Beneath the Sea

        “What are you doing?” I heard the voice call from behind me. I didn’t want to turn from the sight. It was utterly beautiful, and fascinating as well. “You can’t sit here forever!” She yelled again.
         “Give me ten more minutes.” I chanted back to her. This was completely routine. Francesca would come down to the beach to find me, everyday after school. She always knew I would be here, staring at the ocean. It’s not that I wish to be in it, not by any means, nor do I envy the ones who are in it. In fact, I don’t even know how to swim. Surely I would drown if I jumped in. I just find it amazingly mysterious. What could be out there? Can other worlds be found? What lies beyond the water? These were the questions I filled my head with everyday, while I sat here.
         “Come on Paola!” Francesca yelled at me with a twinge of annoyance creeping into her voice. “What can you possibly be looking at in the waters day after day, night after night?” I took a few seconds from my gaze at the water to look at her face. She was beautiful, not as beautiful as the sea, but lovely in a human sense, whereas the sea was so full of inhuman beauty.
         Francesca had a full, heart-shaped face, which could have come from Aphrodite herself. Her flowing dark-brown hair, framed her perfect velvet skin. She seemed to animate everything around her with her beauty. She was slender, and about five feet, six inches, a catch for any guy in the eleventh grade. However, she had her eye on one Junior. Me. Francesca and I had been friends since we were in seventh grade, when I moved out here to Southern Shores in North Carolina. She was the girl, who was at that time, going through her hormonal stages, and was developing, in a rather uneven pattern. She was not as gorgeous as she was standing in front of me as she was now.
         “Come here.” I looked at here, “I want you to see what I see.” As she came up next to me, she scowled. I pretended I didn’t notice. As she stepped up next to me, I pointed. “Look.”
         “What?” Francesca looked stupefied. “Paolo, what am I looking at? You’re turning the sea into an anthropomorphic object!” I took another glance at her, and realized that she couldn’t see it. She had no idea what was so breathtaking, so wonderful.
         With that, I drew a sigh, and shook my head. “Nothing. Never mind, c’mon! Last one to Portia’s buys!” I yelled. I secretly still wanted the sea. I craved it.
         “You can’t beat me to Portia’s like that! C’mon, pick up the pace!” Francesca yelled from a yard or so in front of me.
         Portia’s was the local coffee place in this area. If we wanted to take the hour drive down to Kitty Hawk, there was a Starbucks, but up here, Francesca’s cousin has the only coffee shop for miles.
         I heard her giggle a bit, and as she started to turn her head, she quickly snapped it back, but it took her long enough for me to catch a portrait of her face. I saw the glimmer of her eyes, and I realized how much she craved me. She loves me as much as I love the sea. The only problem is that she has no idea that I will never love her back. I am incapable of love, as some would say, because my only love is for the ocean. The sweet Atlantic always calls to me.
         “Paolo, c’mon, you’re buying me a mocha latté!” She yelled, laughing harder and harder. She had such a magnificent laugh, which made me want to hear it always. Than I remembered something, Her laugh sounded like the quiet lap of waves against the shore, and I knew the ocean was where I belonged.
         “Ha! I win!” she yelled at me. “You need to run faster next time!” Her pure Italian skin was lighter than normal, and for once, it was all that was on my mind. It didn’t visualize the sandy beaches that looked like her dimples. I didn’t notice the green lily pads that here eyes so wonderfully resembled. I saw Francesca, and only Francesca.
         We passed the antiquated old man, sitting outside, to get to our usual booth, I was still staring at Francesca.
         She must have noticed that I was staring. “What’s wrong?” she asked me.
         For a minute I was confused. Than I realized that the serene calmness, yet flowing beauty that always kept my face smiling, was gone. This has been the first time in my life that I saw something, besides the sea. Although Francesca’s beauty couldn’t compare to that of the seas, she had the most unique sense of sparkle in her, one that made me think of nothing but here, as I stared at her.
         “Huh?” I was baffled for a moment, staring at her, but then I realized what she had just asked. “Oh, uh, nothing. I’m fine, I just got lost in the sea for a moment.” I lied. I couldn’t possibly lead her on. I’d rather be dead, than fall in love with any other than Pontus, the titan of the sea.
         “That’s what I figured. Paolo, I honestly don’t understand your obsession with the sea. What do you like so much about it?” She looked at me, and I knew that the rest of the time at the coffee shop would be spent talking about my strange obsession. When she asked of my obsession with the sea, I explained it as her obsession with books. She truly is the biggest bibliophile I have ever known. I was obviously more biased towards the sea, rather than books though.
         “Are you happy?” I looked at her, and she seemed to smirk, thinking I was trying to change the subject.
         “Seriously, what do you love so much about water?” She was still smiling, but not in the irksome carefree way, in a way that meant she knew something was wrong.
         “Are you happy?” This time I put emphasis on the ‘are’. Hoping she would understand that this was part of my answer.
         “Well, it depends what you mean by happy I guess.” Francesca was slowly starting to wish she hadn’t asked any questions. Sometimes when she was bothered, she would turn her face, grab her wrist, and look back at me, than say something completely random.
