Shipwrecked Summer

by Carly Syms

  “All you had to do was ask me to get down. It’s not like I would’ve said no.”

  “Look, just think next time before you go and do something stupid like this. Meaning, stay off the lifeguard stands.”

  “I really don’t know what your problem is,” I said. “All I was doing was sitting here, minding my own business during your off hours while this thing wasn’t even being used for anything! If someone needed it, I’d leave when they asked me to! What’s wrong with you?”

  He looked at me for a few seconds and I felt my cheeks flush with warmth under his stare.

  “Nothing is wrong with me. Excuse me for getting annoyed when someone makes it difficult for me to do my job.”

  “I don’t need this. I have enough things to deal with without you turning into high and mighty king of the beach on me,” I said. “Enjoy your stand.”

  I turned to walk away, thinking maybe I should go for a quick swim to wash the nasty taste of confrontation off my skin.

  “Hey,” he called out after I’d walked a few feet away. I stopped, hesitated for just a second, then spun around and looked at him. “I’m Jeff. Nice to meet you,” he said, then offered me what may have been a smile. “Really.”

  “Lexie,” I replied without even thinking about it.

  He looked at me for another beat or two, nodded, and climbed up onto the stand. I didn’t bother to stick around and see why, exactly, he’d felt the need to kick me off or what sparked his apparent change of heart.

  I wandered back to the bridge, noticing the lights on in the other side of my grandparents’ duplex for the first time in a few years.

  I had no idea what to make of Jeff the Lifeguard. Common sense told me I didn’t want to find out…but something else was telling me that I did.

  iii.

  Poppy’s afternoon catch hadn’t yielded the kind of fish he and Grandma had been hoping for, so we wound up calling for a pepperoni pizza and some garlic knots. And that was fine with me. As much as I loved the ocean, I was a lot less fond of eating what came out of it.

  “Oh, Alexa,” Grandma piped up as we sat around the dinner table on the upstairs balcony, nothing left of our meal but a grease-stained cardboard box and a few wayward strings of cheese. “It slipped my mind earlier, but I meant to tell you, we finally have some neighbors in the duplex.”

  When my grandparents had decided to knock down the tiny Cape Cod that occupied our lot for decades, they’d built a monstrosity of a house in its place, turning half of it into a separate unit that they eventually sold. For years, we’d lived next to an elderly couple not unlike my grandparents, but I hadn’t seen them in as long as I could remember.

  “Francine and William are back?”

  Grandma shook her head. “Francine and William moved to Florida last November. Couldn’t handle the Jersey winter anymore. Terribly wimpy, really.”

  Poppy, the antithesis of my grandmother in every way, nodded vigorously in agreement. While Grandma was flamboyant, happy-go-lucky, and vibrant, my grandfather was reserved, cautious and subdued. And unfortunately, I saw more of myself in Poppy than I did Grandma. Maybe I’d try and work on that this summer, too.

  “Their son bought the property from them,” she continued. “I believe they plan to spend the summer here with their children.”

  I nodded but didn’t say anything. No need to keep this line of conversation going. I had no plans of turning into Lexie the Nanny this summer.

  “I think Francine mentioned her son has two boys of his own and maybe a girl if I remember correctly.” Grandma steamrolled on, glancing at her husband for confirmation. Poppy only shrugged. “Well, anyway, you should go on over there sometime and say hello. It’s the neighborly thing to do.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Okay.”

  As I tried to think of an excuse to leave the table and head downstairs to unpack, the doorbell chimed and my eyes widened.

  It could only be Joey or Pia.

  I darted inside, nearly catapulting myself down the stairs and into the front door, which I flung open.

  “Hi!” Pia Ritto stood on the front porch in front of me, beaming. I jumped into her arms and she squealed as we collapsed in a heap.

  “Oh, my God, hi!” I cried. “Pia! You look fantastic!” But that was always true. With her thick, long dark hair and shining blue eyes, rare for someone of her Italian descent, Pia rarely looked as if she belonged anywhere other than in the pages of a magazine spread.

