Talania: A Trip down Memory Lane
Page 10

 Crystal Spears

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“Damn it Tristan,” I scream out to the ocean.
“I told you that you cursed,” he smirks.
“Where the hell is he, Drake?” The camera focus is bouncing around as I am apparently running.
“Wait; is that him lying down on the beach?” Drake’s voice booms through the speakers.
“Tristan! Tristan!” I scream while we run towards him.
The sound of my voice is so frantic it breaks my heart listening to it.
The camera falls to the sand. “Tristan, what the hell is wrong?” I ask frantically.
“He was stung by a jellyfish.” Drake laughs when Tristan moans.
“Damn it, you bastard.”
I hear a slap from what I assume is me slapping him.
“Did I just slap you?” I turn and ask.
“You sure the hell did. Hurt like hell too.” he says, laughing.
“Dude, you realize I’m going to have to piss on you, right?” Drake’s voice fills the speakers again.
“Oh, I have to capture this shit. Oh yes, Tristan baby, this is going on record, especially for scaring me like that.” I pick the camera back up and focus it on the area where apparently Drake is pissing on his leg.
I bust up laughing.
“Oh. No. I. Did. Not.” I get out, wheezing through each chuckle.
“Oh yes baby, you did. The best part is coming up,” he says.
Drake is done pissing on Tristan’s leg because Tristan waves at the camera. “Ev, come here baby,” I lean towards him with the camera.
“You know I love you right? I could have died. I just wanted you to know I love you.”
I must fall to the sand stunned, because the camera and I flop backwards. It’s silent for a minute before my voice screeches again.
“You jackass! You just told me you loved me after your brother pissed on your leg!” I scream, picking up the camera and turning it off.
“I told you. You had a dirty mouth back then.” He winks at me.
“Uh, that’s not what I got from the video,” I whisper.
He loses his smile. “I know,” he whispers back.
We fall asleep watching more home videos from our first summer together.
I wake up stretching. I smell bacon and smile. I get up and walk towards the kitchen.
“Good morning,” a shirtless Tristan grins at me and I gulp.
Holy cow. Helloooooo ripped V and eight-pack abs. It is nice to meet you!
“Good morning,” I croak out.
“Want some bacon, eggs and toast?”
“That sounds yummy. We still have two videos left from the first summer. I would like to watch them.” I bite into my first piece of bacon.
“Okay,” he says sadly.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” he says as he shakes his head. “The first one is when we finally get together and the second is when we’re saying goodbye until Thanksgiving.” He shrugs.
“Oh, I can watch them by myself if you want me to,” I add.
“No, no it’s not like that. Having you back, Ev is like a double miracle. You know, you survived cancer AND you came back to me, to us,” he says.
“We were that good together?” I ask, taking a bite of my eggs.
“The best. We still have two more summers and holidays to get through. I haven’t even mentioned photo albums and memorabilia yet, so yeah, we were that good together.” He grabs my plate and walks it to the living room. “Well come on Ev, we’re gonna do this thing.” He gestures towards the couch.
I giggle and prance over to the couch. “Thank you,” I whisper as he hands me my plate of food so I can continue to eat.
This man can cook!
“No problem babe.” I can tell he means it.
He puts DVD number twenty-three in, sits back and pushes play.
My young face appears on the camera.
“So things with Tristan and I are getting very confusing. We hold hands and we touch, but I don’t understand what we are? I wish I knew. Can you be in love at fourteen? I don’t know if you can, but I think I love him. I mean, when I think about going home in a week, my heart literally aches knowing I will not see him again until Thanksgiving break. Sure, there’s the phone and texting and stuff, but what are we?” I sigh into my camera. I can tell I am sitting on a dock of some sort. A throat clears in the background and I swing the camera to the sound of Tristan’s voice.
“You know what I think?” He says. “I think I hold your hand and touch you every chance I get because I love you too. I believe you can be in love at fourteen and fifteen. And I’m going to miss you like f**king crazy until I see you again at Thanksgiving break.” He strolls up to the camera. “So this is documented because my crazy girl loves filming everything. It is August 12, 2005; the day I told this crazy girl I love her. ” He takes the camera from my hands, places it on the dock railing, pointing it towards me, and then strolls over to me.
“I love you,” he says before pressing his lips to mine. The kiss looks magical. I wish I could remember it. The kiss goes on forever before we pull apart and words come out of my mouth. “I love you too.”
The camera shuts off and I find myself tracing my lips.
“Wow,” I breathe, tears streaming down my face. “I can’t remember my first kiss. I can’t remember anything.” I take off running towards the bathroom.
Tristan knocks on the door. I open it because I know he is worried. What I find breaks my heart even worse. He looks devastated. His eyes are rimmed with red. That’s when it hits me hard.