She had just grabbed her wrist, so I was waiting for the change in topic. Although I was curious now, why she wasn’t happy. I had always wondered though, why does she grab her wrist? What comfort does that hold for her?
“Did you hear about Percy and Andy?” She asked with sincerity. She was seriously trying to forget whatever was bothering her.
Percy and Andy were our best friends. Percy was sixteen, and small for his age, however, people always went to him for information. He’d come to be known as our smart friend. Percy was good-looking in a way. He had a marble body, crafted by Hephaestus. He was only five feet five inches, but the girls couldn’t get enough of his muscles and his wavy blonde hair. He had eyes given to him from angels, green as the sea, and blue as the sky.
Andy on the other hand, was one of Francesca’s best friends, besides me. Francesca and Andy had been best friends forever since second grade. At this rate they would be friends forever. Andy was a beautiful girl, not as beautiful as Francesca, but could compare quite well. She was tall, very tall, five feet and eleven inches. She also had wavy blonde hair, naturally straight. It was the envy of all the girls at school. She had a slim body, with an obvious build. She was a volleyball player. She was tan, smart, beautiful, and perfect. She was a straight A student.
Her and Andy had been together for about eleven months now. They were the perfect couple, the school’s star football player, and the school’s head cheerleader. Both played in off-season. Percy played basketball, and Andy played volleyball. They were everyone’s dream couple.
“What about them?” I asked. I was actually curious about this piece of gossip. Francesca is the biggest gossip of the school. If something was going on, Francesca knew about it. Most of the time I blocked her out. I really wasn’t all that interested in the fact the Alicia had a crack addiction, or that Katie thinks that someone raped her poodle for the seventh time. By the time Francesca heard of it, the school had twisted it until it didn’t make any sense.
“They broke up.” She sighed. She didn’t have any hope for them, and the fact that I was rooting for them made her insane.
         “ Holy cow! What happened? Are you sure it’s not just another one of their stupid fights?” I could tell my voice raised three octaves, and my face was now aghast. It sounded like a seahorse calling for it’s lost mate. I was in shock. Surely it was just another fight. They always fought over the stupidest things!
         Last month, they spent six hours fighting because Percy ordered Andy a Cheeseburger, when he knew she was a vegetarian. She wanted a soy burger, and he forgot to get her fries. She yelled, he apologized, and then he started yelling, when she started to cry. This all took place in the middle of Portia’s.
         Three months ago, in January, Percy bought Andy a golden necklace for her belated birthday, which was originally on December 23rd. She couldn’t wear gold. She needed silver. Once again, they yelled, and cried, and apologized. All of this fight took two of the seven hours of her party. Andy was just on of those girls who carped about everything!
         “No, they broke up. She was crying last night to me; ‘I don’t have a date to prom! I don’t have a date to prom!’” She seemed angry, and seemed to mock her friend on this quote. Francesca’s first, and most recent boyfriend didn’t last long. It ended when he found out she was infatuated with me, and then on top of it, she thought I wanted her. When she went to make a move, I jerked away. She blamed it on the fact that she was crushed from her break-up with James.
         Me, I’ve never had a girlfriend. No have I ever wanted one. I loved the sea. I loved the ocean. I loved the water, nothing else, and nothing of any mortal value. My friends insist that I’m attractive enough for any girl. The only reason girls never show any interest is because I’m such a loner. They want time with me, and time I’m not willing to give. I’m six feet and four inches. So I’m extremely tall. I have naturally tan skin, I’m Italian, but my name gives that away. I have dark golden brown hair, shiny and silky, and the ‘perfect smile’ as Francesca puts it. I have grey eyes, but most people just say hazel, or blue. Overall, I’m pretty built. I have muscles; I’m just not the excessive buff that Percy was.
         “She’ll have a date, it’s only April. I bet she has a new boyfriend next week.” It never took Andy long to recover from anything. She bounced back quicker than a pogo stick. She’d have a new beau by prom.
         “I probably won’t. After all, James is with Courtney now.” Francesca bit her tongue from saying anything further. I knew she could badmouth Courtney all day, anyone could. Courtney was the whore of the school. If a guy needed to rebound, he went to Courtney. She was blonde (of course) with the perfect body. Any guy, or girl, would agree.
         “Well, I would take you, but I have a date that day anyway.” I said, with aplomb satisfaction showing on my face.
         “With who?” She asked, extremely begrudged by this. I had never seen such a look of resentment. She seemed surprised.
         “What is so surprising? The fact that I have a date?” I asked, waiting for her reaction. She was still amazed. The fact that Francesca had already met her made it all the better, Francesca would just never expect her.
         “Well…yeah. You’ve never had a date. Do I know her?” Francesca’s statements were now full of resentment and calumny. She knew she had waited to long, and know she had lost me.
         “You know her very well. You’ve seen her often.” I laughed, as Francesca thought about who it could possibly be. Her face twisted into so many weird faces, I can’t even describe.
