Life's A Cappella (2 page)

Once I caught sight of them, we made our way to the Hut with a beer for each in tow. The Cunt Hut was originally and rightfully named for four girls; Camilla, myself, Brianna, and Tonya, but we had expanded and allowed guys, typically boyfriends, to join our group.

Camilla had known Brianna and her sister Tonya since junior high. When Camilla introduced us, they had welcomed me into their group without any hesitations. At first I had been taken aback by their trust and the lack of restraints I normally encountered when meeting new people back home, but reminded myself to allow things to happen just as casually.

Brianna was gorgeous. Not just head to toe gorgeous, but she had that inner beauty you heard Oprah spew on about on her talk show. To be honest, I always thought the whole inner beauty thing was nothing more than crap people talked about to make our society seem not as awful as it really was. But Brianna was gorgeous, inside and out. Her caramel skin was flawless and normally adorned in Bohemian clothes. She styled her hair carefully to make it look messy and as if she had not spent hours creating her perfectly thought out chaos. Her younger sister on the other hand, was wilder with a sense of humor I appreciated, but was just as meticulous about her makeup, shoes and clothes.

We talked about nothing in particular and laughed at anything that remotely resembled humor. Once it was clear we were caught up in the nuisances of our everyday life, we danced. Afrojack, Steve Akoi, Deadmau5, Ultra Nate, Roger Sanchez, Christian Villa, Swedish House Mafia…

Hours passed, and by 2 AM people slowly started making their way to their cars, so we made our way back to the Cunt Hut. I finally opened my bottle of Patron while Tonya handed out red plastic cups. I poured generously and we took our first shot of the night as we sat on the sand, , close enough to the bon fire so that the light from the fire could fight off the darkness of the night.

Tonya sang an annoyingly catchy tune while Brianna told us about her and Jermaine’s first spear fishing experience. Camilla, fully absorbed in Brianna’s story, inched closer, as Jermaine watched his girlfriend reenact their first catch. I, on the other hand, looked around at everything and everyone, listening only half-heartedly, completely happy and relaxed.

“When do you go back out?” Camilla asked.

Jermaine shrugged his shoulders and directed his response to Brianna, “Whenever. When do you wanna go back, babe?”

“Sunday morning?” Brianna offered while Tonya continued to sing softly in the background, not interrupting the flow of conversation. Tonya had a pretty voice and loved to sing as often as possible.

“So soon,” Jermaine countered jokingly. “Seems I got you hooked,” he said proudly.

“I’m good for Sunday,” Camilla replied, all smiles.

“Good,” Jermaine said. “Eight too early?”

“Nah,” Camilla shook her head. “I’ll be done with my run by then.” I laughed at the absurdity of running so early in the morning. Or running at all.

As my friends continued their conversation, I caught on to what Tonya was singing and snorted, like really snorted out loud, at her and gently shoved her with my shoulder. Tonya looked at me and smiled. “Hold on, it gets better,” she told me, clearing her throat and belting the famous chorus from We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

My friends gaped at her while I tried to swallow the laughter I had bubbling inside of me. Unamused, Camilla shook her head in disapproval. “Really? You can do better than that.”

“Right,” Tonya admonished herself. “I forgot Cam and Erin only listen to rap.”

“Hurry, throw on some 2Pac before they gauge your eyes out,” Brianna suggested.

“2Pac after Taylor Swift? That’s just sacrilegious,” I scolded.

“Sacrilegious indeed,” Camilla agreed as we both did the sign of the cross and burst into a fit of laughter.

Jermaine filled our plastic cups with more Patron as he shook his head at us. He probably thought we were a bunch of silly females. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. It was nice to be a part of a group of silly, carefree women.

“I never told you where I found my car,” Camilla said to me. I waited expectantly, fully appreciating and embracing the simplicity of my life. “On the second floor as close to the elevators as possible so I wouldn’t lose it. I remember thinking that too. If I park here, I won’t be able to miss it when I get off the elevator.”

“That worked out really well for you,” I replied. “Maybe you should text yourself next time,” I recommended, and in our drunken glory we laughed. Our eyes glistened with the same weightless worries the ocean seemed to encompass. I looked at my friend’s flushed face, creviced with laugh lines that over time would leave its permanent mark.

