Summer Love - 5. Chapter 5

Summer Love
Part 5

I felt like a zombie the next morning. It was like I'd barely slept; my eyes didn't want to stay open and my head felt stuffed full of cotton. The bedsheets were evidence of my restless night; they'd been pulled out from being tucked under the mattress, and were half off the bed - the thin top blanket was completely on the floor in front of the TV. The only reason I was awake at all was the bright morning sunlight shining in from the kitchen.

I dragged myself into the bathroom and got in the shower. As I stood there, not feeling the warm water cascading around me, I thought about the two-and-something weeks I had left of this so-called vacation. I wished I was home programming on my computer, playing stupid role playing games with my best friend, or whatever; anywhere but here. I didn't want to deal with “here” anymore.

Eventually, I cleaned up and got out. I sighed a bit, knowing as soon as I went back out of the bathroom, Aunt Edie was going to yell at me about wasting hot water like that; then I just shrugged to myself, finished getting dressed, and pushed out thrugh the door.

I came out to the living room to find Aunt Edie picking up the blankets from the floor. Without looking at me, she said, “Something's bothering you, Jonathan. I don't know what it is, and you don't want to talk, and that's fine. But whatever it is, you can't hide from it in here.” Turning to face me and lifting the tossed-off blankets for emphasis, she continued, “Last night was enough of that. You're to go outside today; boy like you needs more sunlight anyway. I don't care what you do, but you're not to come home until dinner time, or until you've cheered up some.” With that, she walked past me carrying the bedding to the laundry room.

I stood there, the sleepy expression on my face melting into a petulant frown. Great, now I was even getting kicked out of here? What a wonderful vacation.

I stomped over to my suitcase and grabbed the book on top - making sure it wasn't one of my Xanth novels this time - and turned to the door. From the back of the house, Aunt Edie called out, “Don't you dare slam my door, Jonathan. There's lunch money on the TV; take that and go.”

I blinked and checked the TV. 10 bucks?!? That was way more than lunch money. I could get food, ride the roller coaster once, and still have half left over.

I paused halfway to the beach, leaning over and panting. Only two blocks and gasping like a dying fish, how lame. Anyway, catching my breath let me think some, too. I realized I didn't want to go to the pier yet - it wasn't even close to lunchtime yet, and I didn't want to burn through that 10 bucks in my pocket. (I also didn't want to risk running into him, not after yesterday.) Continuing down the road at a more sedate walking pace, I decided to go poke around the beachfront stores.

The first couple of stores were lame - hats and sunglasses, crystal stuff (although I did look in the window to see if there were any bells I might get for my grandma for Christmas). I poked into the third one to browse the OP shirts, but one of those would waste all of the “lunch money” and eat into the rest of my allowance, too. After a last, longing look at a shirt with a print of the sun setting over the beach, I headed for the next shop.

This one definitely caught my interest. It was tiny - about as big as the bait shop where David worked (Is he working? I wondered, then quickly shushed myself) - with a counter just big enough for the cash register at the back. The displays on the walls to either side were what pulled me in, both the small, gleaming, polished rocks on one side and the variety of shells on the opposite wall. Dropping my backpack against the front of the counter, blind to the suspicious look from the guy behind the register, I immediately started running my fingers through one of the bins of tumbled rocks, sifting through and looking for my favorites, hematite and tiger's eye.

Half an hour later, after the cranky store owner had finally growled at me to “Buy sumpin' or geddout”, I was back on the street, poorer by a couple of bucks but in possession of a small bag of two of the long, pointy “turret” type sea shells. I flopped onto one of the sidewalk benches, trying to figure out (maybe a bit too late) what I was going to do with the shells for the rest of the day, before I got back to Aunt Edie's house. I certainly couldn't go on the roller coaster holding 'em, and I was worried they'd be crushed in my backpack.

While I worried over it, I glanced up the street just in time to see him. David was coming out of a street a block up from Aunt Edie's, hands shoved into shorts pockets. I bit my lip as I watched him shade his eyes, look slowly up and down the beach, then shrug and head onto the pier.

With a shake of my head, I forced myself to stop watching him. Dropping my eyes, I looked at the paper bag that I'd dropped into my lap. Maybe... I thought hesitantly, maybe I can ask him to keep these in the bait shop. Then I shook my head again. I didn't want to give him the chance to ignore me again, or say no, or laugh at me.

I stared at the bag, trying to figure out what to do with it. Going back to Aunt Edie's just to drop it off didn't seem like a good idea; beyond her probably being cranky at me for coming back that early, I didn't feel like making the walk up to her house and back. Now maybe if David were walking with me, it wouldn't be that bad...

I realized my thoughts had trailed off and I was just thinking about the way David's legs looked as he was walking onto the pier. Cheeks flushing, I stood up in a jerk, then turned and headed for the pier. I figured the roller coaster would be enough for me to stop thinking about him, and just hoped the shells would be okay in my pack.

Laughing and out of breath, I got in line for the roller coaster again, without a thought about my dwindling “lunch money”. That first ride, I got stuck in the middle, but this time I was gonna get the front car, no matter what. The line moved pretty quick, but when I got to the station itself, there was another line just for the first car.

After waiting impatiently and watching four trains go by, I finally got to the front of the line. Next train, the front seat was mine. Yeah! I could barely stand still from anticipation, bouncing up and down on my toes, leaning over the gate to check if the train was coming yet, and letting out a whoop when it finally rattled into the station.

“Hey, book boy, think there's room for me?”

