The Worst Summer Fling

I looked at myself in the mirror. I had a white shirt and a pair of sky-blue shorts till the knees on.
I was in my room and I could see from my window it was getting dark.

On the radio there was a song called “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” by Artic Monkeys playing on half loud volume.

My dark-blond curls were carefully placed so they were the perfect amount of messy. I smiled at the picture in the mirror, I looked good.

Suddenly, the door of my room got wide open and I twitched, because it was my brother that had entered abruptly.

“Did you eat the brownie I left in the fridge?” he asked in a irritated tone, but then froze as he saw me and looked up and down. “You’re going somewhere?”

I stayed silent for a short moment. “Obviously, it was you who ate it. Probably in your sleep” I replied and ignored his gaze.

“Whatever, could happen to anyone.” he said rolling his eyes. “Where are you going?”

I clicked my tongue before replying.
“Beach party”

“A beach party?!” his eyes widened in surprise. “I’m going with you.” he stated, looking at me as if there was no way to change his mind.

“Oh, no!” I replied quickly. “I do not need you there, Thor”

“Oh, please!” he insisted. “Have you ever even been to a party?”

I remained silent. I hadn’t.

“I am going with you! You need your big brother to look after you!” He insisted again, approaching to me.

“Fine!” I said, giving up. “I’m gonna ask him”
I turned around to search my phone.

“Him?”

My head turned back to him.
“Mobius. The surfer.” I told him. “He’s the one throwing the party. It’s his birthday”

Thor frowned his eyebrows. “I don’t know him.”

“Whatever. I’m gonna text him now”

I took the little post-it from my pocket and wrote the numbers on my phone. I thought for a second, then started typing.

im coming 2night, thanks for inviting me.
can my brother come too?

this is loki btw. the guy from the store

I re-read the message and pressed on send. I waited a few seconds and my phone made a noise. It was his reply.

sure! the bigger crowd the better ;-)

My eyes fell on the little emoticon on the end of the sentence. I grinned, because it kind of looked like him.

“So?” Thor asked. “What did you get him?”

My head went up again. “What do you mean?”

He looked at me, confused “It’s his birthday, right? What did you get him?”

My eyes were wide opened now. “Uh…” I frowned.

“Loki!”

“I don’t even really know him! I don’t think he’s expecting a birthday gift from me… right?”

Thor rolled his eyes, but then his expression became serious.
“Don’t worry, I got you, bro”

He left my room and then came back a few minutes later, with something in his hand.

“Dad gave it to me” he said, showing it to me. Then, he moved closer and lowered his voice. “He doesn’t know I have another exact same watch, so I didn’t tell him anything when he gave this to me for my birthday”

The thing he held in his hand was an athletic Casio watch in colour silver.

My eyebrows frowned and then I moved my eyes to him. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Oh my God, you’re stupid” he said, exasperated. “It’s for the guy.”

“So I can just give this to Mobius?” I asked, almost not buying it.

He clicked his tongue but then he nodded. “Yes, yes. It’s your first party, you gotta make a good first impression, Loke!”

“Fine! Thank you, I guess…” I said before carefully taking the watch and looking at it.

It was perfect. Perfect for Mobius, because if there was something I did know about him is that he was an Athlete. I didn’t know much about water sports, but he could use this while riding the waves. I would never admit it out loud, but I was infinitely thankful with my brother.

“So, what do you say we go party now?”

***

The little artificial lights were hanging over the sand and between the rocks. There was loud music and even so you could hear the young voices laughing and chatting.

I noticed the smoke too, not only from the barbecue but also from the cigarettes.

Also, Mobius did not lie, he really meant it when he said ‘the bigger crowd, the better’ because there were about one hundred people. It was hard to imagine that all those were people that the surfer actually knew and was friends with.

But again, he was a typical, charismatic American guy. And I was invited to his birthday party.

I saw Thor moving his head to the music as we approached. His smile was growing bigger.

“This looks lovely” said Jane to him.

Yes, Jane was here too. Thor insisted, again, and well, he did give me a Casio watch just like that, so I could hardly say no.
Besides, I liked her.

“It does” Thor replied, looking at her and I almost rolled my eyes as I saw his twinkling gaze.
Then he turned around, facing me and looked me right in the eye.
“Okay, now you gotta listen, Loki.
First rule; don’t drink from anything that a stranger offers you. Second; don’t accept drugs from a weirdo, only from the trustworthy ones. You gotta be sure it’s good stuff.
Third; If you wanna talk to a chick, do it with confidence, alright bro?”