Once we finished the bottle of Patron, we lay down on the sand and listened to the waves crashing just a few feet away. At some point we fell asleep and were awakened just after five to someone playing Bob Marley’s Wake Up and Live, which made me smile because that was all I really wanted in this life; to live.

Chapter 2

Shayna

Darkness surrounded her like the death she was living in. Even if she had food to eat, she wouldn’t be able to because of the stench that lived around her. She wasn’t thirsty though, because Momma had taught her how to fill up her cup from the sink. And she did that frequently to pass the time while Momma slept. Momma would be so proud; she rarely spilled the water anymore.

It was cold. Even with the blankets she draped over herself and Momma, she was still cold. She played with her baby doll quietly, speaking to her baby in hushed tones so she wouldn’t wake up Momma. Momma liked to sleep and hated to be woken up.

So she wouldn’t wake her, but she really hoped Momma would wake up soon. Someone was at the door knocking and she wasn’t supposed to open the door to strangers.

She wasn’t scared, she reassured her baby, even as the men came in. She held her baby tight, letting her know she was safe, when one of the men picked her up and carried her to the cars with the flashing lights.

Chapter 3

Erin

Winter break was going by in a flurry of bon fires, beach days, and boat trips. The last week before school started, Camilla suggested a quick trip to Key West with Jermaine’s boat in tow. While my friends were all in agreement, I was reluctant. Unlike them, I didn’t live with my parents, nor did I have parents who would help me pay my college expenses. I was not bitter about that, but it was a fact I could not escape and they would not understand. But really, there was no need to explain anything. Camilla knew me all too well.

“We’ll camp out in the Jeep, with the roof off,” she told me when everyone left to pack.

“I don’t know, Cam,” I faltered, fully aware of how badly I wanted to go.

“I’ll take some bread, lunch meat, cheese, and BAM, we have our self a three course meal,” she continued as if I had never spoken. “We’ll get guys to buy you drinks.”

I mentally counted how much I had in my account and the little I would receive with my upcoming paycheck. I calculated my rent, various bills, and how much I would spend to go to Key West. But this was my last semester before full adulthood took over. And it would be fun to get away for a couple of days before classes started again. I nodded my head at Camilla, who jumped on me, hugging me tightly before running out the door to pack.

I drove with Camilla in her Jeep while Brianna and Tonya rode in Jermaine’s Ford Explorer, towing his 21’ Edgewater. With the sun gleaming above us and the Jeep’s top off, I was in a good mood. I put on Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne and followed Jermaine’s truck to the turnpike.

With the top off, the forty-five minute drive on the turnpike was noisy and windy, eliminating any chance for chit-chat. Instead Camilla and I sang along with Jay-Z and danced in our seats. A few of our fellow drivers honked at us, either in annoyance or appreciation. Either way, we waved back at them, enjoying the moment we had been given.

Once we got off the Turnpike and were in Florida City, we lowered the radio and tried to tame our hair.

“I broke up with Gabe,” Camilla said suddenly.

“Oh,” I responded, not knowing what else to say.

“About an hour ago,” she continued as if my awkwardness wasn’t palpable. “He got jealous about our trip and whatever man, I’m done with it.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. Even after three years of friendship, I still had no clue what to do with girl talk.

“And I’m not getting back together with him,” she said adamantly as I nodded my head in agreement. “I’m done with the jealous, possessive bull shit.”

“Good, I’m glad,” I told her and meant it.

“I deserve better.”

“Fuckin’ A,” I responded and inwardly cringed.

Camilla repeated, “Fuckin’ A!” enthusiastically and turned the radio back up.

For the rest of the drive, we continued to sing and dance. And I replayed our conversation, trying out different scenarios in which I had said the right thing. “What happened?” would have been a better response than “Oh”. Or even better, I could have been the one to tell her she deserved better. Instead, she had to remind herself of that simple fact. And she did deserve better. She deserved someone who didn’t play on her insecurities, but rather focused on her qualities. She deserved someone who trusted her and didn’t try to control her life. She deserved someone who didn’t try to make her feel bad every chance he had. And she deserved a friend who wasn’t socially inept.

