The Beach

Chapter 3 - Two Kids, No Consequences

When I wake up the next morning, Zack asks me, “To the beach?”

I nod, smiling. “To the beach.”

Last night, after Sweet Frog, Alex and I just hung out on the boardwalk for a while, talking and watching other seniors in amusement. Before we parted ways, we agreed to meet at the beach the next day, specifically on 23rd Street. That’s right outside of Days Inn.

We get there before Alex and Rian do. It’s only around nine and sort of cloudy out, but at least we’re not stuck in a burning inferno. Zack and I apply our sunscreen (Zack does not rip his shirt off this time, since he actually likes this one), and once we’re done, I see two guys heading toward us. They’re carrying a box, four water bottles, and some towels, and one of them yells, “Hey, guys!”

"Rian!" Zack yells back, waving.

Rian nods in our direction, and Alex sticks his tongue out. Once they reach us, they set the box down and hand us both water bottles.

"We didn’t know what you wanted, so we figured you couldn’t really go wrong with water," Rian explains.

I look down at the box and the logo on it. “You got Dunkin’ Donuts?”

Alex smiles widely. “Full dozen, baby.” I blush at the word “baby”, though I know he’s probably not using if flirtatiously.

"Oh my God. You’re officially my new favorite people," Zack says, opening the box and pulling out a glazed donut. "Fuck you, Jack."

"Fine," I tease back. "Alex is my new favorite person anyways after all the fun we had last night.” I make sure to say the word “fun” as suggestively as possible. “Which you missed out on. Asshole.”

"Does that make me an asshole, too?" Rian asks as he and Alex set their towels down.

"No," I say, "you were with that girl."

"Cass," Rian says, smiling and blushing. Aww.

We all sit down around the box on our towels. “Right,” I say. “So you had an excuse.” I point at Zack. “He, however, does not.” Zack flips me off.

"Sometimes," Alex says to Rian, "you and Cass are so cute together it makes me want to throw up."

"You’re just jealous because you’re single," Rian says in between bites of his donut.

"That is a lie," Alex says, glancing at me. "It’s just that when I see two people in a relationship, and I am not in one myself, I get an urge to vomit."

"Yeah. Because you’re jealous." He gives Alex a knowing look that Zack and I aren’t a part of.

Alex rolls his eyes. “Oh, blah, blah, blah. What do you know?”

"I’m your best friend."

He laughs awkwardly. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

"I agree," I add, nodding at Zack. "He’s my best friend, and I bet he doesn’t even know when my birthday is."

"June 18," Zack replies without missing a beat.

I stick my tongue out at him. “Lucky guess.”

After we’re done eating (we’ve still got a couple leftover donuts, but oh well), Rian says, “Well, now we’ve got to wait an hour before we go in the water!”

"Fuck you," Alex and I say in unison, and with that, we sprint down to the ocean. Rian and Zack chase after us—they’re definitely the more responsible ones here.

Alex pushes me down almost as soon as I get to the shore. The waves crash around me, and I lift my head up, laughing and spitting out saltwater. “Dick!” I yell, before grabbing him by his leg and pulling him in with me.

"Asshole!" he yells back, standing and kicking water up around us.

"Is that our thing now?" I ask, standing up with him. "Dick and asshole?"

He gives me a playful smile, splashing me again. “If you want it to be.”

I shoot that smile right back at him. “Okay, then. I do.”

Fucking around in the ocean, even without bodyboards or anything, is still surprisingly entertaining. It isn’t even the fact that I get to admire Alex’s shirtless body—that’s just a bonus. We all seem to get along together, and there’s never a boring moment.

"I think it’s funny how most kids are getting drunk and doing drugs and stupid shit during Senior Week…and then here we are," Alex points out, gesturing to our surroundings, "chasing each other around in the ocean."

"I regret nothing!" I announce, pumping my fist in the air.

Alex laughs and turns around to glance at the shore, his expression changing and his eyes narrowing.

"What?" I ask, turning around with him and following his gaze. Standing on the shore is that girl we saw yesterday, Tay, and she’s staring at us. More specifically, I think she’s staring at Alex.

Within about two seconds, she seems to register that we see her, and she turns away and walks quickly down the beach without saying anything. She does glance back at us, though.

"Uh," I say slowly. "Alex, do you two have some sort of…I don’t know…history?" At this moment, I realize another great flaw in my plan: There is a high probability that Alex is straight, even though he joked about being theoretically gay yesterday. There are two key words there: 1) theoretically, and 2) joked.

He shakes his head. “No. I mean, we’re friends, but nothing beyond that. I’m not really sure what she’s doing.” He seems sincere, so I take his word for it.

"Hey." Rian taps Alex on the shoulder and turns to both of us with Zack right beside him. They’ve got smiles on their faces. "We’re gonna rent one of those four-person bikes," Rian says, grinning.

Alex and I exchange glances. “We are?” I ask.

Rian nods. “Zack and I are gonna go up and get it. Once we’re back down here and waiting at the boardwalk, I’ll text you, Alex.”

I snort. “Did you two just come up with this whole plan without us?”

"Maybe," Zack replies.

"Well, whatever," Alex says, looking a bit amused. "To the bike rental place you go, then."

"Bossy," Rian says, flipping him off. He and Zack head back to the sand, and Alex just laughs.

About twenty minutes later, we go back to where our things are at, and Alex checks his phone. Sure enough, he’s got a text from Rian from about thirty seconds ago. “That’s our cue,” he says. “I think we can leave most of our shit here, since we’ll be back soon anyways.”

