A Beach Body

“No. I’ll be fine, mom. I’ve flown alone before.” I tried to reassure my mother, who thought me incapable of doing anything ‘grown-up’ and mature. She was worried I’d miss the plane, or get lost, or board the wrong plane.

“I know that Angela.” She said, sounding tired. “It’s just that…”

“Nothing will go wrong, mother. I’ve been to Aunt Poppy’s before. Alone, too. Remember that time when I was thirteen? If I did it once, I can do it now. Besides, there aren’t any stops between here and Lesbrook, I’ll be fine.” I said. Whoever told me that if I started packing a week before the trip, I wouldn’t panic before the trip lied to me. I’d taken it upon myself to pack five days before the trip, yet here I was; two hours before my flight and I still hadn’t finished packing.

“Angie, you’re packing for a few weeks; two months at most. You can’t carry your entire apartment with you.” My mother said. I suppose she could feel my panic mounting. “You’ll be fine.” I stood up straighter and laughed. Now she was the one telling me how fine I would be. Oh, how the tables had turned!

Two hours, two suitcases and a delayed plane later; I found myself at the airport. I was bored, so I called my… friend. She wasn’t my friend; she was the only person I talked to except my mother. To say I have no social life would be an understatement; I have no social life. What does social life mean?

“So, when’s the plane coming?” Lauren asked. I thought she sounded bored, but I could be wrong. And I couldn’t blame her; I’m a boring human being.

“In an hour now,” I said. “You know, this might be the big getaway I need and by the end of it; I’d have found myself.”

“You’re twenty-three, Angie. Most people would have found themselves by now.” Lauren was twenty-two and had her life all planned out. She knew exactly who she was and where she was headed.

“Most people, yes, I’m part of the ’some’ people,” I said bitterly. I didn’t feel like talking to her anymore. Not that I ever had, but now I was sure I did not. I wished the plane would come and take me to some unknown island where I’d be the only inhabitant and then I’d live happily ever after with the chimpanzees. Lauren must have felt the same way about talking to me, because she said she had something to do and then hung up on me. Oh well, I sighed and turned to investigating my nails. Odd how I only ever bit them when I was nervous.

My plane did arrive a bit later and took me away. Except it took me to my aunt Poppy’s city and there, I was supposed to be all grown-up and take care of her.

She’d recently gone through surgery and needed someone there to help her during recovery. I’d jumped at the chance because she lived close to the beach and I wanted a change of scenery. Also, she was very chill about everything. When the plane landed; I realised I did not know who was picking me up from the airport. That meant I could get kidnapped.

I called Aunt Poppy, and she told me her neighbour had been nice enough to volunteer. When I saw him, he was holding up a sign with my name on it; so I knew it was him. He looked to be around his mid-twenties, and he looked put together. Meanwhile, I looked like I’d woken up a few minutes back, which I had. I looked homeless.

“Hi. I’m Miles.” He put out his hand, so I shook it and nodded.

“I’m Angela. Thank you for coming here to get me.” I said pleasantly. “How’s my Aunt been?”

“She’s fine.” He said, grabbed my bags and shoved them into the back of his car. Then he got into the car, started it and thought it proper to continue his explanation of how my aunt was doing. “The surgery went well, she’ll be on her feet in no time.” Aunt Poppy told me she needed me for over a month. That was more than ‘no time’.

But I nodded anyway and refrained from saying a month isn’t ‘no time’. I instead sparked up some small talk. “How long have you lived here?”

He looked at me for a second, shook his head, and chuckled. What? “I was born here, Angie. You don’t remember me, your aunt was right.” He mumbled the last part. But I was already self-conscious.

“What do you mean; ‘your aunt was right’?” I asked.

“Oh, you know, she said I should introduce myself and see how you reacted. Something about you having a terrible memory.” He chuckled some more. “She said you’d have forgotten me.”

I racked my mind for any Miles’s I knew. None came up.

“You and your sister used to play with me when you came visiting when you were about five.” Well, that explained it. This was eighteen years later.

“Oh.” Also, the mention of my sister saddened me. But he didn’t need to know that, so I went on. “I’m sorry but…” He was now full-on laughing, and I remembered why exactly I didn’t have friends; I don’t understand people. At first, I thought I offended him; but now, I wasn’t so sure.

“It’s okay. It happens. I suppose I have a very forgettable face.” He went on laughing. I looked at him and decided he didn’t have a forgettable face. He was good looking, the person you see once and would recognise in another country even without talking to him. He had a nice jawline and nice cheekbones too; I noticed. And his eyebrows were different, his eyes were also different colours. One of his eyebrows was an arch, and the other was… normal. One of his eyes was brown and the other blue. No, he wasn’t forgettable.

“Oh,” I said. “How much further is it?”

“A few more kilometres.” I gave a curt nod. “Are you planning on tanning much? Showing off your ‘summer body’ or whatever it’s called?”

I laughed. Tanning wasn’t for me. If I tanned, no one would notice, and I didn’t need it. I was already brown-skinned. “I don’t have a ‘summer body’ to show off. I don’t understand what I plan on doing here, except taking care of my aunt.” And eat. But he didn’t need to know that.

The rest of the journey was silent and when he dropped me off, I apologised for not remembering him. He said it was fine. And I realised I still did not understand who he was.