Summer Love - 2. Chapter 2

Summer Love
Part 2

I leaned against the side of the pier, watching the roller coaster swerve around on its tracks over the sandy beach below. Aunt Edie had made me a peanut butter sandwich today, thankfully, but I'd broken down and bought a milk shake to drink along with it, and was sipping it slowly as I listened to kids screaming and the screeching metal of the coaster, with the constant background of the wurlitzer in the pier's famous carousel.

I hadn't spotted him in the waves when I came down to the beach this morning. After spending an hour or so “looking for the perfect spot” for my towel (and secretly hoping to see him), I finally settled down with my upper body in the shade of the umbrella and read through the second Xanth book in about two hours straight. Dangit, so much for my carefully planned out schedule; this one was supposed to take me all day.

Deciding I was thirsty, I'd put everything back in my pack and headed up to the pier. About the time I got to the cement stairs heading up, I'd realized I hadn't put enough lotion on my legs. Dangit number two. This was not turning out to be a good day.

So there I was, leaning against the pier railing rather than risking my legs on the rough wooden benches, wishing I was on the roller coaster, when behind me, I heard...

“Hey, um, book guy...”

It was his voice. I spun around so fast I dropped my shake, which of course promptly bounced through the railing and down to the beach below, splashing the sand with my precious dessert.

“Whoa, dude, sorry about that!” he exclaimed as he rushed to the railing next to me to look down at the lost drink.

I kept turning to face him, shaking my head as I caught myself staring again. Dang, even his ears were cute. “Um, it's okay,” I mumbled, sure I was sounding dumb again. “Wasn't your fault, anyway.”

He looked at me and grinned. “Naw, c'mon, I'll getcha another one.” He pushed off from the railing and headed towards the ice cream shop, then paused and looked back at me. “Really, come on!” Taking a step back, he grabbed my arm and started pulling me along with him.

I caught up with him after the first stumbling step, squeaking out, “Thanks, you don't have to...”

“Dude!” he said, cutting me off. “I got paid today, it's no sweat, really. Anyway, I wanted to thank ya again for letting me use your lotion yesterday. Saved me from a butt-ugly burn like my bud got out there!”

I followed him, letting him talk while I tried to figure out what was going on. This kinda stuff just didn't happen to me. Remember, nerd, geek, all that stuff? I'm the kid with the hair that won't stay down, the glasses that are bigger than a circus clown's, too-white skin from no sun and pimples to boot, all that? At least I'd finally gotten rid of my braces a couple of months ago, and I guess my skin was starting to tan up. But still...

A hand intruded in front of my eyes, which had drifted back to the boardwalk in front of my feet like always. “Yoohoo, Earth to Book Dude, come in!”

I blinked and looked back up at him, cheeks burning again. “Huh?” Eloquent as always.

He was grinning that grin again. “I asked what your name was, dude. I'm David.”

I suddenly noticed that he'd never let go of my arm, and had to swallow. I so needed to get away before I popped. But... “John,” I finally answered when my tongue started working again. “Hi, David.” Maybe I could handle this without running away this time.

“Cool, book dude John.” Dang, that was a cute grin. “Anyway,” he continued as we pushed through the ice cream shop doors, “what d'you want, dude? Another vanilla shake?”

I shook my head. “'s fine, I'll just get a water.” I turned and tried pulling away from his grip, but it just tightened.

“Dude, that is so lame, get over here.” A tug and I stumbled up to the counter as he spoke to the guy behind it. His “Vanilla shake and a chocolate malt please” was followed by him slapping five bucks on the counter.

“Yeah, yeah, take a seat, I'll bring 'em out,” came the gruff response, and God, er, I mean, David finally let go of my arm to scoop up the returned change.

“There, now ya gotta drink it, 'cuz I hate vanilla shakes,” he said, grinning at me.

I did one of my half-grins that my friends always tease me about, saying I look like I've got a rubber band between my ear and one side of my mouth. “Thanks. You didn't need to do that.”

He punched me lightly in the arm and answered, “Don't be lame. C'mon, I wanna grab that booth.” Then he was rushing over to one of the red vinyl booths that was just being vacated, his flip-flops squeaking on the floor.

