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               "He's in prison, correct?"

               "Of course," I retorted. "I wouldn't let that bastard walk around freely after killing my sister."

               "So how is your mom doing? Is she good? Is she happy now?"

               I nodded, "She met a guy two years after the incident and they both fell in love. They've been married ever since."

               "Aw, I'm happy for your mom. She deserves all the happiness she gets."

               I smiled, "Yeah, she does. I love my mom. She's crazy just like me."

               He grinned, "She must be a handful."

               I huffed, "Just because she is doesn't mean I am too."

               He snorted, "Mhm, sure."

               "So what about you? Why are you here instead of Ireland?"

               He took another sip of his drink, his eyes wondering at the ground, "School."

                "School? The schools up there are bad or something?"

               "They're fine. I just prefer to live here. More opportunities."

               "So how are you surviving here? I mean without your parents. How do you know where to go and what to do?"

                He looked up at me with that flamboyant look of his. It was like a smirk with a piece of gay on the side. 

               "I'm twenty, Jesse. I don't need my parents."

               "But this is America, not Ireland. How do you know your way through the streets and shit?"

               "I learned a lot from visiting my cousin who lives in Los Angeles."

               I chuckled, "Say Los Angeles again."

               He raised a brow, "Why? Is it amusing?"

               "Yes."

               "Los Angeles."

               I shook my head while trying not to smile.

               We stayed silent for a couple of minutes, mostly because he was texting and judging by his face - it was important. So I didn't interrupt him. This is not so bad. He seems like a better friend than Phil. Phil is just plain dumb.

                I hope this never comes out of my mouth, Phil would kill me and then start crying.

               I wonder if Rayne would like the beach. Has he seen it yet? If he visited every year then he must have seen it. Other wise he's missing on a lot. The beach is full of wonders, and I don't mean like dead people and missing shoes and what-not. It's beautiful and fantastic.

               When he dropped his phone on the table, I decided to just go a long and try to make this mandate last a little longer. 

               "Want to go walk on the boardwalk?"

               "Sure, now?"

               "Now."

                He nodded and got up from his chair. We dropped out empty drinks in the trash can and walked across the street towards my car.

               "So what's so important that you have to have your face glued to your phone?" I asked after getting in the car, he had his phone up again and looked like he was about to kill someone. I actually liked the look on him, better than thinking of him as a bunny. A killer bunny, that's an upgrade.

               "Oh, sorry." He looked up at me and hid his phone in his pocket.

              "It's fine, text all you want. I'm just curious, you have that look on your face that gets me worried."

                "What look?"

               "The murderous look."

               He laughed, "Oh yeah. My little sister is texting me about her date and I got kind of angry."

               "Why is that? Over protective?"

               "Eh, no. The guy she's dating is a jerk. If you lived in Ireland, you'd know that all guys are pretty much jerks."

               "You know the guy?"

               "He's one of my friend's little brother."

                "I'm sure you can mail a bomb to his house," I joked, but I didn't make it seem like a joke. I just said it calmly and serious, which is what gets people confused. Hehehehehe.

               "I'm sure I can."

               I parked the car far away from people when we reached the beach, only because people can be crazy sometimes. I don't want anyone on top of my car making out like last time. Weirdos. I had to wash my car in alcohol to disinfect it.

               "Have you ever been to the beach?" I asked him.

                "I've seen it but never been in it."

               "Never been in it? Wow. I'm gonna have to carry you and throw you in it then."

               "You better not, Jesse. I'm warning you. I punch hard."

               I scoffed, "You don't punch...you slap."

               "Oh, how funny you are. You truly amaze me, sir."

               "Watch your sarcasm, buddy."

               He crossed his arms, which meant I defeated him. Oh yeah baby.

                Hm, weird. I totally forgot he's gay...aside from my obvious jokes. They just come and go, I don't even think about them. I'm just that special. I should be the president of the United States of America.

               I locked the car after we exited it and immediately got on the boardwalk.

               "Are you afraid of snakes?" I asked him.

               "Only if they try to attack me."

