THE SUMMER OF 23

SOMEWHERE IN THE OCEAN BREEZE

By the end of the day, everyone had made their way back to the house. Except for Tsireya. She sat near the ocean.

"Hey Reya!" Lo'ak called from closer to the house.

"Oh hi Lo," Tsireya turned her torso to look at the boy who was running toward her.

"Are you gonna come inside for dinner?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be in soon," Tsireya lied.

"Mind if I sit?" Lo'ak asked. Tsireya shook her head no. Lo'ak sat next to her in the same position, his legs held close to his chest.

"Did my father send you?" Tsireya asked while keeping her gaze on the sun going down over the water.

"Nope," Lo'ak answered while shaking his head.

"My mom? Ao'nung?" She questioned. Lo'ak shook his head again.

"Just myself, I wanted to make sure you were...okay," Lo'ak informed her while turning to observe her perfect side profile. Tsireya turned her head and their eyes met.

"Lo'ak, I need to tell you—"

"It's okay Tsireya,"

As their gaze grew more intense, moving from their eyes to their lips, they leaned in. Closer, closer until they finally kissed. What a romantic time. The sun had just gone down and they were at the beach. There was nothing more romantic than that.

As they kissed, longer and longer, Tsireya moved her hand to Lo'ak's then up his arm and to his shoulder.

Lo'ak moved his hand to Tsireya's waist. After enjoying their first kiss, they pulled away and looked at each other with the same gaze right before the kiss. They turned back to the ocean and Tsireya leaned her head on Lo'ak's shoulder.

Together, they listened to the sounds of the ocean and observed the night sky, lit only by the moon and the stars.

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That next night, the parents had plans to go out to dinner together. At first Neytiri and Ronal were a bit hesitant to leave their kids alone, but since Neteyam was 18 and the most responsible, it was fine.

After the parents left the teens, and Tuk of course, went upstairs to change into their pajamas. When they came downstairs, the boys set up a fort in the living room. After getting seated in the fort, they tried to think of activities to keep them occupied.

"Let's tell scary ghost stories," Ao'nung suggested.

"Boooriiiing," Lo'ak replied.

"Do you have a better idea?" Ao'nung asked.

"Uh, yeah I do,"

"And that is?" Ao'nung questioned.

"Hide and seek in the dark obviously,"

"No that's to scary!" Tuk yelped.

"Oh come onn, we can play in pairs," Lo'ak said.

"Okay..but I get Neteyam!" Tuk said. Neteyam chuckled.

"Well how about this, if you don't have a partner then your the seeker," Lo'ak declared.

"Well then I'll be your partner cause I'm not seeking," Tsireya said to Lo'ak. A smile tugged at the corner of Lo'ak's mouth as Tsireya flung onto his arm.

"I wanna be Kiri's partner," Rotxo informed everyone.

"Well obviously, I'm not gonna seek," Kiri said as she flipped her short hair.