Short Story

The cool breeze of the Mediterranean rustled Carlos' hair as he settled down on the beach with the five other friends who had acompanied him on the road trip to the sleepy town just off Genoa. It was the first summer they had spent together, all of them having just arrived from various parts of the world. One of them in particular, Maria, was a bright-eyed vivacious woman from an equally small town in Spain called Caldes de Malavella. They had known each other for only a week, yet anyone watching them would swear that they had a lifetime between them. Carlos watched her open one of the ten bottles of prosecco they had brought with them to celebrate their weeklong freedom from the cares of the world, and as he did she turned back and met his eye. As she smiled, she blew him a kiss which in turn made him mirror the same silly grin he was seeing on her face. "A kiss to build a dream on", he thought as he allowed himself to slowly sink into the pure bliss his thoughts were drowning him in.