For a Moment

The sun was shining on the waves, making them sparkle like a multitude of sapphires. The seabirds were flying back and forth as if chasing the waves as they roll in and out. The sand seemed to have speckles of diamonds from the reflection of the sun. Footprints had been made on the sand by a couple and their Irish water spaniel, Bentley.

           Alex and Chris were walking side by side with their dog along the beach. They had moved to Jupiter, Florida and Chris was loving it. He started running with Bentley toward the waves. There was so much to do here, and he was ready to experience it all. 

           “Come on Alex,” he yelled over his shoulder. “The water feels amazing.” Alex rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed her two idiot boys. The waves barely lapped at her feet before she was backing away with disgust. “I think I’ll stay here if that’s ok with you,” she called back, not expecting an answer. 

           Chris was too engrossed with the dog, the waves, and the birds to even hear her and kept frolicking. Alex decided to leave the beach and head to their new home. She sent Chris a text so that he would not freak out when he realized she left. “If he ever realizes I left.” She mumbled under her breath entirely unimpressed with her boyfriend’s behavior.

           Alex took in their new home, the white doors and window frames, the tan walls, and the stone work along the side. To her the white seemed too harsh, the tan too bland, and the stone unappealing, but this was where she lived now. Chris had been begging to move to Florida for years, and though she was a city girl at heart Alex had finally agreed. She agreed because they had both found jobs and she assumed there was no way it could be as horrible as she made it out to be in her head.

           She was wrong apparently because she hated everything about Jupiter. The sand was everywhere, she had to leave her shoes outside the basic house to prevent the sand from coming in. She had no reason to enjoy the ocean, she has had something against water since a traumatic experience in childhood. The humidity was the absolute worst part though; how was she ever supposed to keep her hair straight when it frizzed five seconds after stepping outside.

           Alex sighed. She had resigned herself to this life and knew that it more than likely would not change any time soon. She turned on the television in the hopes of distracting herself from her misery. She meant to change the channel to her favorite reality show, but the weather came up instead.

“There is a tropical storm brewing off the coast of the Atlantic,” the weatherman said. 

Alex immediately picked up her phone to call Chris. Chris was on the beach with their dog Bentley when he received the phone call from Alex. “I told you moving to Florida was a bad idea.” She started, before Chris cut her off. “What do you mean, nothing is wrong, the weather is absolutely beautiful. I know you don’t like the beach but that doesn’t mean that Florida is all bad.” 

Alex looked out the window, where she could almost see the dark grey storm clouds gathering. Meanwhile Chris was looking out at the crystal blue ocean waves, with the clear blue sky. “Fine, whatever,” Alex gave in, “enjoy the beach. Come home eventually, please.” Then she hung up.

Chris had no idea what was going on with Alex, but he decided to deal with it later. They were in Florida, and he was on the Atlantic Coast with his dog. Nothing was better than this. Eventually Bentley appeared to be tired out and Chris leashed him up and guided him to their new house.

Chris loved the new house. To, him it was straight out of a story book. With the lively sandy walls, the bright white accents, and natural rock designs it was beautiful to him. He was not an architect by any means, but he thought the new house fit the theme of their new environment perfectly. He walked through the door, not even considering all the sand covering him and Bentley. He tracked sand all over the floors that Alex had worked so hard to keep sand free.

“What was going on earlier?” Chris asked Alex when he saw her sitting on their red sofa staring at the television screen. “Oh, nothing, just a tropical storm making its way to Jupiter.” She said casually. “It’s probably no big deal,” he responded. 

Alex shrugged and stood up to head toward the kitchen. “What is all this sand on the floor?” She asked through gritted teeth trying to restrain her anger. “Sand,” Chris said questioningly before looking down and realizing that he and Bentley had tracked a miniature mountain of sand into the previously pristine house. “Oh, that sand.”“I work hard to keep this house clean, we live near the beach, I don’t want to live on it.” Alex said exasperatedly.

In the background you could hear the weatherman say “The tropical storm has now reached wind speeds high enough to reclassify it as a category one hurricane.”

“You know what, it’s fine. Just please respect me and the work I do in the future.” Alex huffed, before storming off. “What’s up with her?” Chris asked in the direction of Bentley. The dog responded by giving him a wolfish grin and raising his paw as if he was asking for scratches. 

The next day Alex had calmed down a little bit, and Chris was a slightly more upset. “I can’t believe you were being so passive aggressive yesterday.” Chris said in Alex’s direction. “Oh get over it. What’s done is done. Move on with your life.” She called back while continuing to fuss about their granite countertops. 

The kitchen was designed to look like a beach, with sand colored granite countertops, a blue mosaic pattern above the counters, and white open cabinets. Alex thought she was over the anger from yesterday, but looking at their terrible home, and the beachy kitchen she could feel all her anger return like a storm cloud. At the same time the sun that had been shining through the window disappears behind a white fluffy cloud.

“See,” Alex starts, using the cloud to rationalize her newfound anger, “A hurricane is coming. We wouldn’t be dealing with this if we hadn’t moved to the coast.”

The wind started to pick up outside, as both of their phone screens lit up with the notification hurricane Isaias is now a category two storm.

With tempers rising, both Alex, and Chris glared at each other before turning around and stomping out.