  “No, look at you!” she exclaimed. “Can you believe it?” She pulled herself to her feet and offered me a hand. “Summer’s back.”

  “We’re back. Is Joey with you?”

  “No, I thought he might be over here, but I guess not. It won’t be much of a first night without him.”

  “What? Come on, it’ll be great. We don’t need him to have a good time.”

  Pia shrugged. “I know, but we’ve always been together on the first night we’re all in town. It’ll feel so weird without him.”

  “Well,” I said, as I caught sight of a tall, somewhat skinny brown-haired boy making his way down Gull Boulevard. “I think you’re about to get your wish.”

  Pia whirled around and her face, like mine, broke out into a huge grin. “Joey Catalucci! Get your butt over here!”

  Joey looked up at us and smiled as we jogged down the front steps to meet him by the curb.

  “Jeez,” she said after we’d exchanged our hugs. “Will you ever stop growing?”

  He rolled his brown eyes. “Nice to see you, too, Pia. You know how much I hate my height. If one more persons asks me if I hoop, I might show them exactly where they can stick the ball.” He grinned, the tiny gold chain around his neck that we both hated glittering in the glow of the setting sun. “So what’s up for tonight? What’s new around here? Anything I should know about?”

  She and I looked at one another.

  “There’s a new family in our duplex,” I said. “But other than that, I’ve got nothing.”

  Joey didn’t look impressed. “So you guys remember Tack Jordan, right?”

  Joey was the only one in our group who was actually from New Jersey and he had plenty of high school friends who made their way down to the island in the summer. Over the years, Pia and I had gotten to know some of them pretty well and Tack Jordan sat at the top of the list. A teammate of Joey’s on his high school golf team, Tack was the friendliest guy you’d ever meet and because of that, he had all the right connections wherever he went.

  “He says his buddy is having a bonfire by his house tonight. I told him to count me in and I’d see if you two wanted to check it out…?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Sweet, I’ll let him know you’re in. I guess we should be there around nine and it’s just a few blocks down from here. On Breeze Terrace, I think.”

  I looked down at my phone; it was a little after eight now. “I should probably change.”

  We agreed to meet at the bridge to the beach at nine and head to the bonfire together. I smiled as I jogged up the steps and into the house. This summer was off to the perfect start, just as I’d planned.

  ***

  True to form, Pia didn’t show up at the bridge until 9:15. Also true to form, Joey and I stood waiting by 8:55.

  “Sorry,” she said, slightly breathless. “Couldn’t decide what dress I wanted to wear. You know how it is.”

  Joey rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah, totally. By the way, Lexie, I meant to ask while we were waiting…does this shirt bring out the color of my eyes? Does it play up the oh-so-subtle highlights in my hair?”

  Pia reached out and swatted him on the arm. “Oh, be quiet! You don’t know what it’s like being a girl. Let’s go already.”

  We crossed the bridge and took off our shoes just before our feet hit the dry sand, still slightly warm hours after the hot summer sun set. I could make out the faint glow of a large bonfire a couple hundred yards down the shore. I didn’t think there was a better way to start my summer than w
ith a party that promised to be full of Tack Jordan and his friends. His male friends. His hopefully cute male friends.

  “I’m so excited,” I said. “Campfires are the best!”

  Joey laughed. “You do know this isn’t going to be one of the fires where everyone sits around roasting marshmallows and singing folk songs, right, Lexie? I’m sure that’s how you do bonfires in Alabama.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Really? We don’t even get the marshmallows tonight?”

  As we got closer and closer to the burning blaze, Joey and Pia buzzing next to me, I felt myself grow anxious. If I played my cards right—and I always did because I always had the right plan ready—this night would be the launching pad to my perfect summer.

  “Tack’s on the back porch,” Joey said, looking down at his phone. “Said we should come find him to grab some cups.”