         “Okay, I give up. Who is it?” She was puzzled. Surely she knew, I just needed to draw it out of her. She wouldn’t budge though. So I had to give in.
         “Her name…” I was about to allude to my love, but then, Andy burst through the doors.
         “Francesca! I need your help!” she yelled, and was a bit whiney. She ran up to us, and sat next to me in our booth. Then she slowly started to careen towards Francesca, until she moved over to her side of the booth. I wasn’t quite sure if it was a girl thing, or if she meant to alienate me. She pulled her purse up, onto her lap, and grabbed her phone out of it. She started to file through her pictures, and then she stopped, and handed the phone to Francesca. “Push the left button after you get a good look at Brandon. He asked me to prom and…what are you waiting for! Press the left button to look at Alex! He’s even more gorgeous!”
         Francesca started to well up, and I saw tears in her eyes. “Go to hell!” She yelled as she ran out the doors. They shut fiercely behind her.
         “How rude! She just went berserk! What’s her problem Paolo?” Andy looked at me, a bit disgusted in the way Francesca treated her. “Did I miss something?” she asked again puzzled.
         “Not unless I did as well, I don’t understand what just happened!” I was in shock. Why had she yelled at her best friend? Why did she storm out on Andy and me? Why would she start to cry? “I need to go. I’ll figure out what’s going on. I’d stay away for awhile though.” I admonished her, knowing it was probably something Andy did unintentionally.
         I walked out the doors, and then I took off down the street.
                             *                              *                              *
         I walked into my house, and picked up the phone. It was a Friday night, so if Francesca won’t pick up tonight, then she will surely answer me tomorrow.
         I called anyway. It rang five times, and then it went to voicemail. After that had finished, I left a message.
         “Hey Francesca! It’s Paolo. I wanted to know what ticked you off tonight. Is everything okay with you? You know you can talk to me right? Call me back. You know my number.”
         I hung up.
         It was late; I called seven more times, until on the eighth, her mother picked up.
         “Hello?”
         “Hello Mrs. Iovinelli. Is Francesca home?” I asked pleasantly.
         “She left a little while ago. She went to the beach with Percy. She should be home later.” It seemed odd for her to be saying this. It was like she knew she should tell me something
         “Well, thank you, I’ll talk you later Mrs. Iovinelli.” I knew she was hiding something.
         “Goodnight Paolo.” Click.
She hung up.
         I needed to figure this out. I called Percy.
         It rang four times, and then he picked up.
         “Hello?” he answered. He must have been puzzled why I was calling him at ten o’clock at night.
         “Hey, Percy. I heard about you and Andy, are you alright?” I asked, trying to sound concerned of his problems as well as my own.
         “I’m fine I guess. It’s just that, you have time right? It’s just that—
         “Actually I don’t have time, I need to know if you know where Francesca is?” I asked, cutting him off blatantly, wondering why Francesca told her mother she was going out with Percy, of all people, Percy?
         “Francesca? Yeah, I saw her about an hour ago.” He said briskly. I could tell he wanted to get back to his own problems.
         “Where is she now?” I asked. So at least Francesca didn’t lie about where she was tonight. But where was she now? She was obviously not with Percy anymore.
         “she stayed by the lighthouse down on the beach, when I told her I needed to go and do homework, she said she was going to stay there. She also gave me a note to give to you. I told her no, and she put it in her pocket.” He was still just rattling off details, to get back to his own story.
         “Percy, what were you two talking about?” I was worried now. What was in this letter?
         “You actually. We wanted to know who this date of yours was. She was really upset about it. She’s happy for you, but crushed on the inside. You know how much she loved you.” He was laughing a bit now on the opposite line.
         “This isn’t funny!” I yelled at him! “It was a joke! I didn’t have a real date! It was the Ocean! My date was Pontus!” I yelled at him, and then I hung up the phone.
         I threw on a pair of jeans, and sneakers, and took of towards the beach.
                             *                              *                              *
         “FRANCESCA!” I was yelling her name at the top of my lungs as I approached the lighthouse. “FRANCESCA!” I yelled again and again.
         As I walked behind the dock, to the lighthouse I noticed something shimmering in the water.
         I ran up to it, to get a better look. Surly enough, it was Francesca’s long silky hair. However, her face was now cadaverous. “Francesca! Why? Why?” I started to cry uncontrollably. I was holding her body; she was in the shallow water.
         As I was holding her, I remembered what Percy had said, and dug into her pocket. There was the note. I was the bane of her after all. The note read only a few sentences.
                             Dear Paolo,
                   I loved you so much, and when you truly only loved the sea, I had hope. This new date of yours just caused me great affliction. If I can’t have you, than I don’t want to live. So I return myself to your true love, which I hope you never forget. When you think of your lady Pontus, think of me.
                                       Forever yours,
                                                 Francesca.
         With that, I walked deeper, and deeper into the water. I had promised myself one thing. That if I had ever loved anything greater than I love the sea, than I should not love or live at all. I loved Francesca. Maybe Pontus will unite us. I walked until my head was under water.