The Uneventful Life of Harvey Mackler

c h a p t e r | t h r e e

"LOOK, GI, I'M fine," I repeat for the seventh time as I push open the backdoor. I'm hit with the refreshing scent of salty sea air.

From the noncommittal noise she makes in response, I can tell she's still doubtful — even though there is literally nothing to worry about. But then again, as my best friend, Gia considers it her job to worry, so I really shouldn't be surprised by her reaction.

"Okay, fine, I'll drop it," she relents. "Where are you now, anyway?"

I take my phone off my ear and pause to take in my surroundings.

"By the beach," I reply. "You know, in my back garden part, not the public part. Yes, I'm currently walking to The Hole. No, it hasn't been taken by the tide or become infested with leeches. And before you say it, the council hasn't deemed it a safety hazard. Considering it's on private property."

I let her talk for a while before continuing.

Gia makes it her hobby to worry about me. She particularly enjoys worrying about me when I go into what she liked to call my 'antisocial mode'. Since at the moment, she isn't around to keep me company, her worrying has gotten worse, which is why she's resorted to these calls. It also doesn't help that she hates the Hole (i.e. the place I like to go during one of these 'modes') with a passion and has a strong belief that the feeling was mutual.

"I'm just saying, it's evil," Gia reiterates. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "I don't trust you not to die around that thing."

"You act as if I'm suicidal. I just needed to take a breather from the boys, okay? It gets overwhelming."

"You're the only there? What time is it again? Time zones mess me up."

"Yeah, I'm the only one here. That's one of the things I love about here. It's always empt—"

I stop short when I spot another person in the distance, contradicting what I was just about to say.

"Hey, Gia, I'll call you back later..." I say, slowly distancing my cellphone from my ear.

"No time then?" comes her muffled reply.

"Yeah, miss you too," I say back absentmindedly as I cut off, not registering her last response.

I slip my phone into my pocket of my shorts before storming towards the figure.

From what I could make out, the figure was a boy about my age. He is walking along the beach in a laidback manner, one hand around a surfboard, the other raking his fingers through his hair — perhaps in an attempt to neaten his tangled blond locks. It doesn't make much of a difference though, the air has done a good job of tousling it. But this doesn't seem to bother him very much either.

He has this 'effortlessly confident' aura around him as he saunters along the shore, which to someone who is not, is annoying to look at.

I speed up my pace to catch up with him.

"Hey! You! Excuse me!" I call out in an (admittedly) unnecessarily loud manner. "Do you realise you're on private property?"

The boy stops in his path and turns round to face me.

"Uh, yes?" he replies with a raised eyebrow, giving me a once-over. "Mine."

Now that I am up close, he looks taller. I could guess he was tall from the distance, but more like Hayden's sort of tall (which was more of the impression of tall than anything). If I had to estimate, I would say with an inch or two taken off, the trespasser is probably bordering on Hunter tall, which says a lot.