The Beach

Chapter 2 - Maybe

“Aw, come on, Zack. Don’t abandon me on the boardwalk alone.”

It’s around six o’clock in the evening now, and Zack and I are in our hotel room. I want to go out to the boardwalk, but Zack is tired and just wants to stay here.

"You’ll be fine," he says. "I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I’m not really in the mood to be out partying."

I groan loudly. “But Zaaaack,” I whine. “We’re on vacation. We should be doing things.”

He laughs a little, rubbing his eyes. He does look pretty tired. I can’t say that I blame him—I had him up until at least four last night, and he drove us here, so he couldn’t sleep in the car like I did.

"Go have fun," he says. "It’s the first day. We’ve got a whole week to do things. You could find Alex and Rian or something."

At the mention of Alex, I can’t help but smile a little. My emotions from earlier today haven’t changed—I still find myself attracted to him, and maybe, just maybe, I can make him feel the same way about me. “Yeah,” I say, nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. I could do that.”

"Yeah, you could." Zack lies down on one of the beds. "Now run along, you crazy bastard," he teases, motioning with his hand.

"I will," I reply. "Later, Zack."

I make my way down to the boardwalk. Damn—I thought the place was crowded earlier, but now it couldn’t be more obvious that it’s Senior Week. There are groups of graduates everywhere, and along with them are the cops. Why do we need cops? I wonder, before remembering that we’re teenagers.

At this point, I realize that finding Alex or Rian is going to be difficult considering the large amount of people and the fact that I have no way to contact either of them. We promised we’d see each other more over the week, but maybe I should’ve gotten their numbers or something.

Then someone calls, “Jack!”

I turn to the direction of the voice and find Rian waving at me from next to one of the Candy Kitchens (I’ve seen two so far). Alex isn’t with him, but a girl is.

"Oh, hey!" I call back, heading over to them and trying to hide my disappointment. Honestly, I want to spend more time with Alex, and I only have a week to do it.

"I was just looking for you," Rian says. "Alex is, too. I sort of abandoned him, and he didn’t want to be a third wheel anyways." He gestures to the girl, who (I assume) is his girlfriend. "But yeah, he told me to watch for you or Zack because he wants someone to ride the Zipper with him."

I raise an eyebrow. “What the hell is the Zipper?”

"A crazy-ass ride," the girl explains, laughing a little. "But if you don’t puke, it’s really fun."

"Even if you do puke, it’s really fun,” Rian adds.

A smile finds its way onto my face. “Well, it just so happens that I don’t have Zack with me and am quite lonely myself. To the crazy-ass ride I go. I’m guessing that Alex is that way?” I point down the boardwalk, toward where all the rides are.

Rian nods. “Yep. You should find him somewhere around there. Have fun, and don’t die.”

"I won’t," I promise, before saluting him and walking away.

It’s pretty far down, but after some time (and passing my third Candy Kitchen), I find myself near rides like the Haunted House and then, finally, it opens up into a small carnival-type place with rides everywhere. There’s a booth in the front for buying tickets, and leaning up on the side of it is none other than Alex Gaskarth.

I wave at him. “Alex!”

He looks up and smiles when he sees me. “Hey, Jack! I was just looking for you.”

"Yeah, I know. I just ran into Rian. He said something about the Zipper?"

Alex claps his hands. “Yes!” He walks away from the booth, pointing to a ride right behind it on the left. “That’s that thing right there.”

Looking at it, I don’t doubt what Rian and his probably-girlfriend said. The ride is set up sort of like a Ferris wheel, except 1) it’s shaped more like a thin oval-type thing (for lack of a better description), and 2) the seats are completely enclosed and angled in a way that leaves you sort of half-standing and half-sitting, leaning against the door and the bars in front of it. As the ride starts up, the seats move forward, and once they reach one of the ends of the oval, they flip over to the other side—and don’t stop. From there, the seats just keep flipping back and forth, and I can hear the people riding it half-laughing, half-screaming.

"Seems…interesting," I say, giving Alex a sideways glance. "I’m assuming you’ve been on it before?"

Alex nods. “Oh, yeah. It’s like a fucking tradition for me. Whenever I go to these types of places, and they have this thing, I ride it at least once.”

"Damn. I’ve never been on it."

He looks at me like I’ve just admitted to committing murder. “Well, that’s gonna change right now,” he says, pulling out some tickets—I guess he already bought them. He hands a few to me and then heads over to the Zipper, which has hardly any line, surprisingly.

It doesn’t take long for it to finish its run. The riders stumble out a few at a time, still laughing. Alex turns to me and smiles. “Ready, Jack?”

I nod, smiling back at him. “Absolutely.”

Like a Ferris wheel, the pairs of riders have to get in individually. When it’s our turn, we hand our tickets to the person taking them and hop into the seat, which results in us in the awkward half-standing, half-sitting position until a worker closes our door. Alex and I reach our hands out and grab ahold of the bars.

The ride shifts, moving us upward before stopping to let the final pair get in, leaving us to sort of dangle with our seat rocking back and forth. “Hurry the fuck up,” Alex stage-whispers, and as if on cue, the ride starts.

For maybe the first half of a second, we’re just moving. Then we’re tossed upside down, and that’s when the real fun begins.

From there, I don’t know what to expect. It’s an endless line of spinning and flipping, with Alex and I half-laughing and half-screaming like everyone else.

"Oh my fucking God!" I yell.

