She Wants Somebody Else

My ivory face and entire body felt frigid as I shuddered from the bitter California winter dressed in nothing but a thin teal longsleeve, tie dye skinny jeans, a black Volcom jacket, and Chuck Taylors. The harsh wind blowing in from the Pacific was only making the situation ten times worse than it needed to be.

Brant Rousseaux and I were perched upon a large clammy boulder, quietly watching my close-knit group of friends at a distance. They were situated near the shoreline, drunkenly dancing around the puny fire that took Casey Feitler and Mitch Bohi ages to generate. Second semester of senior year would start tomorrow and on a whim, my friends and I raided our parent's liquor cabinets and we met up at our secret hide-out on the beach, hidden from the hungry eyes of tourists and even the oblivious ones of San Clemente natives.

Brant removed a white igniter along with a cancer sick from a crushed box in the back pocket of his jeans and said, "I can't believe I let you talk me into coming to one of your little high school parties. I've got to find friends my own age."

I rolled my eyes and held the rim of my red cup near my chapped lips. "Oh shut up. Your friends will be back in town tomorrow and you know you had nothing better to do tonight."

Brant shrugged indifferently, lit up the Marbolo, and took a long drag.

I shook my head and finished the rest of my poison, trying to ignore what was happening thirty feet ahead of me. Failing miserably, I angrily crumpled my empty cup and tapped my foot impatiently against the rock, all the while shooting daggers at the back of the petite blond's head as she snuggled closer to his side.

Ryan Sheckler detested the twenty-two year old Pizza Palace co-worker seated next to me, so I knew having Brant tag along tonight would definitely get Ryan's blood pressure up. Apparently, he had the same idea when he showed up with his arm draped around the shoulders of his "number one" fan, Holly Huntington. When she placed her floozy lips on his cheek, I growled to myself and hurled the ball of red plastic into the sand below.

After taking another drag, Brant spoke again. "I don't see what purpose I have being here, Benz. Just forfeit this tired charade and go tell Ryan you want to be with him before he moves on with someone else."

I opened my mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when I realized he was right. Leaping off of the boulder, I shoved my hands into the pocket of my jacket, tightly tucked my arms to my sides as the wind up picked up speed, and trudged toward the lovey dovey couple. I stuck my tongue out and made a silent gagging noise when she gave him another kiss. "Ry?"

His arm was still around her shoulders as the two of them turned around with inquisitive looks. Holly's immediately melted into a glare.

I merely ignored her and stared sternly at my best friend, asking, "Can I talk to you?"

Momentarily staring at me with wary, Ryan nodded lightly and looked down at Holly, pulling his arm away. "I'll be right back."

For his sake, Holly forged a smile and muttered an 'okay', but as soon as he turned his heel and began walking away, she threw me a sneer.

I rolled my eyes before jogging up to Ryan's side, where the two of us walked in silence along the shoreline. As soon as we were out of earshot from the others, Ryan coldly asked, "So what the hell is Brant doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing about Holly," I shot back, stopping mid-walk and turning to face him with an annoyed expression.

He mimicked my actions and reminded me yet again, "He's too old for you."

"She's too slutty for you."

"He's a high school drop-out with a deadbeat job, and other than skateboarding, he likes to pass time by preying on high school girls."

I dug my foot into the sand with frustration. "She's a flat-chested, attention-seeking groupie who'd sleep with your best friend the minute your back is turned."

Ryan pressed his lips together and narrowed his big green orbs. "Yeah well, he's got bad breath."

"She's got the ears of a monkey."

"His haircut is lame."

"And her nose job is a joke," I snarled lowly, my hands curling into fists from inside my jacket pocket. "Look, Ryan, we can stand here and continue to take lame jabs at Holly and Brant, or we can talk about what this is really about."

His angry gaze softened a bit and was anchored onto the salt water that spilled over the sand. He remained quiet.

With a deep sigh, I removed a hand from my pocket and ran it through my platinum blond bob. "I like you, Ryan," I admitted in a whisper. "I have since we spent spring break freshman year at your parents' lake house."

He kept his stare even with the sand as his foot kicked at it several times. "I know."

More curious than shocked, I bit my bottom lip and asked, "How?"

"Taylor's trying to play cupid again," he chuckled lightly. "And you didn't pull back from the kiss at formal." Caught up in the moment of a slow dance that Taylor Bogart so cleverly arranged, Ryan and I shared a tender kiss as the chorus to Just Say Yes surrounded us.

Ponder and hesitation weighed heavily upon his smooth, tan features. I continued to nibble on my lip and stayed mum, knowing he was trying to put his next few words together.

He ran a hand through his mop of brown hair and finally connected his beautiful green irises with my grey ones. "I like you, too, Bentley. A lot."

My heart fluttered and there were butterflies flocking around in my stomach.

"And I want to be with you, Benz, so badly," he said softly. My eyebrows furrowed when misery and disappointment suddenly crossed his face. "But I can't. Not right now at least."

My heart fell to the pit of my stomach, the butterflies crushing beneath. I stared at him incredulously and sputtered, "A-a-and why not?"

"Because I'm not exactly in the best position to take on a relationship at the moment," he solemnly explained, referring to his failed attempts of a relationship with Cambria Camp and Kayla Kudla. "I mean it's hard enough trying to make time to be a normal kid and hang with friends and family when being a pro skater takes up more than half my life. I need to be able to balance the two before I can add a girlfriend into the mix."

On the bright side, it's not like was he completely rejecting me. He shared my feelings, yet I couldn't help but feel disheartened and melancholy. Nonetheless, I pushed back the tears threatening to spill over the brims of my eyes and painted on a discerning smile. Swallowing the dry lump in my throat, I managed to croak out, "I understand."

A small smile appeared on his lips and his green eyes brightened to a new hue. "Yeah? We still friends?"

Laughing softly, I shrugged and shook my head. "Of course."

His smile transformed into a fully grown grin as he slid his arms around my shoulders and pulled me towards him, his chin resting atop my head. I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid the right side of my face on rising chest, listening to his heartbeat. His body was warm, but at the moment, I felt colder than I ever have this entire evening.