I woke up at a quarter to 4 this morning. My eyelids were still fluttering from the intense dream I had. I yawned and stretched and sat up in bed, staring at the bare yellow walls in my dorm room.
I may as well go outside and read. I grabbed my book, my Blacks, my phone and my lighter and I tiptoed outside, trying not to slam the door and wake my suitemate.
I set up camp a few doors down from mine and sat cross legged on the pavement, opening my book and lighting my Black.
Despite the early morning hours, kids were still milling around campus, laughing, giggling and coming home from a night out. I watched as a car full of kids parked and said their goodbyes as they went their seperate ways back to their rooms.
I smiled, remembering the old days, back when I was an undergrad. That shit was fun! I may have had two kids while I was in college but I sure did have lots of fun before I had them! I didn’t really miss out on anything, I don’t think. ~shrug~
As I sat and puffed and read my book, I heard footsteps so I looked up. A guy approached me and introduced himself.
“I see you around campus all the time, my name is Taylor, what’s yours?”
“My name is Tee,” I laugh.
We sat on the pavement and talked and smoked and talked and talked and talked. I learned that he was new to campus and had driven down from Illinois two weeks ago to start grad school here.
“See that car?” he asked, motioning to a shiny Black Charger parked in the parking lot. “I got really lucky in the stock market and I bought that car and it’s paid off. That’s my baby!”
I laughed. “Hell yeah! A nice car like that and no car note! You got lucky for real! I have to hustle to pay my car note every month.”
He was an interesting character, speaking to me with this friendliness in his voice that you don’t get to experience much in Miami. Turns out he lives right above me and told me that he sees me nearly everyday but I give off this “don’t talk to me” vibe that made him stay away.
He has these greyish blue eyes and a cleft in his chin like John Travolta.
“I hate when people tell me that,” he said. “That’s dude’s old as shit!”
We talked and talked and I laughed and laughed and by the time I noticed the time it was almost 6am.
“Hey, I have an idea,” I said. “Why don’t we go to the beach and watch the sunrise?”
He smiled over at me and stood up. “Good idea.”
I went back into my room and put on some shorts and grabbed my beach blanket and my camera. As we drove to the beach I asked him if he knew where he was going since he had only been in Miami for 2 weeks and he said, “My first day here I gassed up the car and just drove around. I have a spot.”
When I noticed the route that he was taking I wondered if he was going to the same spot that I go to. We laughed and talked about his time in Illinois. He told me that he used to get lost in the cornfields chasing his dog.
“That must have been scary!” I said.
“Yeah, it was. You can’t see anything but these tall ass stalks of corn and you don’t know where you’re going but all you have to do is keep going in one direction and eventually you’ll come out of it.”
“I hope we get there in time!” I said, noticing that the sky was beginning to lighten up as we headed east.
Surprise, surprise! When we turned the corner on Collins, he drove right up to the same spot that my friends and I have been going to since I was a teenager.
“You’ve been stalking me!” I laughed.
We walked over the little bridge and onto the sand. There were a lot of people on the beach even though it was early. There were two couples there laughing and drinking beer, looking like they had just stepped out of the club. There was an older man fishing on the shore. Their were other couples cuddled up on the sand and we even saw a mother and her two children asleep on the beach.
“I wonder if they’re here because they have no place else to go,” I said to Taylor.
We set up camp when we found a quiet spot. I spread out my orange blanket and he pulled off his shoes and socks. The sky was much lighter by now but I couldn’t see the sun yet.
“This may sound kinda cheesy but I really like the times when the sun and the moon are visible at the same time. Usually during these times, I’m sleeping so I think it’s cool that we are out here.”
It’s funny but, me and this dude have a lot in common. My friends and I have a ritual where at 12:34 we pray for each other or make a wish. When the clock hit 5:55 he said to me, “Hurry up and make a wish!” I was like, Whoa…
We talked about spirituality, religion and our goals. “So, I know you said that you’re not religious anymore,” he said. “So tell me what do you think about the day of judgement.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe in it.”
He shook his head too. “Me neither. I find it hard to believe that one religion is right and everyone else is wrong. Why can’t we ALL be right?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I look at it like this…If you connect with God through one religion, then that’s cool and that’s beneficial to you. But then I could look at someone else and see how they connect with God and think that’s cool too. I’m always looking to meet people and find how they connect with God. It’s really about the connection, it’s not about the path.”
He smiled at me and we both lay back on the blanket listening to his cell phone play music. He loves this guy named Devin something. He’s a rapper from Texas. I told him about my time in Texas and how I didn’t really like the guys I met in Houston because they were too tall.
“Don’t say TOO TALL!” he said.
“Whuh?”
“Do you know how tall I am?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“I’m 6’5”
“You are?! Wow, I didn’t even notice.”
“Stand up,” he said pulling me to my feet. He looked like a huge tree standing next to my 5’2″ frame.
Next thing you know he made a suggestion, “Why don’t we get in?” he asked, motioning toward the ocean.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he took off his pants and I followed suit, stepping into the warm ocean water. It felt so good. But damn, I couldn’t really play like I wanted to because of all this hair in my head.
After a while I said ‘fuck it’ it’s only hair and I went in to the water and allowed it to caress my body.
“Look,” he said and turned around.
The sun had completely risen from the ocean. We stood and watched, smiling, taking in the moment.
We started talking again as we played around in the water. Boy, he is so easy to talk to. He kind of looks at me with this weird smile while I chatter on and on about my book, my goals, my love for the internet and encouraging people.
“This water feels like a nice warm hug,” I remarked. “I sure need one sometimes.
“I can give you one right now,” he said and pulled me close to him. I’m pretty sure he was on his knees and I was standing in front of him. He wrapped his arms around me and we stood there, nose to nose with the orange sky behind us, completely silent and smiling at each other.
A huge wave pushed us back onto the shore and I got out of the water and back to the blanket, pulling my shorts back on.
He took a picture of me as I finished getting dressed and I think it came out nicely.
After we left the beach, we drove around until we found a nice little breakfast spot right down the street from school. We shared more stories and I had some really good fried fish and grits while he wolfed down a plate of pancakes and eggs and bacon. We both talked about how much we LOVE the cafeteria food because it’s so convenient.
When we got back to our building we stood outside for a minute, just smiling at each other.
“I’m glad I came down to talk to you,” he said.
“I’m glad you did too. I had fun with you.”
I did. I really did. I’ve been meeting a lot of men over the past week, and I mean A LOT. But most of them I dismiss within a few days. ~shakes head~ Yeah, I know I’m horrible.
But, I really hope he and I continue to be friends. He seems cool as hell and..he has a positive attitude. I like that.