I spun around, eyes and mouth both going wide at David standing behind me with a grin on his face. It's a good thing he was so close, too; leaning on the gate like the idiot I was, I probably would have broken my head when it opened if he hadn't caught me.

Of course, that just meant I was pulled even closer to him, and all I could think about was his hands on my arms, his face looking up at mine from inches away, and the fact that I couldn't breathe with him so close.

“Kid, you gonna get on or what?” The operator sounded cross.

I closed my mouth with a snap and nearly jumped backwards, breaking the grip of David's hands, then spun around and quickly climbed into the car. I heard the footsteps behind me, so this time I wasn't shocked when I sat down and he was right next to me, but the car was small enough that our arms were touching and I couldn't look at him because I felt like a fool and my cheeks were burning and he was still right next to me and was going to be for the entire ride and --

The car lurched forward when the brakes released, and I heard the people behind us cheering. David wasn't. I finally, slowly, turned my head to look at him, saw his face furrow, grin turning into a worried frown.

“Dude, is it okay? I saw you in line and talked people into letting me get up behind ya. Figured it'd be fun.”

The clacking of the lift chain made it hard to hear him. Made it hard for me to hear myself think. But I finally managed to convince myself to stop being stupid, and nodded. “Sorry, David, you just surpriAAAIIEE!!” With that, we were over the top of the lift hill and diving down and around. All other thoughts fled, my arms were in the air alongside David's, he and I bumped against each other with each bounce and through each turn, and by the end of the ride our arms twisted together and my throat was hoarse from all the screaming and laughing.

Stumbling off the train after the bar was released, he grabbed my arm and tugged me towards the exit. “Come oonnn, dude,” he said, his surfer boy drawl coming out even stronger now. “I'm starvin', like ready to eat a whale!” He still had the ear-to-ear grin on his face from the ride, but now it was directed entirely at me. “Or at least a few hot dogs!”

I laughed, following his rushed pace - I had to, he still had his hand gripped around my arm. As we passed the line exit, though, I stopped suddenly, letting my arm jerk out of his hold. “Justasec!” I called out, then turned and ran back in - my pack and stuff were still in the holding area where I'd left 'em before riding the coaster the first time. When I got back, I just barely caught a glimpse of that worried frown before the grin was back on his face.

“Right, dude, now let's eat before I starve to death.”

Have you ever noticed how hot dogs, ketchup, pickles, and onions just go together perfectly? Hot dogs've probably been my favorite food forever. The one I ate that afternoon still stands out in my memory, however, as one of the best I'd ever had, walking along the sand next to David as he'd nudge me and point out various surfers doing tricks on the waves. “Look't that, dude had an awesome wave and he wiped it.” What I couldn't believe was that I was still on my first (and only) hot dog, and he'd already finished both of his. (Or that I was walking next to him at all like this.)

“Hey, Candles, you hittin' the waves today or what?”

I jolted backwards from the voice sounding right in front of me, jerking my head back around from watching the guy David and pointed out. Of course I managed to be taking a bite of my hot dog at that moment, and so the last bit flew from my hand as I choked the part in my mouth down mostly unchewed.

The guy looked like a high school jock, probably 16 or 17. His skin was tanned darker than David's, hair sun-bleached in streaks, with a necklace of little shells hanging against his shirtless chest. He gave me a mocking sneer before looking back at David, thumbs hooked into the waistband of his knee-length trunks while he waited for an answer.

David's voice perked up even more than it had been before. “Jody!” He stepped forward and bumped his shoulder into the guy's, Jody's I guess, chest - David was shorter than I was, remember, and Jody was a good half foot taller than me. “Dude, yeah, I'll be out there, I just gotta let lunch settle, y'know?”

Now I recognized the guy from the group of surfers I'd seen David with each time, out on the water. The one I'd seen him laughing with, talking with, generally hanging around. The hot dog started feeling like lead in my stomach.

“Cool,” Jody said, flashing another one of those half-sneers at me before looking at David again. “The gang's all here, come hang.” He turned and headed towards a lifeguard shack, apparently certain that David would follow.

I'd already started turning away as David took a step after him; then he looked back at me and said, “C'mon, John, come meet the guys, they're cool.” He did his usual thing of grabbing my arm, and I shrugged and fell in next to him. I mean, they're his friends, they can't be as bad as the jocks back home, right?

“Yeah, Johnny-boy, come meet the guys.” came floating back from Jody. I hadn't noticed that he'd stopped a few yards ahead and was watching us with that same sneering smirk. I stopped and pulled my arm out of David's grip. They were going to be just as bad.

“Shut up, Jody,” David said, then turned to me with an imploring look on his face. “Ignore him, John, he's a jerk to people he doesn't know. Besides, you gotta get in the shade and put sunscreen on, you're already getting a burn.”

I blinked and looked down at my pale arms and legs - still pale, even after close to a week of being out in the sun. My nerdness knows no bounds. Anyway, I can see they're starting to turn pink, and wince. That's gonna hurt.

I looked back at Jody, but the older teen had already turned and started towards the ring of friends again. Then David said, “Pleeeease?” in such a fake little-kid voice that I couldn't help but giggle. Anyway, he was right, I had to get sunscreen on, so I shrugged again and nodded. David grinned, exclaimed, “Cool!”, grabbed my hand, and took off running for Jody and the lifeguard shack, flip-flops flicking sand against my legs as I stumbled along trying to keep up.

Last update: 2010-05-02 08:04:48 PDT