"Language!" Alex teases in between laughter.

The next flip I’m unprepared for, and I accidentally bang my head against the door.

"Secure your head, dammit!" Alex says.

"Language!"

My face hurts from the laughing and the screaming, but I can’t stop. Before I know it, the ride slows, and then we’re lowered down.

"Holy shit," I say breathlessly as we step back on solid ground. I’m kind of dizzy, and it takes a few seconds for me to reorient myself, but I’m still laughing. "That was…wow."

"I know, right?" Alex says as we stumble back onto the boardwalk. "Ah, the joys of carnival rides."

"We should do that again," I say, still in a bit of a daze.

"Yeah, but I’m kind of in the mood for Sweet Frog," Alex says.

I give him a confused look. “What the hell is Sweet Frog?”

He gives me the same look that he gave me when I told him I’d never been on the Zipper. “Oh, you poor, deprived child,” he says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “It’s a frozen yogurt place and I’m ninety-nine percent sure that it holds the secrets of the universe.” Without warning, he takes my hand, and I smile at his touch. “And I will not rest until I make sure you experience it.”

"Awesome," I say, and with that, he leads me down the boardwalk back the way I came.

"Question," I say as we pass a Candy Kitchen. "How many of those places are there?" I point at it.

"I’ve counted four. Boardwalks are crazy. They’re determined to give us all a sugar high."

Alex lets go of my hand as we slow down a little. I can’t help but think that we seem to have switched roles—it’s like he’s the one trying to make me fall in love with him instead of the other way around. I have to fix that, but I can’t be too obvious, or I might just scare him away.

I shift my body a bit closer to him. He glances at me—taking note of that, I guess—but he doesn’t move away. He just smiles again and says, “So how long are you staying?”

"Until next Sunday." When the words are out of my mouth, I realize how little time I really have. One week, and that’s it. One week to make Alex fall in love with me, a completely average guy. What the hell am I thinking?

"Us too," Alex says. He points up ahead, to a sign that says "Sweet Frog" with a cartoon picture of two frogs on it. "There it is," he says, taking my hand again. I can’t help but wonder: Is he trying to show interest in me, or is he just really friendly?

He leads me up to the place and opens the door. It’s pretty small, with a railing separating the left side (which has a rack of cups up ahead) and the right, where the counter (which has a bunch of toppings lined up) and the cashier are. There aren’t even any tables, but there are places to sit down right outside and along the boardwalk.

Alex walks down the left side, pointing to the cups. “Those are the sizes,” he explains. “Pink is small, green is medium, and blue is large.” He grabs a blue cup, and after a moment, I shrug and grab one, too. Fuck it.

"The flavors are right here," Alex continues, walking down to the end of the railing and pointing along the wall, where there are a bunch of dispensers for different flavors. The signs above them tell what flavor they are. "You can get as many different flavors as you want and however much of it as you want." He grins. "Go nuts."

We race over to the flavors, where I get a brilliant idea and smirk a little. I start at the first flavor and go down the line, getting a little bit of each. Alex turns around to watch me and laughs. “Oh, I see what you’re doing.”

By the time I’m done, I’ve got some of every flavor available, from chocolate to raspberry pomegranate to fucking toasted marshmallow. We round the corner to the other side of the railing and begin putting on toppings.

"You’re insane, man," Alex says. I’ve decided to take a bit of every topping, which includes fruits, chocolates, and gummy worms, for starters. Just as I think I’m finished, Alex holds up a can of whipped cream. "Wait! You can’t forget this!"

"Oh, right." I take it from him and top off my frozen yogurt concoction. "How stupid of me. Thanks."

"No problem."

When I hand it back to him, his hand brushes against mine for slightly longer than necessary (or maybe that’s just my imagination). We lock eyes, and I think I can see a faint blush on Alex’s cheeks before he looks away, takes the can, and uses it for his own yogurt.

"Now we weigh these bad boys," Alex says, heading over to the cashier and setting his cup down on a scale. A number pops up on the screen, measured in grams, followed by a price based on the number. Alex pays, and then it’s my turn.

We walk out of the store and sit down on some chairs right outside. Just as I’m about to dig in, someone says, “Alex!”

I glance up to see a group of guys, plus one girl, pausing in front of the Sweet Frog entrance and looking in Alex’s direction. Alex waves at them. “Oh, hey! Fancy seeing you guys around.” I give him a questioning look. “Friends from school,” he explains.

I nod. The guys are all going inside now, but the girl hangs back, staring at Alex strangely. “Alex,” she says.

He looks back up at her. “Yeah, Tay?”

Her cheeks turn a bit red. “Uh…actually, never mind.” With that, she follows the rest of her group.

I narrow my eyes. “What was that about?”

Alex shrugs, seeming genuinely clueless. “I don’t know.” He nods at my cup. “Have you tried your Master Frozen Yogurt yet?”

"Uh…hold on a second." I take a large bite, and it’s fucking fantastic. I let out a long "Mmmm.”

"Is it not magical?"

"It is very magical," I agree.

We lock eyes again, and I swear that Alex really does blush this time. Then he blinks a few times and shakes his head, taking a bite of his own yogurt and regaining his unwavering confidence.

But that’s a lie—it does waver, and somehow, I’m the one who causes it to. It makes me think that maybe my summer plan really isn’t hopeless. It makes me think that maybe I’m not completely in over my head.

Maybe. Just maybe.