Destined

33

Akasuki

18 years old.

9 years ago, in Los Angeles, California.

I'm sitting on a beach in Los Angeles and that's when I see her. The sun was setting and she was walking along the shore of the ocean, her hair breezing with the wind.

Beautiful.

The thought is so sudden and I bring my knees to my chest.

She stumbles a little and I can't help myself. I stand up then jog over to her, "Are you okay?" I ask.

Her hand is pressed to her head, "I'm a little tipsy." She trips then and I catch her.

"Just a little?" I ask, giving her a questioning look.

She looks up at me, "you're pretty." She slurs.

I furrow my brows, "Maybe we should go and sit down."

I help her walk higher up on the beach and we sit down where I was sitting before. I hand her my water bottle, "You want water?"

She nods and thanks me as she takes it. Chugging down the whole bottle, "Thank you."

I laugh, "No problem."

There's a comfortable silence that follows. And it's odd because it's something I've never experienced with anyone else.

"Why are you here by yourself?" she asks, seeming to be more in control of herself.

"Why are you?" I ask back.

She shrugs, "I got shit face drunk at a bonfire down the beach. Then somehow I ended up here." She brings her knees to her chest, "So, seriously, why are you here alone?"

"Honestly?" I ask and she nods. Sighing, I say, "my brother died. So I sat here on this beach because I thought it would clear all the thoughts of what I could have done. But instead all I keep thinking about is how I wished he had listened to the things that I did do."

She's quiet for a moment and I think I've said too much until she says, "Do you want to hear a quote?"

It's such a random question, "Sure, will it make me feel better?"

She goes on, leaving my question unanswered, "time and time again, the people we love die and still, even when we warn them, they walk into death's arms as if it were a warm embrace."

My eyes widen when she says the quote then I frown, "That definitely didn't make me feel better."

She shakes her head, looking at me, "It's not supposed to," She looks up at the sky, her head tilting back, "I think it's supposed to tell you that there isn't anything you could have done. People make shitty decisions that lead to shitty outcomes. And we can't do shit because at the end of the day their choices have always been their own."

Her hair blows into her face and I want to reach over and brush it behind her ear but I don't, "You're smart," I say, still looking at her, "really smart."

She turns to me fully, her eyes meeting mine, "I know." She says with a smile.

I shake my head, letting out a laugh, "Humble too."

She nods, taking the praise, "Yup thats me, humble and smart. It can't get better than that." there's a teasing glint in her eyes. "It's weird isn't it. That we met randomly at the beach."

It sounds poetic coming from her mouth.

I laugh, "I don't think it's weird but I'm glad it happened."

She gives me a mischievous smile, "Maybe it's destined."

I shake my head, still smiling, "I don't believe in that type of thing."

She shrugs, looking towards the ocean, "You never know."

What did I do to deserve to meet her?

The wind blows her hair in her face and I reach up to tuck it behind her ear but just then someone calls for her.

"Yaz!" A guy that has the same hair as her shouts.

Before she turns to me I drop my hand, she says, "Maybe we'll meet again, stranger. You know, if it's destined." She gives me a wink then jogs away to the guy.

"Yaz." I whisper, loving the way it rolls off my tongue.

I love her name.

I hope it's destined. I hope we meet again.