Matchstick Excerpt 9: Sunbathing

This gateway was something Hayden would want to hear all about when I got home. I lowered my back onto the sand and closed my eyes.

 

“Today has all the makings of a perfect day,” Hayden said as she flung my door open.

“It’s 6am,” I groaned as I looked at the digital clock on my nightstand. “How can you possibly tell?”

“You can just feel it in the air,” she said, flinging my curtains open.

“Whhhhhy,” I whined as I threw the blanket over my head. “I wasn’t done sleeping yet!”

“Sure you were,” she said brightly. “We have so much to do today!”

“Like what,” I grumbled, flopping my arms down to my sides, taking the top of the blanket with them.

“Don’t you hear the dock calling you? It’s already sunny, it’s warm but not hot, and the skies are perfectly clear.”

“The dock is telling me it will still be there in two hours so I can go back to sleep.”

“I don’t think so,” she said opening my closet. “You just aren’t paying attention.”

She tossed the bathing suit she pulled out onto the bed. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching me expectantly.  

“Can you at least be quieter and maybe sound a little less… bubbly, while I wake up?”

“If you promise to get dressed,” she said with a grin. “I’m going to make us iced coffee to take out there.”

“That I can get on board with.”

She practically bounced out of the room as I sat up. I looked down at my pillow, forlorn. Vacations were supposed to be relaxing. I just wanted to sleep for several more hours. Her and my dad managed to roll out of bed with all the energy and motivation in the world. I never understood it.

I climbed out of bed and stretched, yawning. I pulled on the bathing suit, only almost falling down twice. I squeezed my eyes closed for a second and blinked rapidly. It didn’t help as much as I thought it would. I sat back on the edge of the bed and rubbed my hands over my eyes.

“Good, you’re dressed!” Hayden said as she skipped into the room. “Ready?”

“No…” I said as she handed me one of the coffees. She looped her arm through mine as I stood, and steered me toward the sliding glass door. “You promised to be less bubbly if I got dressed.”

“I didn’t promise,” she giggled. “I only agreed to try.”

“That is definitely not how that conversation went down.”

She laughed again as she almost pulled me out onto the back deck and down the stairs. At least she had slowed her pace some. There were already two towels and a radio on the dock. Apparently waking me up wasn’t the first thing she had done this morning.

“Tell me about the college boys,” she said as she dropped down onto her towel.

“I’ve told you about college boys,” I said, as I settled into my towel more carefully.

“I know! But I like to hear about them. I’ll be in college soon. I need to be prepared.”

“Soon? You start your junior year in like a month.”

“Semantics. It’s close enough,” she said, waving her hand around.

I took a drink of the coffee. I could almost feel the caffeine taking hold of me. Coffee is the only way I survived her early mornings. If I was allowed to sleep later, I probably wouldn’t need it.

“Why don’t you tell me about the guy you’ve been texting while I wake up,” I said.

“He’s pretty cool, but he won’t stop asking me what I want,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He won’t tell me what food he might want, where he might want to go… I don’t want to pick everything. It would be nice to just talk about it or for him to just to pick for a change. He’s known me long enough, he knows what things I don’t like.”

“Have you told him that?”

“Yes! He just keeps saying ‘I just want you to be happy,’” she said with a terrible attempt to mimic a guy’s voice. “Has he considered that maybe I want to make him happy too? Ugh.”

“So break up with him,” I said.

“I thought about it. He’s so nice, and we have great conversations sometimes.”

“So, don’t break up with him.”

“But I’m tired of having to plan literally everything.”

“I don’t know what answer you’re looking for,” I said, grinning. “There is no pleasing you.”

“Oh, whatEVER,” she giggled. “Like you’re any better.”

“I’ll have you know my last relationship ended on amicable terms after we decided we’d make better friends.”

“Was this before or after you decided the way he said ‘irregardless’ all the time was a deal breaker?”

“Hey, irregardless is not a word! It’s just ‘regardless!’”

“There is no pleasing you,” she said, laying back on her towel.

“Those are completely different scenarios.”

We settled into a comfortable silence. I was secretly glad she woke me up. We didn't get much time to just hangout anymore. We’re both busy, and our schedules never lined up. I would have loved more sleep, but I would try to make it up later. This week was going to be about us bonding.

 

I swallowed hard as the memory of our last vacation together faded. It had been almost a year since that weekend at our lake house. We spent most of that day on the docks sun bathing. 

(All excerpts are taken from a lightly edited first draft. Contents may change or be removed from the final novel entirely.)