One of the Boys

“What do you mean? If you don’t like the beach we can go somewhere else,” he said.

“No, I mean I can’t date you anymore. I don’t want to date you anymore,” I said. There, it was finished, I had broken up with Joe.

“Why?” Joe asked. I looked at him and saw he had tears in his eyes. Ugh, why did he have to make this so hard?

“Joe, I just can’t go out with you anymore,” I repeated.

“Are you in love with someone else?” Joe asked. He looked depressed. He at least deserved to know the truth.

“Yes,” I answered. His expression turned mad.

“Who is he?” Joe yelled at me. I took a step back, scared. I had never seen Joe act like this before.

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. If Joe found out I was in love with his brother Nick would be dead when Joe got home.

“Who is he? What’s his name?” Joe said through clenched teeth. He took a step towards me and I took a step back.

“None of your business,” I said defensively. Joe walked up to me and grabbed me by the collar.

“Who is he?” he asked slowly. I pushed him away.

“I already told you, it’s none of your business, now take me home,” I demanded. Joe walked up to me and grabbed me roughly by the shoulders.

“Who is he?!” Joe yelled at me.

“Let go of me!” I yelled back. Joe let go of me and backed up.

“Fine. Don’t tell me. Find your own way home!” he yelled. He ran to his car and drove away. Great, I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t have my cell phone. The one day I accidentally leave my cell phone home, is the day I need it the most. Just my luck. What am gonna do? I walked along the beach, thinking about ways to get home. I could hitchhike, but that was dangerous. Suddenly I had an idea. If I could find a payphone I could call Nick. I had a dollar, and the machine only took coins, but I’m sure I could find someone with change for a dollar. I saw a woman up ahead of my. She was laying on a beach towel, in a bikini, reading a book. She looked about 20, maybe a little older. I walked up to her and she looked at me when I stopped in front of her.

“Excuse me, do you have change for a dollar? I need money for a payphone,” I said.

“No, sorry,” she said, then she turned her attention back to her book. Well, there’s other people on the beach. I walked around her and looked for another person on the beach. I saw a middle-aged man sitting in a chair with an beach umbrella in the sand, shading him from the sun. He was just staring at the ocean. When I got near him he turned to look at me.

“Excuse me, do you have change for a dollar? I need to use a payphone,” I said. He stood up and reached in his pockets. He handed me a quarter.

“All I have is a quarter. You can have it,” he said. I smiled at him.

“Thank you,” I said. He smiled back at me and sat back down. I kept walking asking anyone who was on the beach if they had change for a dollar.

In twenty minutes I had $1.25. Now all I needed to do was find a payphone. I walked back to where Joe had ditched me and started to walk down the road, in search for a gas station with a payphone. I didn’t have to walk far. About ten minutes down the road I found a payphone. I ran up to it and put four quarters in. I dialed Nick’s number, and on the 2nd ring he picked up.

“Hello?” he answered. He sounded confused.

“Nick! It’s Alex,” I said.

“Alex? I didn’t recognize your number. Did you get a new cell phone number?”

“No, I’m calling from a payphone. Listen Nick, I need you to come get me. I’m stranded on a beach,” I said.

“How?” Nick asked.

“Joe brought me here on a date and I broke up with him, so he got mad and left me here,” I explained. I knew I was leaving out some of the details, but I didn’t feel like being interrogated.

“Joe left you at the beach with no way home?!” Nick yelled.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Which beach are you at?” Nick asked. I remembered the sign saw before I broke up with Joe.

“The North Beach,” I answered.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can-.” Nick started when suddenly, the line went dead. I realized I had used up my time. I should get back to the beach. Nick would expect me to be there.

Suddenly I felt a raindrop on my head. I looked up at the sky and saw raindrops falling. I sighed. Whether it was raining or not I needed to get back to the beach. As I walked down the road back to the beach the rain soaked me. I got back to the beach in ten minutes. I walked into the parking lot and saw a red convertible parked there. Nick was here! I smiled as I ran to the car. I looked inside and saw Nick wasn’t in the car. He must be looking for me on the beach. I ran to the beach and saw Nick with an umbrella walking around the beach calling my name. I ran up to Nick.