I followed at a more sedate pace, taking the seat across the booth from him, then looking around and out the window, anywhere but at him, while I tried to think of what to say.

“So what were ya readin' yesterday, Book Dude?”

I looked back at him, then quickly down at my hands before I got lost in those eyes. Shrugging, I answered, “Just a fantasy book, A Spell for Chameleon.” There, I said it, now he could laugh about it.

“Cool, Xanth, those're fun books! I love how her mood changes. Man, I'd hate to meet her when she's at the nasty sourpuss stage!”

I looked up, surprised that he even knew the books, much less liked 'em. “Yeah. I love the descriptions of Mundania, and all the cool puns he uses.” I actually had a real grin on for once, and it stayed like it was glued on as we talked about the Xanth books. Somewhere along the way, the shakes got delivered and emptied, and the second book pulled back out of my backpack to look at the map and talk about places.

“Shit, is that the time?” he suddenly asked, twisting his head around to look at my watch, then scooting out of the booth. “I'm late for work! Seeya later, book dude!”

I called out, “Seeya, David,” as he disappeared through the door and ran down the pier, then looked back at my watch. We'd sat here for over an hour and a half, wow. That still meant it was two and a half hours 'til dinner, not really time to go home yet. I wondered where he worked, imagining the different places along the pier. I couldn't picture him in the souvenier shop, or selling tickets for the carousel. As my mind wandered, suddenly I was picturing him in a wetsuit, and quickly had to cross my legs. What was going on with me?!?

The next day was Saturday, and there was no way I wanted to go to the beach on a Saturday. Well, except maybe to see if David was... but anyway, Aunt Edie decided it was cleaning day, so I got to help her dust and vacuum the entire house, clean the windows, mop the kitchen floor, and fold the towels and stuff after they came out of the dryer. I was so spaced out that she finally blew up.

“Johnathan Duke Michaels, you've been mopping that same corner for 5 minutes! If you're trying to get out of cleaning, then you'd better get that idea out of your head. Now give me that mop and go put the laundry away, and it had better be folded neatly!”

Man, for an old lady she sure could yell. Anyway, yeah, I was totally spacey thinking about David. I tried telling myself it was just because he was a new friend, and the only thing that was going to keep me on the right side of stir-crazy for these coming weeks, but I knew it was more than that. I just couldn't admit it to myself, even while I was imagining his eyes, or the way his cheeks dimpled when he smiled, or how his nose turned up at the tip, or ... um, yeah, I was remembering a lot of details.

Aunt Edie kept me at housework until about 4, then kicked me out of the house. “You're driving me to distraction, John. Go to the park or something, I need some peace.” Of course the TV turned on as soon as I was out the door.

I knew where the park was from years of coming here, so I walked up the boulevard away from the beach and made my way to the little patch of green set within the pastel neighborhood. There wasn't much here - a sandy play area and swingset for kids, a few benches, and the grassy area itself, not even twice as big as our front lawn at home. The park was as busy as it ever gets, with three or four little kids pushing each other around in the sand, some high schoolers throwing a frisbee back and forth, and a couple of older folks out letting their dogs poop in the grass.

I flopped out in one of the swings, just sort of pushing myself around without much effort, as I watched the frisbee game. Those kids looked just a bit older than David did, but I didn't get any sort of the same kinds of feelings looking at them. One of the girls looked even bigger in her chest than Loni Anderson (she was in WKRP In Cincinatti; go look it up), but even she didn't evoke the same tingly feel as I got when I was thinking about David.

One of the frisbee players missed his catch, and the disc spun my way. Distracted, I reached out to catch it and missed, of course, just hitting it enough to knock it to the sand under the swings. I hopped to my feet quickly and scooped it up, then headed towards the guy coming over to retrieve it.

“You wanna join in?” he asked, looking at me with that superior jock “I'm so much better than you” expression that I'm so used to seeing. I shook my head and just handed the frisbee back to him, then turned back towards the swings. Behind me, I heard laughter, and “What a geek”. Ears burning, I changed directions and headed back to the street and back towards “home”. Maybe the soaps would be interesting today.

Last update: 2008-06-30 20:10:58 PDT