The Ugly Truth

The next day I awoke with a smile on my face. My life was finally like all those girls I saw in movies. There was finally a guy to think about all day, knowing I had a slight possibility with him. Finally I could hear those sappy I’m-falling-love-songs and have a certain person in mind.

He had defended me. He had a nighttime swim with me. He had laughed with me. He had remembered me.

“Honey, you have a phone call,” my mom said, handing me the phone.

I was still in my bed, daydreaming about Riley. I pushed off the sheets and grabbed it.

“Hello?”

“Hi Lindsay. It’s Caroline.”

Caroline? Since when did she have my number?

“Hey,” I replied.

“I’m so sorry about last night. I was having a bad day and I took it out on you, but really you look as great as ever. You know, maybe Riley was right. There’s a lot to be jealous of. Please forgive me?”

Wow. I would never have seen that coming.

“Of course.”

“You’re awesome, Lindsay. So, do you have any plans for today?”

“Not really.”

“Wanna hang out?”

Again, not really. But she was being so nice I couldn’t just cut off her like that.

“Sure.”

“Great! I’m going to the beach with some friends. It’ll be really fun.”

Oh, great. I had always hated the beach. It’s the worst place to go when you aren’t very comfortable with your body.

“Lindsay? Are you still there?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay, well we’ll pick you up in ten minutes. See you then.”

“Bye.”

I packed all my beach junk into a big tote. Then, I proceeded to picking out what to wear.
I owned a few bikinis, but none of them seemed fit for the occasion. One was a little too tight, one was a little too loose, another had a pattern that I had gotten over months ago. Since they would be arriving any second, I settled for a brown one with little white polka dots.

I heard a car horn honk and raced downstairs, telling my mom where I was going and kissing her on the cheek before racing out the door.

There was a red convertible parked in front of my house, with a waving Caroline inside. In the driver’s seat there was a guy Caroline told me was Jake and in one of the backseats was none other than Ethan.

He smiled as I climbed into the seat beside him.

“Hey,” he said as I hooked on my seatbelt.

“Hi,” I replied, still embarrassed about what had happened with his car.

“I was hoping to see you again soon.”

I just smiled, because saying I wanted to see him again too would be a complete lie. On top of the whole wrecked car disaster, he was a bore. Nothing could have made her more miserable than having to spend more time with him.

I tried talking to Caroline, to make it a little less awkward between Ethan and I, but she was so engrossed talking to Jake that she gave me short, inattentive answers and I finally gave up.

The wind rushed so hard that I was afraid that some of our things would end up on the highway behind us. We passed a lot of different beaches and rows of palm trees till we finally arrived at our destination.

After setting down their towels and spreading out their things, I found myself beside Ethan once again. Fate is cruel.

He was more disgusting than ever, making constant remarks about his six pack and trying to flash them in my face at any chance possible.

I couldn’t escape his constant self absorbed football talk because Caroline was once again ignoring me. It was almost as if they had planned this.

“I think I’m just going to get in the water or something,” I said, interrupting another boring story of his.

“Alright.”

Thank goodness he didn’t say he wanted to too. I think I might have yelled if he did.

The awkward thing was that while I stood up to go, he was watching me intently, analyzing me as if I were a piece of meat.

I practically ran to the ocean water. I did not want him looking at me like that. It was repulsive. It was revolting.

The cold water felt wonderful. The heat was unbearable, and so was Ethan. Getting away from it all was very refreshing.

There was a group of girls playing volleyball in the water near me. They looked like they were having so much fun, yelling happily and laughing when they missed the ball. I wished so desperately to have friends like that. Those girls looked like they loved spending time with each other and genuinely loved each other.

Their ball went astray and landed on the water near me. One of them, with long wavy brown hair approached me to retrieve it.

“Here,” I said, throwing it her way.

“Thanks.”

She turned and began walking back to her friends, but suddenly she turned back again.

“If you want to play with us, you can, you know. You just look kind of alone there.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not alone,” I replied, pointing to Caroline, Jake and Ethan on the sand.

“Well, being with people doesn’t always mean you’re not alone. Is that guy you were beside your boyfriend?”

“God, no.”

“Good, because he looks like a jerk. And you look like you hate him.”
It was incredible how that girl could read people.

“I do, but it’s just-”

“A long story?”

“Yeah,” I breathed out.

“Well, just remember that there are other options. You don’t have to settle with the first idiot that comes your way.”

I just smiled, not knowing how to respond to that.

“So if you get sick of those friends of yours, you can hang with us.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think they’d like that very much.”

She shrugged.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Karen.”

“Well, Karen, you just made my day.”