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6/12/17
"WHERE ARE WE going again?" I ask before swiping my cherry chapstick across my lips. My pale skin is a little crispy with the constant days in the sun and my poor lips are burnt from yesterday's pizza date on the beach.
Grayson decided we needed pizza to complete our day and had her wonderful boyfriend pick us up some extra cheesy pizza and garlic knots and drop it off to us. We let the ocean breeze, the cheesy goodness, and the homemade sangria lull us into a full on coma as we laid on our towels and enjoyed the hot sun and salty air.
We stayed there all day until the sun began to fall into the ocean, until the air began to cool and send goosebumps over our arms, and until the sky melted into a warm pink and blue swirl reminiscent of cotton candy. The day was perfect, and every day this summer could be just like that and I would be content because I had my best friends by my side laughing and enjoying life together.
But I am still getting adjusted to spending so much time on the beach, day after day, so of course my northern born skin has been seeing it's fair share of aloe over the past two weeks.
"Abbiocco," Grayson answers my question. She keeps her blue eyes trained on the road ahead as she drives me and Hayley towards the downtown area of this cute little beach town I've quickly grown fond of.
"They have the best bellinis," Hayley groans with a wide smile spread across her freckled cheeks. The fruity peach drink has been one of her staple happy hour drinks since I moved in two years ago. But she constantly tells me how no other drink will ever compare to the ones she had here.
"It's an Italian restaurant and the owner has known me and my sister for years," Grayson continues ignoring Hayley with a playful roll of her eyes. "She's practically family. You'll absolutely adore her," she says confidently with a bright smile pulling across her face.
My stomach growls quietly at the idea of some good food. I only ate a piece of toast this morning to help stop the wave of nausea from consuming me after having one too many glasses of sangria yesterday. "I never say no to pasta," I tell them as I lean forward placing my elbows on my knees letting my sundress bunch around my thighs.
Hayley flips around in the passenger seat at my words. "Good, cause I don't associate with people who don't like pasta," she says with a mock glare that makes a giggle bubble up from my throat at her theatrics.
"Aren't we lucky she chose us as friends Maxine?" Grayson asks with a teasing tone as she pulls up near the side of a surf shop. Parking down here is minimal so whenever we can find a spot we just take it and walk wherever we need to go. Plus the downtown area isn't too big so it's no more than an easy fifteen minute walk end to end.
I press the red button of my seatbelt with a click to release it. "The luckiest," I sing in a mocking tone.
But I really am the luckiest. These two amazing women have given me the friendship I always dreamed of having as a little girl. Being an only child wasn't always easy and loneliness ate away at me especially when my father left. But my friends love me and support me and always want what's best for me. Hayley's infectious personality always makes me smile and she knows how to make me laugh even in my darkest of moods. Plus she makes a damn good margarita. Grayson is the one that gives me strength and is my shoulder to cry on. She gives amazing advice and always knows what to say no matter the situation at hand.
