Seashells

July 11th, 2008

It took a while to recover from that whole "I got hit by jizz-filled balloons" thing, as Sim had put it. We spent the next week doing surprisingly normal stuff. And since it was normal, it wasn't particularly notable.

Things between you and I were okay. We were acting like friends, just normal friends. It was easy enough, but I still felt like it was completely wrong. I think you felt it too. Yet you still did nothing to change that.

I don't know how often you talked to this girlfriend of yours. In past years, it wouldn't have been very often because you didn't have a phone, obviously, but we never used our phones that much in the years before anyway. This was really the only year that we used our cell phones often. I guess it was convenient at the very least.

Whenever I saw you texting, I wondered if it was her. I tried to think that it was just one of your guy friends back in New York, but something always told me that it was her, and you were texting her while I was right there. It made me feel inferior, like she had won and I had lost. In a way, I guess that's what it actually was.

After a week of doing normal things like hanging out at the ice cream parlor or going to the beach, Matt decided to spice things up a little yet again. We knew it would probably end badly, but being the people we were, everyone agreed to his plan.

Once again, it was staged in his backyard in swim suits. I wondered if we were going to be doing the whole water balloon fight again, except with a new, grosser substance inside the balloons. Then I figured that it was Matt, and he wouldn't do repeats.

"Alright," he said, once everyone arrived (Halden was twenty minutes late, and we all sat there, a bit terrified). "No one is going to attack you this time, so be thankful."

"Oh, I am," you muttered. I had to smile at that one because he got you good last time.

"Quick, someone check inside the house thing on the slide," Des said.

"No," Matt said, sitting in front of the only entrance to it. "Don't worry, it's not weapons. But you're right, the stuff we're using is going to be in here."

"Just tell us already," Sim said, with her trademark eye roll.

"Alright. I hope you aren't afraid to get gross," he said.

"We're hanging out with you," I said. "I really don't think we expected otherwise."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we're going to be using this slide here," he said, patting the plastic green surface. "We're finally going to get some use out of this thing."

"Why do you even have it?" Sim asked.

"Because I play on it everyday, duh," he replied. He then pulled out two large unlabeled jugs of yellowish liquid.

"Matt, you know how to use the bathroom," you said. "Actually... I take that back."

"It's vegetable oil, you retard."

"What, are we going to like, drink this shit or something?" Halden asked. He looked a bit disgusted.

"I wish. Watch," he said. Matt unscrewed the cap off of one of the bottles. He then leaned over and tipped some of the contents of the jug right onto the slide. "You see, water slides are overrated. This is how I do it."

"This is nasty," Sim said.

"But fun," he said. "You know how fast you go with water? Imagine oil."

"Are you sure this is even safe?" Karen asked, speaking for the first time since we'd gotten here.

"Of course."

"So you've tried this before?"

"No."

"Then... how do you - "

"I just know."

"If you say so."

"Who wants to go first?" Matt asked. He was answered with silence. I wondered why he didn't want to go first. Either way, he had a tactic to make people take their turns. "People who don't go get a great big kiss from Mattie."

"Fuck, I'll go," Halden said, knowing that Matt would probably actually kiss everyone. Matt doesn't go back on his word. Halden got on the slide and slid down. And, well... let's just say it was a horrible, yet amazing idea.

Matt was right - it was so much better than a water slide. And exponentially more dangerous. Yet everyone wanted to try it in the end. The best part was when Matt tried to climb up the slide backwards and ended up falling off the edge. His screams are so manly.

"I thought I was going to die, okay?" he said from the ground.

No one could stop laughing at that, and now we knew it was a bad idea to climb up the slide. I'll admit that the whole thing was really dangerous. It continued this way until we ran out of oil. It didn't take very long because somebody (you) liked to pour down half the jug when it was their turn.

"Ew, I don't want to hose off again," Sim said.

"Well then don't blame me if you're covered in oil on the ride home," Matt said. He hesitated for a second, and then turned the hose on full blast. Sim, of course, screamed. And that was when I stopped paying attention and started talking to you.

"This feels like it's happened before," you said to me.

"Well, it's just like last week," I said. "Matt's backyard. A horrible, horrible, idea of his. And we end up covered in nasty shit."

You laughed. "I know, I know. Why do we even listen to this kid anymore?"

"Because I'm sexy!" Matt shouted, having overheard our conversation.

"Yeah... Anyway," you said. "It is fun. I'll have to enjoy it while I can."

"What do you mean?"

"This is my last year on the island."

"What?" I was entirely confused, because you never said anything about this before. "Why?"

"I'm graduating next year, and then I'll probably start learning how to take over my parents' restaurant in the summer. So I won't be here. I think they'll be taking my sister here, though."

"Wait, what? How old are you?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure of the answer. I was extremely confused because it was something I should have known.

"I'm... seventeen," you said.

"Took you a while to think of your age, huh?" I teased.

You sighed. "I hate ages. I just keep getting older."

I took a second before answering. "So you're graduating early?"

"Well, I started school a year early, so I suppose so."

"Oh, that's nice," I said. Even though I really didn't think so.

"Aden, get your ass over here!" Matt yelled. "Your turn."

You walked over to the hose then. I watched Matt basically attack you with water and it struck me right then how this wasn't going to be permanent; we were growing up, and I myself didn't have much longer on the island either.

However, I still had longer than you did. I would be here while you were off... working. Matt would be here. Sim would be here. Everyone else would be here but you. There was nothing I could really do to stop it, but I just couldn't imagine summer without you.