Under the Moonlight

Jayla's heart was beating like thunder. She could feel every drop of blood race through her veins. Her bare feet scraped against the concrete as she pushed forwards running without a destination. She was angry. That anger was like fuel. Every thought about him and how he hurt her was like a flame. In the mix of flame and fuel she was on fire. How much longer could she go on like this? She let her knees drop to the ground. A feeling of surrender begged to be felt. Exhausted and betrayed she extinguished herself. She let the tears roll down as she became a pile of ashes. She found a place on the sand to collapse. She just could not maintain the chaos.

An hour passed by as she sat intertwined with rejection and hurt. How could he have done this? Two years together, they were happy and in love, right? How could he cheat on her? And on their beach vacation? She couldn't get the picture out of her mind of Austin laying in bed with this girl in the room that Jayla and Austin had rented for the weekend for a special getaway. Jayla had been at the spa all day that day and decided to grab a bottle of wine on her way home for them to share. How could he have done this?

She sat their shivering on the cold sand, alone. Where was she supposed to go now? She remembered she still the bottle of wine in her bag. She pulled it out and decided she was just going to sit there and drink and let god figure this one out. She was about half way through the bottle and starting to breathe steady again. She heard someone walking behind her.

"Hey, hey, are you ok?" Said a man that was working on the beach. He was picking up the beach litter. "How appropriate." she thought. "Actually, I am feeling like trash right now, are you here to pick me up too?" she mumbled as she put the wine bottle up to her mouth and took another sip. She looked up at him. He had beautiful brown eyes. They were soft and caring. She felt a little embarrassed now. She was expecting to be judged. Now she was noticing that he really seemed concerned for her. "I can pick you up if you are ok with that." he said as he extended his hand. She felt the warmth of his hand and as he lifted her up she felt cared for. She felt she had to explain why she was laying there on the beach like a hot mess. As she anxiously began to explain her messy story, he softly placed his finger on her lip. "You don't need to explain anything. Let me help you forget the pain...". he went to his car to grab a bag of plastic wine glasses that he found earlier on the beach. He filled them both a glass. "Merlot is my favorite." he whispered as he raised his glass to toast hers. "Mine too!" She whispered back. They walked along the beach under a moonlit sky for hours that night. They talked about all the beautiful things they could think about. They danced along the waters edge. She was happy. Maybe happier than she ever had been.

She reflected back to her situation from earlier that day. Maybe the world that she had created with Austin had to burn away so that she could start fresh. Maybe this is exactly what her soul was yearning for but she just had not been listening. She felt relief. She felt excited to began a new creation. She smiled to herself when she realized that on the same night of her most devastating breakup, she had the most amazing first date.