The Ocean Tied

The tide washed in on their legs. It curled and broke over their knees then receded and soaked into the sand. Scott sat with his palm resting in the sand behind Denise.

‘I can’t believe your parents let us stay here by ourselves,’ he said looking back at the beach house.

‘Well,’ Denise said, ‘they don’t actually know you’re with me. They think Jan is with me.’

‘Oh.’ He lifted his hand out of the sand and put it on his lap. ‘Well, I had a really nice time last night.’

‘Yeah, so did I.’

The tide came in and washed over their legs again. Some water went up Scott’s bathing suit.

‘You know,’ he said, ‘I really liked when you…’

‘Don’t’ Denise said, ‘Sorry, I don’t like when guys tell me what they liked. It kind of cheapens it, I think.’

‘Oh, yeah, sorry.’ He fisted the sand and the tide washed over his arm. ‘I’m just glad you were my first is all I wanted to say.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Let me try something,’ Denise said getting to her knees.

She placed her hand on Scott’s stomach and looked at the ocean. She ran her hand down over his bathing suit and to his thigh. Scott looked at her, and then closed his eyes.

The tide came in and washed over the both of them soaking the lower part of their bodies. Denise grabbed the water and, as it receded, she stretched it so that it was long enough. She wrapped it around Scott’s knee and began to tie it in a knot. Scott opened his eyes and looked at her.

When the knot was tight, she kissed him on the cheek. ‘I’m going inside.’ She got up and jogged to the beach house. Scott looked at his knee. He tried to grab the knot but it was water. A minnow swam through the knot, then another.