Camilla broke my silence to let me know we were approaching the 7-Mile Bridge, a monumental moment regardless of how many times you’d driven on it. I took in the scenery, where the pristine blue skies and waters met. The only disruption to the seemingly perfect moment were the boaters, but rather than distracting the viewer, they added value and purpose to the environment around them.

I continued to drive, watchful of everything, including Camilla, who took pictures of everything around us, including a picture of myself that I was kind enough to grace with a smile. But I knew there was no way anything but the human eye could fully capture the beauty around us.

As we neared Key West, I noticed I was no longer rapping along with one of the greats, but instead was singing some of my favorite lyrics from Garden Grove. I hit the back button on the media player on Camilla’s phone so we could hear Sublime’s song from the beginning and purposely drained my brain so I couldn’t think further than the lyrics allowed me to. Camilla put the radio louder and let out an emphatic
wooo
as we made our way into Key West.

We immediately dropped off our belongings in the hotel room our friends had rented and launched the boat at the nearest ramp. As Jermaine had explained to us, we were lucky to have such nice weather, because spear fishing was tricky in the winter. Apparently, cold fronts caused high winds and rough seas, resulting in low visibility under water. Personally, I couldn’t get past the idea of a cold front in South Florida. In my four years in Miami, I had only had to wear a long sleeve shirt a handful of times.

***

With Jermaine as our captain, we headed towards a shallow reef only a few miles off of Key West.

“How shallow are we talking about?” I asked Jermaine.

“About ten to fifteen feet,” he replied.

“Why not deeper water?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too foolish.

“Just a preference,” he shrugged. “There’ll be plenty of fish. I’ve caught snappers, groupers and yellow jacks. Good sizes too.”

I nodded, trying to swallow the nerves that had crept up once I realized how vulnerable I would be under open water. “What about sharks?” I asked, my hands clammy and my throat dry.

“We’re good, country girl,” he reassured me. “Keep an eye out, but we’re good.”

“What about our equipment?” I asked, looking around the boat, not feeling any more at ease but not wanting the others to know. I didn’t own any scuba gear and hoped I hadn’t overstepped any boundaries asking if he had brought us all one.

“We got our spear guns stored in the bow along with our masks and fins.”

“How about the breathing thing and tank?” I asked cupping my hand to my mouth as if I were breathing into it. My anxiety only grew when Jermaine slowed down his boat.

“We’re free diving. No breathing thing or tank. Just our lungs,” he said, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

I nodded as if what he said made perfect sense and watched him put the boat in neutral. My heart continued its one man parade inside my chest when Jermaine instructed Brianna to ready the anchor. The beating was harder, faster, as I braced my arms around myself, willing my limbs not to tremble.

My friends geared up and were quickly in the water while Jermaine handed them their harpoons. Reluctantly, I jumped in the water and shook my head “no” when Jermaine tried handing me a harpoon.

“I think I’ll watch first,” I explained. But I didn’t. Instead, I just swam. As time passed, I felt my tension subside into what almost felt like calm and found myself completely enthralled by the colorful reef system that lied in shallower waters I came across. I always imagined I’d have to venture into deep, deep waters to witness something so out of the ordinary. But there it was, just a breath away.

I didn’t know the name of the fish I saw but I was pretty sure I had followed either a parrot fish or an angel fish. Whatever it was had led me to a wall of colors that left me astonished. I hated having to go back to the surface for air, but made sure to take an extra-large breath before my descent. I reached out, but didn’t touch the yellow, purple and orange sponges. The coral itself was mainly beige but with sporadic explosions of pink, brown, and yellow. As promised, I saw plenty of snapper and an array of other fish I couldn’t identify. But they intrigued me; the colony they had formed amongst each other on a reef that extended maybe a couple feet.

Eventually, Camilla joined me and quickly pointed to an empty space of just sand. I shrugged my shoulders and went up for air.

“Look closer,” Camilla instructed. After a quick but deep breath, we went under again and I stared at the empty space Camilla had pointed out until I saw the sand shift. Curiosity got the best of me so I swam closer and saw it; a stingray brushed the sand off himself and glided away. We followed it as we went back up for air and quickly went under again. At that moment, I wished with every fiber of my being that I had an underwater camera to eternalize this moment forever. A stingray!