Sunrise
Iwakeup with my heart pounding, bolting upright on the couch and staring bleary-eyed around the dark living room. I swear I felt someone’s fingers brush myarm.
“Hmmmwhozere?” I mumble, voice groggy as I rub at myeyes.
I hear a stifled laugh from besideme.
“Shhh,” whispers a familiar voice. “You’re going to wake everyoneup.”
I turn to find Christina crouched beside thecouch.
“Whizzit? Whattimezit?”
She covers her hand with her mouth as another laugh threatens to escapeher.
“It’s almost sunrise,” she whispers, after she’s calmed herself down. “I woke you up so we could go watch it. Comeon.”
She straightens up and starts to move towards the front door. My body protests and urges me to go back to sleep, but I fling the blankets off me and follow her. We pull our shoes on and she pulls the door open inch by inch so it doesn’t make anynoise.
Out on the street, she takes my hand and leads me down the bumpy road past all the white houses. The sky has just started to go from black to blue, so there’s enough light for us to make our way around the ruts in the road. Yesterday was hot enough for me to be sweating, but the early morning chill today makes me wish for a jacket as it jolts meawake.
We make our way through the silent streets, not saying anything but not really needing to. Everything is still and even the rolling of the waves sounds gentle right now. I feel like we’re walking through people’sdreams.
We make it to the edge of the town and start up a cobblestone path that follows the curve of a cliff. A rock wall guards the edge and there’s a few stairs to go up every now andthen.
“This is the spot all the tourists come here for,” Christina pants, breaking the silence as we climb. “I hope we have it toourselves.”
The night continues to fade as we keep moving. Eventually Christina stops and turns, just as lines of pink light begin to streak across thesky.
“There,” she says. “That’s what you see on all thepostcards.”
I follow her gaze and once again my hands twitch with the need to pull out my camera. From here, you can see the whole town, cradled by the cliff that circles it like a strong arm fending off theocean.
“It looks like it’s always been here,” I observe, “like the town is just a part of the rocks, like they grewtogether.”
She nods. “To me, it looks likehome.”
I reach out and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her close. She leans her head on my shoulder for a moment and we watch the pink light of dawn start to turn into the yellow light of day. Then she leads me to the wall that runs along the viewpoint and takes a seat on top of it, swinging her legs over the edge. I followsuit.
“Here,” she offers, holding out the paper bag I noticed her carrying earlier. “Pastel de nata. The best breakfast thereis.”
I fish two of the custard tarts out of the bag and pass it back to her. We had them for dessert last night and they somehow taste just as good today. We eat in silence, cupping our hands under the pastries to catch thecrumbs.
“So,” Christina begins, “I’ve been wondering something, ever since what you said at theairport.”
“And what’s that?” I ask, my eyes fixed on the now-awakeningtown.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she blurts out. “About her? About everything? Even if it had just been to let me know why you couldn’t be with me, it would have been better. I could have handled that. Did you not trust me enough? Did you think I’d beangry?”
I shake my head, staring down at the water far below us as I try to come up with an answer. My palm brushes a few small stones sitting on top of the wall over the edge of thecliff.
“I just panicked,” I tell her. “I kept it all bottled up for so long. I pushed everyone away, before they even tried to get close. I’m not really as big of a douchebag as I pretend to be. It was the only way I knew how to protect myself, to keep people from seeing too deep insideme.”
“Aaron.” Christina reaches for my hand where I’m still launching pebbles off the ledge. “You have way too big of an ego for that toallbe anact.”
I let out a weak laugh, grateful that she sees how hard this is for me and is trying to lighten thingsup.
“I mean, you’ve seen me. How could I not have an ego, with a face likethis?”
