Sugar Coated by Shannen Crane Camp Page B

date,” she replied with a laugh. “I went to the library to find something and he happened to be there, so he helped me out,” she explained.
    “And then he happened to be at the café?” he asked, still smiling even though Brynn could tell he was upset.
    “Ty,” Brynn said, stopping her walk through the streets of the city to look at her friend. “Don’t be mad at me. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to hang out with you guys today. I just wanted to go to the library to look for some stuff. It wasn’t anything personal.”
    Ty looked back at her, still wearing the same sad expression on his face before he shrugged his shoulders and attempted a smile.
    “It’s not a big deal,” he said, wrapping one arm around Brynn’s shoulders as they started walking toward her house again. “You still smell like the ocean,” he suddenly said, leaning over to smell her hair. “Even after you’ve changed your clothes from this morning I can still smell the salt on you. Normally y ou smell like sugar,” he joked.
    “The ocean must like me,” she said, not mentioning that she had been in th e water a second time that day.
    No need to cause unnecessary panic about her mental well being.
    “Or maybe it feels the need to counteract all of those sugar cubes you always carry around with you,” he answ ered, giving her a squeeze.
    “Yeah, that might be it,” she said, smiling up at Ty.
    He smiled back at her, his almond shaped brown eyes warm and inviting.
    “It’s nice out tonight. ” He was looking up at the large full moon that hung in the sky.
    “Surprise, surpr ise,” Brynn said sarcastically.
    “I still can’t believe you complain about the ‘almost always’ perfect weather,” Ty la ughed, shaking his head at her.
    “Actually, I hate to admit it, but I’m loving the weather tonight,” Brynn confessed. “I love the way the night feels on my skin.”
    “I love the way the night looks on your skin,” Ty said. “You look like you belong in the nighttime.”
    Brynn looked up at her friend questioningly as they walked through the city park, cutting across the grass as a shortcut to the cit y suburb they both called home.
    “The day time seems too straightforward to fit you,” he explained, looking down at her with the familiarity of a friend who knew her better than anyone. “Everything is taken at face value in the day. But at night, I think that’s when you shine. At night you have to look harder to see things for what they really are. It fits you perfectly. The girl who smells like sugar and blends in with the night.”
    Brynn rested her head on Ty’s shoulder as they left the park and came to their neighborhood. “I like that,” Brynn said finally. “At home in the night with the stars and the moon,” she chanted like these were the words to a poem.
    “With the shade of blue that matches he r eyes,” Ty added thoughtfully.
    The two friends stood outside of their houses, looking up at the sky. They didn’t say a word to one another and had somehow come to the silent agreement that they didn’t need to go inside just yet. Instead their heads were tilted upward, catching glimpses of stars in the indigo sky and breathing in the damp, cool feeling th at rolled in with the darkness.
    “I used to be partial to the daytime,” Ty suddenly said, “But you’re making a convincing argument for the night.”
    “I haven’t said anything,” Brynn reminded him, still looking up at the stars with wonder in her eyes.
    “You didn ’t really need to,” Ty answered.
    Brynn looked over at her friend an d smiled a warm, genuine smile.
    “Thanks for being such a great friend Ty,” she told him, pulling him into a tight hug that he returned gladly. It was nice for Brynn to feel his strong arms arou nd her. It felt safe. Familiar.
    “Thank you ,” he replied, burying his face in her neck as he hugged her in the moonlight.
    “Now go into your house, drink some water, eat some sugar, and get some