drinks and walks over to a table. 

“Tell me about the story already.”

We somehow talk for hours, and I don’t notice how much time has passed until the sky turns orange with the sunset.

“Oh shit, what’s the time?”

He pulls his phone out. “Nearly six.”

“I have to go, sorry. I’m supposed to be having dinner with my sister in like half an hour.”

“Can I come?”

“Oh my God, no.” I laugh. “She would kill me if I brought a guy along to our girls’ night.”

“Hey, I can be one of the girls. I love a good pamper sesh.”

“Ha! I’m sure you do”

“Ok but seriously, it’s been incredible meeting you and I’d be kicking myself later if I didn’t at least ask for your number.”

“Well, I guess you’ll need it if you’re going to transfer me for the books, right?”

“Exactly! You have to let me fulfil the rest of our deal.”

I grab his phone off him and put my number in. We say our goodbyes and I run off to my car.

At dinner, Elise won’t stop bugging me about boys, so I tell her about Josh.

“Oh my god, that’s so romantic!” She squeals with excitement.

“Hardly.”

“It’s the perfect meet-cute you can tell your grandkids about.”

“Woah, calm down. We’ve only hung out once.”

“Once so far. Girl, tell me when he proposes.” She giggles. 

“Shut up.”

She sips her wine and gives me those eyes that say just you wait. 

After she leaves and I’m climbing into bed, I notice I’ve missed a text from Josh. I send something cute back and he replies straight away. We accidentally start a conversation with no end and then suddenly it’s 2 am and I have to get up for work in four hours. I almost can’t bring myself to bring to end it, but my eyes are already blinking slow, begging me to close them for just a moment. On the verge of passing out, I wish him goodnight. 

I’m exhausted by the time I get to work, but still giddy after receiving his good morning text. Thankfully, I have my own office so no one can see how much time I’m spending on my phone and how stupidly I’m grinning. He asks me over for dinner and I’m so excited that even when there’s a pause in our texting, I can’t concentrate on my work at all. 

When he opens the door of his flat, a rush of smells come out with him. Whatever he’s been cooking smells incredible. It’s like I step into a new world when I step through his door and all of a sudden, the days blur together into a wash of love and laughter, of morning cuddles and calling off work, and of hours upon hours spent just the two of us. It takes less than a week for him to become my whole world, and about a month for me to finish moving my stuff in. 

Living together changes things though; I have nothing left for myself. We already do everything together, so when he tries to convince me to quit my job and become a writer so I can work from home with him, I feel my grasp on the outside world slipping.

“I like my job.” I say. “Plus, it’s nice to have an excuse to leave the apartment every once in a while.”

“Is this because we don’t go out on that many dates? I can take you out more if you want.”

“It’s not about that. Work forces me to interact with more people, which I think I need.”

“Am I not enough for you?”

“As a partner, absolutely. But I think it’s healthy for people to have friendships and people outside of a relationship.”

“So, this is toxic then? Fucking great.”

“Josh what the hell has gotten into you? I’m not saying this is toxic, just that it can be a little isolating only seeing one person all the time.”

“Oh ok, I’m smothering you. I’ll just leave then.” He grabs the car keys off the bench and starts walking out the door.

“Babe, stop.” I grab his shoulder, but he shrugs me off and walks out, slamming the door behind him. I’m stuck in shock.

When he gets back, he’s drunk, and I have my suitcase packed. When he sees it, he stops dead in his tracks.

“You’re leaving me?”

“I’m not breaking up with you Josh, but I think I should move out. I’m going to stay with my sister for a bit so we can take a step back.”

“What do you mean take a step back?”

“I mean we can still hang out and see each other, but I’ll get a little bit of time and space for myself.”

He’s standing there silent with disbelief, until the anger morphs his face into something I’ve never seen before. He grabs the fruit bowl from the bench and throws it against the wall. 

“Are you fucking kidding me? After everything we’ve been through. After everything I’ve done for you.”

He starts toward me, so I drop my bag and run for the bedroom, locking the door behind me. He bangs at it furiously and screams that he’s going to kill me if I leave. I realise my phone is out with my bag. I look out the window behind the bed, already knowing how high up we are. There’s the roof of the house next door, but it’s pretty far away and I doubt I’d be able to make it without a running start. Josh is still banging at the door and I’m in a panic. I grab the armchair from the corner of the room and drag it in front of the door. I sit on the bed prepared to wait him out, but then he goes quiet. I hear him walk off and pace around the house opening and closing cupboards. I start searching for a weapon and end up in the bathroom. I notice the small window above the bath and start winding it out. I hear Josh back at the door muttering to himself and then I smell the chemicals. By the time I get over there, the couch is already on fire. I run back to the bathroom and poke my head out the window as much as I can. There’s a balcony below that I might be able to get to. Josh is now ramming his body against the door and the lock looks like it’s about to bust. I wind the window back in and grab a towel to punch through it. I push out as much of the glass as I can and lay my towel over the sill. I Squeeze through the window feet-first and see Josh burst through the door just before I let myself drop. I pray that I land on the balcony and not the ground. I make it, but not without shattering my ankle. I don’t know if they heard the scream or saw me fall, but the neighbours are at the door in seconds with 000 already on the phone.