It was the start of summer before heading off to college when my bff Patti and I decided to forsake our home beach of Coney Island for what we hoped was a fun adventure exploring the many beaches along the south shore of Long Island. Her brother Tim had headed off to Hawaii to try his hand surfing big waves and left his classic VW camper van parked right there in their driveway, so Patti found the key in his room and off we went.
Besides being bffs Patti and I were lovers. We often told people we were lesbians but we both dated guys from time to time. Sometimes the same guy at the same time, or two guys at the same time. We liked mixing things up and seeing each other have fun.
To be honest I could easily have "gone lez" for Patti. I was head over heels in love with her and she felt the same way about me. We were alike in so many ways yet so different in others. For starters she was a tall Irish beauty, 5'10", 120 lbs, slender but not a stick figure. She had curves in all the right places! Her breasts were 34b with pointy nipples that always seemed erect. She had red hair that was lush and wavy and wild (as was her bush!). You could spot her a mile away. I know this for a fact because one time we'd been wandering along a beach and had somehow gotten separated. At one point I looked up and spotted her way down the other end. For fun I paced it off and it was a full mile when I reached her!
Her eyes were pale blue and reminded me of the sea on a calm day when the sun was at a certain point in the sky. I could stare into them for hours and often did. She had a cute Irish nose with a sprinkling of faint freckles. They were the only freckles on her whole body, trust me I searched every square inch of her flawless white skin and never found a freckle besides the ones on her nose! And the funny thing is despite all the hours we spent on the beach every day she never tanned. But she rarely got a sunburn either!
I guess in fairness I should describe myself too. I'm 5'7", 115 lbs, 34c, olive-skinned, also slender but with a more athletic build than Patti. I tan easily and almost never burn. By the end of that summer I was literally almost black. We had also "borrowed" one of Tim's surfboards because I loved to surf especially just as the sun was rising. I had long black hair down to my ass and green eyes. Patti said they changed color and she could see the storm rising in them when my Sicilian temper was about to flare up. I guess I do have a tendency to erupt but never with her. In fact that whole summer we never once had an argument, not once. Which is amazing when you think of it as the Irish are just as short-tempered as us Sicilians!
The only time I saw Patti lose it was when we pulled into her driveway at the end of the summer. Tim was standing there right where his van was supposed to be parked looking pretty pissed off. He had returned a few days early from Hawaii and our plan to park the van back where he'd left it, no harm no foul, was suddenly out the window. He was about to lay into her over it when Patti jumped out the driver's side door and flung the key at his feet. And then to my amazement she laid into him with an Irish accent I'd never heard her use and I'd known her since kindergarten.
It went something like this with a heavy Irish brogue, "Not ONE word out of you Timothy Michael PAT-rick Mc________! I did you a bloody favor becuz yer van woulda sat there all freaking summer baking in the sun with four flat tires and a dead battery and rats nesting in the engine compartment! You should be thanking me for taking care of it. Not one scratch on it that wasn't there before you left for bloody Hawaii and with a fresh oil change and a full tank of gas, bejezzus!" Tim opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter one word she continued, "I don't advise that brother Timothy or I'll rip you a new one the likes of which you'll not soon ferget!" At that point Tim (I'd never heard anyone call him Timothy before) decided to call it quits and bent down to pick up the key.
Patti turned around and came over to my side of the van with a wink and a smile, "I guess I told him, eh, Tam? But let's not push our luck. Grab your bags and head home, I'll call you later". Mind you, that heavy accent was gone now when she spoke to me. I must have looked like an idiot with my jaw wide open and my green eyes bulging after her performance.
I was about to say something like, "What the FUCK, Patti??!!"
Then she reached in the open window and pinched my cheek with another wink. Suddenly that accent was back, "Get on with you now, you fat-ass Eye-talian wench! Can't yer see me bloody brutha is needing his van!" Holy shit! I didn't dare try to get past her by opening the door with her standing in front of it. Instead I scrambled between the front seats into the back, grabbed my beach bag and backpack then went out the side door and took off almost at a run. My house was just up the block and I stopped about halfway and looked back. Tim had gotten into his van and was parking it back in his spot. Patti was standing there with her hands on her hips looking like she was supervising him. Everything looked like it was in slow motion. Patti turned and looked up the street in my direction, her wild red hair was backlit by the sun and was like a halo of fire around her head. Even from this distance she looked like a goddess. A fiery Irish one! I raised one hand to shade my eyes looking into the sun at her. I guess she thought I had waved because she raised a hand back and it seemed like time stood still. If I had known that was the last time I'd see my Patti alive I would have dropped my bags and run back into her arms and never let go.