  Pia and I followed him up a few stairs onto a large, wraparound first-story porch. A crowd gathered in the corner of the deck and I spotted Tack and his signature purple baseball cap in the middle of the group, shouting something I couldn’t hear over the music.

  “Tack’s manning the keg. How about you two wait here and I’ll see about getting us something to drink.”

  “I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Pia said. “I’ll be right back.”

  I moved over to the side of the porch and faced the bonfire and ocean. I scanned the dancing crowd, smiling, realizing how lucky I was to be at my favorite place in the world with my favorite people in the world with no worries, no cares, no responsibilities. What could be better?

  As I waited for Pia and Joey to come back, I knew I’d been right; this was the perfect beginning.

  Until I saw something that told me I was wrong. This wasn’t going to be the best party I’d ever been to. No, it wouldn’t even come close.

  And the worst part about it was that I couldn’t even tell you why I cared.

  I shouldn’t have cared.

  But there, just off to the left of the warm, inviting bonfire, inexplicably hovered my perfect summer and I was standing there, watching it shatter in front of me, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.

  I stood there, rooted to my spot, wishing that I hadn’t come to the bonfire, hadn’t decided that I needed this party to kick-off my amazing summer the right way. Because then I would still believe that I had a chance.

  Why I wanted one, I can’t begin to tell you. But my heart hurt as my stomach sank to my toes and I gnawed on my bottom lip, trying to push away the rapidly rising tears.

  But there, just off to the left of the warm, inviting bonfire, illuminated by the soft glow of the flames, stood a tall, tanned boy with chiseled soccer player calves and a mop of blonde hair that I’d recognize anywhere.

  He wasn’t alone. He wasn’t waiting to see if I’d show up so he could apologize for this afternoon.

  Jeff the Lifeguard was dancing—if you could even call it dancing—with a tall, beautiful girl that I decided right then and there that I couldn’t stand. She had long, wavy blonde hair, which I didn’t. She was tall and graceful, which I definitely wasn’t. She was skinny, which I was, but she looked elegant and regal like a fancy foreign supermodel with curves in all the right places on her slender frame. She probably had pretty bright blue eyes, which I didn’t, and she clearly knew what to say to a guy like Jeff to keep him interested for longer than three seconds, which was obviously something I couldn’t do.

  With the way my eyes burned with hot, prickling tears, I was in trouble and I knew it. The way that they moved together was so sensual and passionate that I thought my tears would spill over on the spot, the green-eyed monster in me awake and wanting what they had. As I watched them move, the lump in my throat became harder and harder to ignore.

  This was, of course, absolutely ridiculous. Had I forgotten every rude word that he uttered to me only a few hours ago?

  Yes.

  Was I really going to let his seemingly sincere ‘nice to meet you’ comment at the end of our brief interaction on the beach change my entire opinion of him?

  Yes.

  And was I going to keep on crushing on this rude, arrogant, confusing lifeguard even after this very public display that should have been kept very private?

  I hoped not, but was pretty sure I would.

  After what felt like hours but was just seconds, Joey walked back to my side, offering me a red plastic cup filled to the brim with light yellow beer. I took it from him and downed half of it.

  Immediately, I wanted to stick my tongue out and flinch, but Joey was there and I felt stupid, so I suppressed the urge to throw the rest of the beer into the sand below.

  As I stood there, unsure of what to do with the rest of my cup that I definitely wouldn’t be drinking, I glanced over at Jeff the Lifeguard and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw him staring straight back at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I quickly looked away.

  “Where’d Pia go?”

  I shrugged. “She went to find the bathroom a few minutes ago. Maybe she ran into Tack or one of his friends or something.”

  Joey nodded. “Cool. Wanna dance?” He set his cup on the railing and looked over at me expectantly.

  All of my instincts told me to say no, but I looked back at Jeff only to see that he was no longer watching me. He had his head buried somewhere in the blonde’s hair and I suddenly felt the urge to make all of it disappear.

  “Okay, sure.”

  Joey looked somewhat surprised, but nodded and walked over to where most of the people dancing split off from the crowd.