               "Good, cause there is this act up ahead and this guy has a giant snake on his body."

               "You're easily amused, aren't you?"

               My eyes widened by the thought of snakes, "It's snakes! How can you not be amused by them!?"

               "Okay, Jesse. Calm down."

               I rolled my eyes and stared at the empty beach, this side is never as full as the one more north. This part of the beach has rocks and it can get pretty dangerous.

               I noticed that Rayne was keeping a specific distance from me. It didn't bother me but I didn't want him to feel pressured just because he got too close to me. I won't attack him or kill him. He can do what ever he wants as long as it doesn't cross the line.

               "You don't have to be afraid to stand next to me." I informed him.

               "Pfft, I'm not afraid."

               "I'm not stupid and you're not the only smart one. We're cool now, don't be afraid. Just don't ... touch me like that. Or hold my hand." I ended up cracking up at the end and I don't even know why. I guess this is better than feeling awkward and weird.

               "Thanks for laughing at me, I appreciate it."

               "Oh shut up. I'm not laughing at you. I just want you to be comfortable around me, because indeed, I am a very good looking heterosexual guy."

               "You are so conceited."

               "It's not conceited to be proud of yourself, to accept yourself, to be happy with who you are."

               "Well if you put it that way ..."

              "You're stupid."

               As suspected, my arm got punched. I nodded head while deep in though. "You're actually not that strong. I didn't even flinch."

               When he looked away, I made a face while I rubbed my aching arm. Shit! That hurt like heck! Ow! Ow! Ow! It's stinging! I stood up straight when he looked back to me. I smiled.

               "You're weirding me out."

               "Oh look! There is the guy with the snake!" I pointed and looked up a head, the boardwalk was now getting full as we walked deeper into the beach.

               I ran up to the guy who was walking around taunting the poor people of California, specially the girls. They were all terrified of the huge pale snake.

               "Hey man," I greeted him and shook his head, yeah I see him a lot. "Can you put Nessy on his shoulder?" I pointed at Rayne who was taking his time walking towards us, move your ass, we aren't in a cat walk.

               "You are not putting that thing on me," Rayne looked terrified, I thought he didn't mind snakes? He stepped back when John - the snake carrier - stepped closer to Rayne.

               "She won't bite you as long as you don't bite her."

               Rayne circled me and used me as a shield to protect himself from Nessy. She wasn't even bad, she's so cute, I just want to hug her to death. And kind of kiss her on the lips...is that wrong?

               "Oh yeah, that helps so much. Get it away from me!" He shrieked loudly, this time he tried to run away from us.

               "Just pet her, she's soft."

               "I'll do it if he stops chasing me around with a freaking large snake!"

               "Would you rather have my large snake?"

               "You're gross."

               I rolled my eyes, "Alright, John. Stop chasing poor Rayne."

               John walked over to me and I touched Nessy, she hissed at me, which meant she wanted to marry me and have tiny Jesse snake babies. I looked at Rayne who was hugging himself while he stared at the snake.

               "I'll touch it but keep it's head away from me."

               John turned around so Rayne could touch the snake's body. Rayne lifted up his hand and walked slowly towards the hissing snake. I got impatient so I grabbed his hand and pulled it to the snake. When he touched the snake, his hand went straight for my face and I got slapped.

                I rubbed my face, "Ow..."

               "Don't do that to me! Do you want to give me a heart attack?" He grunted then went back to slowly touching the snake. I think Rayne's past life was a bunny.

               He's just so ... soft and cuddly looking. Like I honestly just want to stop being straight for a second so I could hug the shit out of him.

               He started laughing when the snake looked at him, the kind of laugh when you realize you're about to die. I touched his arm and pulled him back, just to be safe. Snakes can strike at any time.

               "Okay, that's enough touching. Let's go." I pulled him by the arm and waved at John.

               "Aw, but we were just getting to know each other," He whined while he looked back at Nessy.

                I let go when I realized I was almost holding his hand, barely. I had grabbed him by the wrist and now we were getting some weird looks. Well it's not my fault! He's still trying to go back to the snake!