“Nick!” I called out when I got close. Nick whipped around and smiled when he saw me. He ran over to me. He looked me up and down. I must have looked like a drowned rat.

“Are you ok?” he asked, concerned.

“Just a little cold and wet, but I’m fine,” I assured him.

“You can stand under my umbrella,” Nick said. I wasn’t standing under the umbrella, it was a small umbrella and it didn’t look like two people could stand under it. Suddenly Nick smirked. I caught on immediately.

“Cause when the sun shines we’ll shine together, told you I’d be there forever, said I’ll always be your friend, took an oath Imma stick it out to the end, now that it’s raining more than ever, know that we’ll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella, you can stand under my umbrella ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, under my umbrella, ella, ella, ella, eh ,eh, eh, eh ,eh.” We both sang, then we laughed. Nick grabbed my hand and pulled me under the umbrella. We were really close under that umbrella. I felt butterflies in my stomach from standing that close to Nick. When we got back to the car Nick opened my door and I got in, then Nick got in on his side. He didn’t take his keys out to start the car, he turned to look at me.

“So, what exactly happened?” he asked.

“Joe brought me here, and I broke up with him, so he pushed me down and told me to find my own way home. Then he left,” I said. He looked intently at me for a moment. He knew I was leaving something out.

“You’re not telling me something,” Nick stated.

“Ok, fine. Joe asked my why I was breaking up with him and I told him I was in love with someone else. He asked my who I was in love with and when I didn’t tell him he pushed me down and left,” I confessed.

“Who are you in love with?” Nick asked surprised. This is why I didn’t want to tell him that. I knew he would ask that, and I couldn’t tell him that I was in love with him. He just wanted to be friends, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.

“None of your business,” I said.

“Ok, fine. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Nick said. He took his keys out ad started the car. I turned the radio on.

“I wish Joe had said that,” I said. I still can’t believe that Joe did that, he never acted like that with me before. He had always been so caring and sweet, but never anything like I had seen him act like today.

“If it makes you feel better, I yelled at him for 5 straight minutes,” Nick said with a shrug of his shoulders. That made me smile a little bit.

“A little better,” I asked.

“Yeah. He deserved it, he was a jerk for deserting you without a ride home,” Nick said angrily. Nick backed out of the parking lot and drove away from the beach. I turned on the radio.

“But I can say what I wanna say, I say I wanna blow you away, be with you every night, am I squeezing you to tight? But I can say what I wanna see, I wanna see you go down on one knee, marry me today, guess I’m wishing my life away, for these things I’ll never say.”

The radio has a weird way of playing songs that I can relate to.



When we got to my house I walked in and immediately went to my room to change into warm, dry clothes. When I came out Nick was sitting on the couch, watching some TV show. When he heard my door open he turned the TV off and turned around.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Nick asked me. I nodded.

“I’m fine,” I walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. Suddenly I heard a phone ring. I watched Nick pull his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Hello?” he answered. He was silent for a moment.

“Baby, I can’t come over right now, I’m with a friend,” Nick said. I groaned inwardly. He was talking to his girlfriend.

“No! I’m not in love with her, me and Alex are just friends!” Nick yelled into the phone. “Tina? Hello?” Nick groaned and closed his phone.

“She hang up on you?” I asked, even thought I already knew the answer.

“Yeah. She gets mad easily. She drives me crazy sometimes,” Nick said.

“Then why are you still dating her?” I asked. Nick was silent for a few seconds.

“I don’t know,” he finally said with a shrug.

I have to admit I was happy when Nick said he didn’t know why he was dating Tina. Maybe they might break up and I might have a chance with Nick.

“I guess I’m dating her cause I love her, I mean sometimes the people you love drive you crazy right?” Nick asked. My heart sank. Just when I thought I had a chance. Just when I got my hopes up. I just have to face the facts, Nick and I will never be anything more than friends.