  He led me into the throng of partiers, then spun me around so my back faced his chest. As we began to move together, I began to forget about Jeff. It wasn’t because I was discovering any kind of feelings for Joey, no, that ship would definitely never set sail, but at the very least dancing with him made me realize that I was still in control here.

  I was still me. I made my own decisions and it was my choice whether or not I let Jeff get to me.

  I could plan my way around this.

  Couldn’t I?

  I lost track of time as Joey and I moved to the beat of the music blaring from inside the beach house. The sand worked its way into every crevice between my toes as we danced.

  If it had been up to me, I’d have danced with Joey until the morning sun peeked out over the horizon.

  But it wasn’t up to me.

  “Hey.” Joey stepped to the side. “We should go find Pia. It’s been awhile since she said she was going to the bathroom.”

  I frowned. Clearly he hadn’t liked dancing with me as much as I liked it with him and I sighed. The blonde hadn’t lost Jeff’s attention, but I couldn’t even manage to get a friend to hang around me for that long.

  “Oh. Okay, yeah, you’re right. You go ahead, though. I just want to walk down by the water quick. Come find me when you’ve got her, okay?”

  Joey stared at me for a few seconds before nodding. “You alright, Lexie?” I could see uncertain concern flash in his eyes, like he wasn’t sure if he should be worried about me.

  “What? Yeah, I’m fine. Go find her.”

  He walked off towards the house while I headed in the opposite direction down toward the water.

  I loved the ocean. Whenever I had a problem when I was at the shore, I always felt like I had to be by the ocean to solve it. With its unpredictable tides and incredible, incomprehensible size, everything seemed dwarfed, trivial even, in comparison to the sea.

  The crashing surf made everything feel manageable. I couldn’t control the ocean, but whatever problem I had compared to that felt like a piece of cake. My problems paled in comparison to the power of the sea.

  And I craved that security now.

  I wandered down by the shoreline, standing in the place where the tip of the waves rolling in met the beach and sat down, keeping my shorts on dry sand but allowing my feet to feel the cool water flowing over them.

  I hated that I was silly enoug
h to care about Jeff the Lifeguard. He wasn’t the kind of guy I should be interested in. I knew better than to feel any sort of anything for him, but my…my…I didn’t know what it was, really. My desperation to find someone who wanted to be with me? Whatever it was, it had clouded my better judgment.

  I sighed as a bird cawed overhead.

  “Lexie, right?” I glanced up and swallowed hard.

  Jeff stood just to my right, looking down at me. He dropped into the sand beside me, keeping a considerable distance, a red plastic cup in his hand, and I wondered if he was drunk.

  “Hi.”

  “Look,” he said, getting right to it. “I know you saw me dancing with Brittany earlier.” I frowned. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting to hear him say. “And I’m sorry if that upset you for some reason. But…I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay or something.”

  I glared at him through narrowed eyes, my blood already boiling. If Jeff could have said any one thing to ensure that I would get over my silly, useless, immature crush on him, flashing his rude side twice in one day was it.

  “What even makes you think I was upset?”

  Jeff rolled his eyes. “Don’t bother playing coy with me. I saw you standing up there on the railing, looking at me like you hated me once you saw me with Brittany. You looked horrified, like you’d been slapped. I’m not that stupid, Lexie.”

  “You had nothing to do with that,” I lied. “I thought I recognized someone I knew, that’s all. Nothing more to see here.”

  He stared at me. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not attractive to lie? It’s okay to admit it if you were thrown off when you saw me with my girlfriend, but I didn’t do anything wrong. I never pretended to be into you and I don’t know how you possibly came up with that idea earlier.”

  My mouth dropped and for the first time in a long time I was rendered speechless for a few seconds. “I…where are you getting all of this from? I never said you did any of those things. You were nothing but rude to me the first time I met you and now I’m supposed to be into you? You’re making something out of nothing, you know, and you sound like an idiot.”