We both take our phones, though, and then we head back up to the boardwalk. Parked right in front of us is a red four-person bike with a red-and-white striped canopy overtop it and a seat in the front (for younger kids, probably). There are two sections, a front and a back, like a car, with pedals for each seat. There’s also a sign on the back that says “Atlantic Bike Co.” Rian and Zack are sitting in the front section, looking incredibly pleased with themselves.

"Get in, losers!" Rian calls.

Alex turns to me. “Well, you heard him,” he teases. “Get in, loser.”

I roll my eyes and hop into one of the back seats. “You get in, loser.”

So he does, sticking his tongue out at me, and then we’re off.

—

Oh, come on. It’s Senior Week. We’re seniors. You can’t expect us not to do something like this at least once.

As it turns out, Pete Wentz, a guy from my school who I saw yesterday, is staying alone in his family’s summer apartment, only a few minutes away from the boardwalk. You can probably guess what this means.

Yep, that’s right: He’s throwing a party.

By the time we get there, it’s already in full swing. The apartment isn’t huge, but it’s definitely big enough for something like this. There’s music playing—not too crazy loud; we don’t want anyone to bust us—and people hanging around, talking, drinking, dancing. The food and drinks are in the kitchen, so naturally, that’s where we head first.

"This should be interesting," Alex says to me, raising his eyebrows at some people out in the living room who are already drunk.

I nod. “Tell me about it.”

Let’s fast-forward a few hours. The sun has set completely, and I am out on the deck of the apartment, chatting with random people and laughing. My vision is blurry and I need to rest against something—right now it’s the railing at the edge of the deck—so I don’t fall over. I think I’m pretty intoxicated, but I don’t really care.

I don’t know where Rian, Zack, and Alex are. I’m about to go back inside to look for them when someone taps me on my shoulder, and I turn around to see Alex standing in front of me.

"You wanna go inside?" he asks, giving me a lopsided grin. He’s drunk, too, it seems.

I smile back at him. The lights shine around him, and I can’t help but think that he looks like an angel. “Sure,” I say, taking his hand.

We head back into the living room, both of us nearly falling down a couple of times. Alex pulls me to the side so we’re standing near a darker corner of the room.

"Why are we over here?" I ask him, my words slurring.

Alex leans in close. I can smell the alcohol on him, but I know it’s on me, too. “I like you, Jack,” he says, laughing a little and poking my shoulder.

I poke him back. “Well, I like you, too.”

"No." He runs his fingers lightly across my arm. "I mean I really like you.”

I know he’s drunk, but is he saying what I think he’s saying?

"Uh," I say. Before I can register anything else, his lips are on mine and he’s pressing my back against the wall.

I kiss back eagerly, not even stopping to think. Alex takes one of my hands in his and pins it to the wall. My free hand reaches around and grabs him by the hair, and his slides under my shirt. We are fast and heated, with Alex sucking on my bottom lip before running his tongue across it. I’m happy to take the hint and open my mouth slightly, deepening the kiss.

He lets his fingers roam up and down my body, resting them against my chest. Then he lets go of my hand and picks me up so that he and the wall are the only two things supporting me. I wrap my legs around his waist as he separates our lips.

"I really like you," he says, breathless, his words slurring even more than mine are. Without waiting for a response, he latches his mouth onto my neck.

I let out a little gasp. “Y-you said that,” I stammer with one hand still tangled in his hair and the other around his neck.

"Well, it’s true," he mumbles against my skin.

"Hey, lovebirds!"

It takes us both a long moment to realize that the voice is directed at us, but when we do, Alex sets me down, and we both turn around. A few feet away from us is Rian. Zack is right behind him, raising his eyebrows and smiling slightly, and even though I’m wasted, I can tell that he’s giving me a look that says, “I knew it.”

"We’re going now," Rian informs us. "That includes you two." He gives us a small, knowing smile. "Sorry for interrupting. I know you were getting a bit…intimate.”

Alex and I just stand there for a few seconds. Then Alex says, “Uh…okay,” and then they lead us back through the apartment. The party is clearing up a little bit, but there are still a decent amount of people here.

As we exit the apartment building and head back out to the street, Alex taps me on the shoulder and points to my head. “You’ve got skunk hair.” He giggles.

I point to his hair, which is now sticking up all over the place from my fingers fucking with it. “You’ve got porcupine hair,” I reply, smiling widely. I’m kind of dizzy, but other than that, I feel pretty great.

Once we get outside, Zack and I have to split and go back to the Days Inn, while Alex and Rian go to wherever the hell they’re staying.

"Wait," Alex protests. He gives me a quick, sloppy kiss. "First Jack has to promise that he won’t leave me." Suddenly he sounds almost sad, and he pouts at me.

Rian takes Alex and pulls him away, amused. “Looks like someone’s had too much to drink.”

"Jack. Promise,” Alex whines, sounding like a little kid.

"I promise," I say, laughing and resisting the urge to return his kiss.

"Okay, we can go now," Rian says. "Bye, guys!"

He and Alex both turn start to leave, but Alex sends one last glance over his shoulder, sticking his tongue out before he walks away with Rian.

"Well, that was…something," Zack says, raising an eyebrow and smiling a bit wider. "We should get back, though."

But as we make our way back to our hotel, I can’t shake Alex from my mind, and I also can’t forget the way his lips felt on mine. Suddenly, one thought breaks through the haze of my intoxication:

Oh, fuck. I’m really falling for this idiot, aren’t I?