Hot Boy Summer | Romance Short Story

        The sun is high in the sky as she glares down at me with her blistering heat waves.

        I threw my bag down beside the lounge chairs and spread my towel out to lay down on. Despite having the soft towel between my bare skin and the burning plastic lounge chair underneath me, I can still feel the hot plastic pressing into my skin. Whoever said tanning was "fun", lied. Tanning is not, in fact, fun, but rather the opposite. At first, I try to ignore the discomfort because I want a "hot-boy-summer" and to aesthetically lay out in the sun while I read my book. This being said, I finally gave up as I felt the sweat drip into my eyes and down my face.

        Screw hot-boy-summer, I think to myself. This sucks. If this is what hot-boy-summer is then I guess I don't want a hot-boy-summer after all.

I quickly drop my book into my bag and wipe the dripping sweat out of my face. Taking in the sight of the hotel pool, I realize it is not very big, but it is still very appealing given the current scorching weather sent from hell. Swiftly, I slip into the pool and dunk my head underwater. The water greets me with cool refuge from the hot sun. The coolness of my surroundings washes away the blistering world. As I acclimate to the cool, quiet environment, I sink deeper into my thoughts.

...

        After my quick dunk, I come back to the surface, and I hear a group of boys on the other side of the fence throwing football. They are very loud.

         We are on a family vacation and staying at a small beach front hotel, so this is about the level of seclusion I expected. I don't mind. This vacation is exactly what I need. I glide to the left a little to get a closer look. I can barely see them through the privacy of the bushes, but I counted at least 5 guys. Then, a familiar flash of pink catches my eye.

        Usually, I wake up around 8am but this morning I woke up unusually early around 7am. No one else was up yet so I prepared myself a glass of orange juice, got a granola bar from the kitchen, and sat on the balcony to read my book. It was too hot for coffee and besides, I hate coffee. It wasn't long before I got bored with my book and found myself blissfully staring out at the ocean. It was peaceful. There were people walking up and down the beach. Some were already sitting on the beach, having gotten up extra early to see the sunrise. I like to live by what my grandmother always says: "I trust that the sun will be there the next day. I don't need to be up for the sun to rise". Like her, I am a night-owl, not an early bird. However, I find the thought of watching the sunrise with someone very romantic. It would be a dream to be sitting on the beach while our hands are interlocked and we stare into each other's eyes, the orange and pink sky casting a radiant color onto our skin. Oh well, I thought to myself, you would need to have a boyfriend for that and unfortunately, we don't have one of those right now.

        I crumpled up my granola bar wrapper and was getting ready to go back inside when I saw a pink streak heading down the beach. As I look closer, I see that the pink streak belongs to a tall, lanky guy jogging down the beach. I can see the sweat dripping from his brown fluffy hair as it bobs up and down with every stride. His slim, athletic body glistens in the sun, complemented by the neon pink running shorts he is wearing.

        "He's really cute", I say out loud. Right as the words escape my mouth, he looks up and starts towards the beach access stairs to our hotel.