Alex, completely left the house, and wandered the streets of Jupiter before ducking into a coffee shop to escape the wind. The coffee shop seemed to be a warm welcoming environment, full of rich earthy tones, and cushioned chairs. Alex felt more comfortable than she had the entire time she has been in Florida. It led to her being comfortable enough to complain. “I don’t see how he can possibly like this place. It’s too dirty, hurricanes are an issue, and everything about being here is terrible.” A local college student overheard her and decided to see what was the problem.

“Hey, is there anything I can do to help?” Maya asked, hoping that this woman would be relatively friendly. Alex was only a couple years out of college herself, and she appreciated this young woman offering to hear her out despite not knowing her. Before she could stop herself she ended up explaining everything to Maya.

She explained how she adored her boyfriend and their life together, but she never wanted to move to Florida. She had lived on the coast for her entire life and hated it. She had been looking forward to moving somewhere inland, preferably a large city. She explained that she compromised this hope because Chris had always wanted to live on the beach, and their dog Bentley loved the ocean and the creatures that came with it. She thought she would be fine with it, but it ended up stirring feelings of resentment in her that she did not know what to do with. She also explained how they seemed completely unable to communicate, and that with the hurricane it felt like everything was falling apart.

“So, that’s what’s happening.” Alex finished with a sigh, completely spent after finally saying all of that aloud. Maya took a moment to consider before responding. “I think the fact that you would move for your boyfriend says a lot about your relationship, and you as a person. I also think that you are looking for negative things. If you try to be more positive, you might be amazed about what happens. I have to run now, I have a class, but I hope I helped.” With that Maya was running out the door.

“Some help she was.” Alex mumbled before turning and going home. Maybe Chris would be there and they could continue yelling at each other. The only thing Alex had learned from Maya was that expressing her anger definitely made her feel better.

Chris was not at home. He had been dragged outside by Bentley. He decided to take Bentley to a local dog park and released him, so he could go play with the other dogs. There were dogs of all sizes, ranging from the smallest black and tan Chihuahua, to the purest white Great Pyrenees. The lush grass was green, and palm trees were growing like weeds all around.

Chris took a heavy breath, and sighed, loving the smell of the ocean that was impossible to escape in Jupiter. “How could anyone not love it here?” he said. Right then it started to rain. Now Chris loved the ocean, and he enjoyed pools, but rain was another story. He despised rain. He grabbed Bentley and ran home as quickly as he could, hoping to stay out of the rain, or at least avoid as much as possible. On his way home he overheard a family talking about their hurricane plan. “Isaias is now a category three storm, we should definitely have a plan” the mother was saying. 

He did not pay any attention after that. He ran by as quickly as possible and decided that he needed to express his frustration with the rain to Alex. She always listened to him, there was no reason she would not now. Alex had always been there for him, and was one of the best people he had ever met. He was lucky to have her.

Alex and Chris both arrived at their house around the same time. The both started talking at once. “I hate it here. I never wanted to move here. Everything is absolutely…” Alex started. “Why won’t you be honest with me? Living here is amazing why are you so…” Chris said.

Once they both realized they had started at the same time they started fighting about who would speak first. “My bad, you go.” Chris said. “No, no, no, you should start.” Alex responded. Finally, fed up with his two humans Bentley started barking until they both stopped talking long enough to go inside the house. 

“I’ll go first.” Alex says, making the executive decision to share what she learned from Maya. As she started expressing all of her feelings the radio in the background announces:.

“This is not a drill. Hurricane Isaias is set to hit Jupiter. Hurricane Isaias is a category four storm. There is no time to leave.”

Neither Alex nor Chris heard this announcement. They are both too intent on yelling at each other and expressing exactly how they feel.

“I moved to Jupiter to be with you, Christopher,” Alex exclaimed, “and you have done absolutely nothing to show you even care.”

“Yeah, well, you bottle everything up and blame me for things I have no control over, Alexandria.” Chris yelled right back.

The storm started hitting at this point. The rain slammed against the windows, the wind howled outside. The trees were shaking with the force of the storm. There was a trail of broken trees, and floods following in its wake.

“I wish I’d never moved here.” Alex screamed in finality.

“I wish we’d never met.” Chris yelled in response.

At that moment a tree limb hit their front door with a resounding bang. They both looked up and finally see the storm brewing around them. They both scrambled to the storm basement built into their home. Once downstairs, in the dark and desolate storm basement, both of their tempers calmed down.

“I’m sorry I said that,” Chris starts, “I’m lucky to have met you.” 

“No, I’m sorry.” Alex says. “I’ve been taking out my feelings about living here on you.”

This is the start of the first rational conversation these two have had since moving to Jupiter. They started to discuss all of their feelings about everything. Chris expressed how he feels as though Alex is hiding her feelings from him. Alex expressed how she never gave Jupiter a fair chance. They both start to realize they were wrong, and right at the same time. They accepted the fact that they had both made mistakes and ignored each other. If they had started to listen and hear each other out more they can make it through this. This is not the end of the fighting, but maybe it is a new era of better understanding and respecting each other. They heard quiet outside and decide to take a look.

Everything had calmed except for a little light rain. The hurricane was nowhere near over, but there is always a calm in the middle of a storm; an eye in the middle of a hurricane. They were not done fighting, and the hurricane was not done raging, but for a single moment everyone found quiet. The sun shown on a light rainbow overhead. Storm clouds could be seen in all direction, but clear skies were directly above their house. For a single moment they both saw the beauty and horror that came with life. Then the storm came back, but they both knew everything would turn out fine.