I sighed but secretly noted everything down in my mind. “I’m not ten, Thor”

He smiled at me like I was his little baby brother. “Have fun, Loke”

I looked back at him and Jane and replied with a mischievous tone; “You two don’t have too much fun”
Jane blushed and Thor shook his head playfully.

As if was about to turn around and go, my brother stopped me.
“Wait!” he said, and rushed to me. He placed his hands on my chest and unbuttoned the first two buttons of my shirt.
“Now you’re ready”
I lift up an eyebrow, but I couldn’t help but give him a little smile. Thor ran back to Jane and I saw them walking away.

I walked into the crowd and saw some people smoking, others were dancing and the least were on their phones.

But in the crowd I saw some persons gathered in one spot, all repeating the same name;

Mo-bius! Mo-bius! Mo-bius!

And when the crowd opened, I saw everyone surrounding the birthday-boy, Mobius.
His knees were bent and his tanned chest was facing the night sky, balancing on his feet while walking under the pole two other persons were holding.

There was a loud applause and cheering up as Mobius passed the limbo and everyone poured the liquid they had in their red cups on each other as a celebration.

I stood still, without knowing what to do since the only one I knew there was Mobius.

“Hey there” said suddenly someone beside me. “You don’t wanna hang out with the limbo-boys?” she asked.

When I turned my head I found a brunette girl with big green eyes looking at me. She was about one inch shorter than me and had low-waist shorts and a brown bikini-top on. Her eyes were mesmerizingly dark and seductive.

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused because I didn’t know her.

She smiled playfully and touched my arm. “I’ve never seen you before, have I?”

I got shortly paralyzed by her touch but then looked at her again. Her finger was curling around her voluminous hair. “I am very sorry, but I think not”

She bit her lip. “British. I love an European man” she told me with her eyes looking up to me and started giggling softly.

I didn’t know what to answer, so I just looked around nervously. Her eyes were making me nervous, too.

“Buddy!” I heard suddenly. It was, of course, again that loose and now kinda drunk voice I had heard for the third time. Mobius. Of course it was him, he was the birthday boy, after all.
“I see you’ve met Belly”

“Don’t call me that!” she told him annoyed, but then her gaze turned soft as she looked at me.
“I’m Isabelle” she said softly.

I lifted my eyebrows and looked at Mobius, but this time he wasn’t alone.
His arm was wrapped around the shoulders of a girl. She had long, blond hair and her eyes were of a sky-like blue. She was holding a beer in her hand.

“You’re Smoky, right?” asked the blonde girl with the most obvious American accent I’ve ever heard.

“No, babe! It’s ’Loki’” Mobius corrected quickly.
Then, he looked at me, still with his arm warped around her shoulders.
“Loki, this is Jenny”

I looked at them both and smiled, then stretching my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jenny”

She scrunched her nose, smiling.
“British” she moved her eyes to the brunette girl, giggling. “I think you’ll have a lot of fun with Isabelle”

I looked at my handshake that had not been corresponded, but then the girl called Isabelle pulled my arm and started dancing with me.

In that moment, my eyes automatically fell on Mobius.
He first looked at me too, giving me a drunk smile and cheering up. Then he took the blonde girl by the hand and started dancing with her, too.

And, it was one of those moments where you don’t fully understand what’s happening, but you just go along with it and have the time of your life.

Even the music, which was different from my taste was perfect at the moment.

I knew how to dance, I had taken multiple lessons for a long time. But what I learnt, was nothing compared to this.

Everyone just moved however they wanted to, jumping, shaking their heads, hands up in the air- everyone was dancing in such a perfect imperfect way and in that moment, I felt released. I did not know any of those people, but while dancing like that, I became one with the crowd.

Then, I looked at Mobius.
Time slowed down. I had drunken a few red cups, in which was beer. So, my vision was not completely clear and those lights changing from colour to colour weren’t helping.

But I observed him, with my gaze a little lazy because of the alcohol.
As it was in slow motion, I saw him floating in the air and his blond hair was floating too in an almost magical way. His eyes were closed and his lips were forming the lyrics of the song that was playing.
I saw the tan, not only on his face but also on his chest. His red shorts contrasted well agains the darker skin.

When his eyes opened and they fell on me, there was a moment, just a short second, in which I almost thought that I knew him for at least a life time. Or maybe he knew me.

But the eye contact and the vague thought got cut off as two hands got placed on my shoulders.

“I love this song!” the girl, Isabelle, said while dancing in that perfect imperfect way I talked about before.

Now my eyes were on her and I took a second to admire her. Her face was perfectly symmetrical- and her legs were long and slim. She was, on a very different way that I was used to, beautiful.
“Yeah” I replied, analyzing.
“You look ravishing, darling” I told her, and God knows sober-Loki was not that brave. But American party-drunk-unbuttoned shirt-Loki was.

