On most hot July summer days, I’d go to Carson’s house and watch him as he worked on his car, waiting for him to take a cigarette break, so I could try and drag him to the beach. When he finally did take a break, he’d shove the white death trap into his mouth and close his eyes contently. Only when his cigarette was just a smoldering butt, laying helpless on the ground, burning into nothingness, would he notice I was there. “Hey.” He’d say. I don’t know why I went there, all these days, standing in boring nothingness, with the humid air making Carson’s bear back drip with beads of sweat. I guess it was because I had nothing better to do.
It was the last day of July, and a good 37 degrees outside, and I stopped by Carson’s to see if he’d come swimming for once. When I walked up the drive, I saw that his head was poked inside the engine of his car as usual, and that there were three empty bottles of Gatorade scattered at his feet. He turned around when I sat down on the cement ledge which kept his mother’s flower garden from escaping.
“Good news.” He said. “I’m coming with you today.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Coming where?” I inquired, thinking maybe he meant somewhere else, although I sincerely couldn’t imagine where.
“The beach, dummy. I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” I noticed that he already had his swim-shorts on under his baggy jeans, which hung down far too low on his hips. He grabbed a cigarette and his head disappeared under the hood of his old Chevy. He was trying to fix it up for when school started. Every day, when he finally did notice me, he would whisper in my ear “I’ll drive you to school every day in this be-you-tee-full car I'm fixing.” That would make me laugh, because the car was not what you’d call beautiful. And we both knew that.
As I waited for Carson to finish whatever car stuff he was doing, I realized how happy I was he was coming. I could show off my new bathing suit. He’d have to notice me a little more in that skimpy thing. it was practically two pieces of yarn and a bottle cap.
All the other girls at school were jealous that I was going out with Carson Henry. But it wasn’t all jewels and glitter. He may have been the most popular guy at school, but he’s not what you’d call dream boy. I can’t remember going to one movie with him, and this was the first time he’d ever indicated interest in coming to the beach with me and my two friends, Min and Roshaka, who were bringing their two dumb, slow wilted boyfriends.
When we finally got to the beach, after MUCH more than “fifteen minutes”, dark foreboding clouds were gathering overhead, and the wind had picked up. I sighed and sat down on my towel anyway. Carson frowned and sat beside me, wrapping his arm comfortably around my waist. He finally seemed to notice my new swimsuit (It was a little black two piece, which I had bought especially so Carson would notice me). He raised his eyebrows and winked at me. Roshaka passed me a coke, which Carson took a sip of. Roshaka and Min had gotten to the beach about an hour before us, and Roshaka’s boyfriend, Lee, was splashing in the waves with a couple of his friends which he had “bumped into” when they had arrived. Roshaka sighed, looking down the white sand where Min and Daron’s footprints, side by side, were being washed away by the waves. They had gone to ‘be alone’. Everyone knew what that meant. Roshaka stood up, brushing the sand off her legs, and waded into the water to join Lee. I was alone with Carson. Away from his car for the first time all summer. He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. I sighed. A few heavy raindrops fell around us, and Carson reached over, snatching up his jacket and throwing it over us like a tent. It was cozy, and I could’ve sat like that forever. But good things always end. I heard a crack, and looked up lazily from where I had been resting on Carson’s chest. Lightning had struck the water, and Roshaka, Lee, his two friends, who I recognized as jocks from our high school, and someone I didn’t recognize leaped onto the shore, out of the water like they had been startled out of their witts. Roshaka grabbed a towel and dried her hair calmly. “I think we better go now.” She stated. “It’s not gonna be much fun if it’s raining all day.”
So we left.
Carson and I went back to his place.
Roshaka nibbled on Lee’s ear as they crept into their shared apartment.
Min and Daron could not be moved out of the back seat, where they were busy steaming up the windows, so we left them there.
Inside, we sat on Carson’s blue suede couch, with it’s gold and silver cushions, and watched T.V. Some special about wales and their habitats was on, but we didn’t pay much attention to that. After a couple of hours Carson’s mom came home and looked disapprovingly at Carson and me on the couch. She gave him an evil glare, and he chuckled, mocking his frail mother, with her curly graying hair. Her husband had left her for a twenty year old secretary, and she wasn’t keeping her youth up too well. Carson nibbled on my lip and stroked my arm, looking slightly at his mother to see her reaction. She just turned her head and walked briskly into the kitchen.