Nobody had really understood him.

Against the backdrop of the sun's last moment he sat, overlooking the endless ocean. The soft flicker of the fire, originally birthed from drunken boredom, now warmed the close group of friends.

He dug his feet deeper in the sand. The sand barely covered his ankles. He reached over and scooped up some sand and sprinkled it over his legs. The cool warmth of the sand brought relief.

The beer, which once unleashed feelings of brazen raw joy, ushered over the group a warm feeling of quiet contemplation.

His mind raced with questions. He had long since quashed his self-doubts, and the self-esteem issues that had long dogged him were long behind him. He didn’t bother asking the big philosophical questions anymore - too many sleepless nights had taught him better. Instead, the minutia of life … the little battles of everyday replayed in his mind.

There she sat, next to him. They both watched the embers from the fire carry into the azure night sky laughters of the day.

His mind raced back into the present. He looked over at her. Like a camera, his mind captured her profile at that moment. Like a child capturing a firefly in a glass cup, the longer he stared at her features, the long he held that sense of perfection. A sudden gust played with her hair. She carefully tucked her hair behind her left ear and huddled closer to the fire. She then noticed his admiring gaze and smiled back at him.

Their hands reached out to each other. He pulled her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and pulled his hand into her lap.

There they sat, as one, silently enshrining the memories of that day eternally.