               "Hey! I'm vlogging here!" Some guy yelled at his daughter while holding a camera to his face.

               There are some weird people in Venice beach. Last week I saw some guy who I think had a three legs. I'm not really sure, could have been fake.

               "So are you really going to Lisa's party with Priscella?" I asked him, I kept my eyes on the pier. I'm gonna take him to the end so he can see the ocean as if he was flying right over it.

               "I don't know. I have classes the next day so I'm not sure. I don't want to oversleep."

               "You get used to it after a while. I think I skip too many classes, I'm still surprised that I haven't been kicked out."

               "You shouldn't do that. School is important."

               I groaned, "I know but it's so boring sometimes. I just hate it."

               "You're gonna hate yourself for getting kicked out of college in a few years if you don't get your act together," He snapped. Who does he think he is? Going around leaving scars, collecting his jar of hearts and tearing love apart? Hehehe. Couldn't help myself.

               "I know. My friends are a little too persuasive though."

               He shrugged, "It's your choice."

               "Do you like to surf?"

               "I don't know how to surf, I've never tried it so I don't know."

               "Want me to teach you sometime? It's pretty easy."

               "Are you asking me on another mandate?" He smirked.

               "Shut up. It's not a real date it's two friends hanging out. I'm straight, I don't like penis."

               "I wasn't accusing you of anything."

               I looked away, "Well still...that's not nice. It's degrading my status as a man."

               "Oh, so I'm not a man?"

               "No, you're a girl."

               "So this is a date then."

               "No! Wait, that's not what I meant!" 

               I became tongue tied and just dropped it. Rayne seems to be one of those people who likes messing with others just to get a laugh. It's not funny to confuse me like that. It's not...

               I stepped over the pier and walked with Rayne over the water, I like this place. It's cool. Many people like to perform their little acts on the side or sell food - which probably gets you sick but it's worth it.

               The crashing sounds of the waves were so soothing to me, I just wanted to drop on the ground and fall asleep. It sounded like a thousand angels just whispering to me. If I could live in the ocean I would.

               We both stopped walking to watch this little girl dancing to music, she was a very good dancer. The music was relaxing too. The beats filled my head with images of the wild, like Africa. She twirled and flipped and waved her hands in the air. Her eyes remained closed, she was into the music like we were. Except I didn't want to dance like that.

                "She's good," Rayne whispered at me.

               She kind of reminded me of my sister. Brown long hair that shined like silver ribbons, beautiful big brown eyes and the cutest face that you could possibly imagine.

               "Let's keep walking."

               I led Rayne to the end of the pier, it took us a while. But he liked it, he said it felt like walking right over water. And that's how I felt too. And it helped when you could hear the crashes of the waves, the feeling of the water that flowed through the air. It's like a show of it's own.

               "You've got to try this ice cream," I told him as I got in line of the small little shop. "It's fried ice cream."

               He blinked, "Hold your American horses. How can you fry ice cream? Wouldn't it melt?"

               I ignored him and ordered two fried Oreo ice creams and paid for them. I handed one to Rayne, he didn't look so skeptical anymore.

              We walked towards the end of the pier and Rayne jumped on top of the railing. He suddenly wobbled which caused my nerves to shot out the roof. I grabbed him quickly and held him in place.

               "If you fall, I'm going to kill you." I warned him.

               He breathed, "That was close, thanks."

               I watched him take a bite of his ice cream while he looked over me into the ocean. I didn't need to see the ocean, I could literally see it in the reflection of his eyes.

               "So um..." He spoke, probably noticing that I was staring at him. "Thanks for trusting me with your past. I'm really sorry about your sister."

               "You're welcome. Just don't hate on me."

               "Never will. And you don't hate on others and I promise I won't beat you up."

               "Oh, ha ha ha. Look who's being tough now. Why don't you go back to touching squirrels?"

               He looked down at me, which kind of made me cringe. "Come closer then." He grinned.

                Oh damn. I just got owned.

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