She widened her eyes but then quickly scrunched her nose in a playful smile.
“Do I, English-boy?”

I gave her a crooked, drunk smile and- my God, Thor would be so proud- placed my hands on her waist and pulled her nearer to my hip.

All I could hear after that was my own heavy breath and the very loud whistle of Mobius from somewhere around me.

***

There were a large variety of cocktails on the bar and what the hell was ‘Sex on the Beach’ supposed to mean?
Isabelle had asked me for a drink and when I asked her which one I should get her she got all giggly and told me she wanted ‘Sex on the Beach’.

So I was standing in front of the bar, waiting for my turn and thinking to myself how the hell was I supposed to ask for that drink.

I looked around to see if anyone was also asking for drinks with names as strange as that one, but then something caught my eye.

Mobius, sitting on the shore letting the water cover the heels of his feet
He was lent on his own elbows and no one was around him, he was rather stuck in the dark.

I slowly walked towards him with my gaze fixed on the back of his head.

“I just realized I never wished you a happy birthday” I told him softly as I reached his side, obviously still a bit drunk because sober-me would not start conversation with someone laying on the dark side of a party.

His head turned up to me and he gave me sort of sad smile. Which took me by surprise, because I had never seen one on him.
I also noticed the cigarette between his fingers. It was dark, but I saw the red-toned eyes on him.

“Hey there, buddy” he said in a much lower voice as usual. “Don’t worry about it. I know you do”

I considered it for a short moment, but then I sat next to him.

“You’re enyoing the party?” he asked me, before inhaling the smoke of the cigarette.

“I’m having fun” I replied sincerely, “And you?” I asked back.

He exhaled part of the smoke and licked his lips. His gaze was lost somewhere in the ocean.
“Yeah” he said, and even the waves were louder than his voice.

I couldn’t stop looking at him, because even if I didn’t know him very well, I was used to another Mobius. This one was a version of him that I didn’t know yet.

“Really?” I asked, my gaze still fix on his side face.

He looked at me too and gave me another sad smile, then I noticed the red-eyes again but also the glassy on them. Had he been crying?
Mobius softly shook his head and let out a little sigh. “I just wish he was here”

I blinked in confusion. “He?”

“My Dad” he said- I clearly heard the break on his voice. “I wish my Dad was here, alive”

He said it and it almost sounded a sob, but he said it too low to be sure.

For the first seconds, I didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ I would’ve said- Sober-me would’ve said, anyone would’ve said.

“He’s in the waves, riding them with you” I said, instead. But until this day- until this very moment- I don’t know why.

And less I know, why it would’ve made him laugh. A hurt laughter, but a laughter after all.

“Funny- funny you should mention that” his voice sounded like it was sobbing and laughing at the same time.
He looked for something in his pocket, took that thing out and carefully showed it to me.
“I found it yesterday while I was surfing.”
He held it so carefully as he thought it would break with the wind. It was a watch. Some parts of it were broken, others just weren’t there. The glass- or as it seemed to be- plastic, was scratched and the digital numbers that should’ve said the time weren’t there.

But at the top of the watch’s screen, there was its brand written small in black. It was almost unrecognizable, because of how old and damaged that watch was. But I managed to reach it- Casio.

A Casio watch.

“It was just floating in the water” he looked at it with admiration and his eyes got watery. “I could almost not believe it as I saw it- my Dad had this model. Back in the 80s” he was whispering now, not to me, but to the damaged watch, as if there was a chance his Dad could hear him.

I remembered the thing that my brother gave me- the thing I should give to Mobius. Because it was his birthday.
The Casio watch.

“Fuck” I said abruptly and Mobius looked at me confused. My hands ran to my fanny pack and looked for the gift I had with me. “I totally forgot to give you your birthday gift”

Mobius’ eyebrows frowned. “A gift? Loki, you know you don’t have to-“

“Here” a box wrapped in blue gift-wrap with a white string was held with my hands.

He looked at the box with slight shock in his face and then looked at me.
“You know you didn’t have to bring me anything”

“I know” I said. “I wanted to” My heartbeat raced as his hand went to take the gift.

I watched him silently as he carefully unwrapped the paper and opened the box.

And I’ll never forget that moment- I’ll never forget the picture, the scene, like it was taken from a Hollywood movie, the silent as he realized what it was and the perfect imperfect way he looked at me right after. Mix of the most complex emotions, but the most simple answer;

“Thank you, Loki”

And it was one of those times where a look was worth more than a thousand words, and that simple answer was more than enough.