Vacation

Chapter 9

As the excited teens began to run towards the sparkling blue water that was calmly hitting the shore of the beautiful beach, Bob and Linda walked behind them and smiled. They were happy to see all the kids so excited. Well, most of the kids were excited. There was one kid that stuck out like a sore thumb in the group of excited beachgoers.

Logan walked slowly behind the pack, his face looking down and his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks. His mother and father looked back at him, concerned. As they walked towards him, Linda put one hand on Logan's shoulder.

"Sweetie, please tell us what's wrong. If you talk about it, it could help you," she said in a soothing, but concerned tone.

Logan responded to this by putting on his best happy face. "Oh, no. I'm fine Mrs B, really! I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all."

Linda and Bob looked at each other, not convinced. Noticing this, Logan quickly said, "You know what? I'm gonna go hang out with Zeke. See ya guys!" Logan then quickly walked away from the couple, hoping they will stop worrying about him.

As he was walking, he saw Louise playing in the water. She was splashing Daryl and laughing, looking like she was having the time of her life. Logan couldn't help but smile, so glad to see her having a good time.

"No fair Louise!" Daryl complained "We said no splashing in the face!" He laughed

Louise giggled as she continued her attack until Daryl managed to wade back onto shore.

However, his smile quickly faded when he saw Louise turning her attention and swimming towards Oskar. He was sitting on the shore, playing with his quad bike (of course). As Louise tried to get his attention, Logan felt this humongous wave of jealousy and anger spread through him.

'Why doesn't that idiot realize he's the luckiest guy in the world?' Logan thought to himself, his fist clenched. He then tried to calm himself, realizing he was fighting a losing battle.

'I lost. I lost my chance with her,' Logan thought to himself, holding back tears. Nothing was stopping this feeling of jealously and anger. Logan closed his eyes, trying to take his mind off it. He tried thinking about the beautiful beach he was on, his plans for the summer, his favorite video game, anything to calm him down. Nothing was working. That is, until he thought about Louise. Not Louise the friend, not Louise and Oskar... just Louise. Logan thought about her light blue eyes, her beautiful black hair, her killer smile... everything about her was perfect to him. He sighed, finally able to calm down and think clearly.

That is, at least he thought he could think clearly. An idea popped into Logan's head, one that seemed uncharacteristic of himself and seemed pretty... well, stupid. However, he was love-sick, and any idea that regarded Louise made sense to him.

Logan quickly walked over to Zeke, who was lifting some weights that he brought with him. Whenever he got the chance, Zeke would work out. This was going to work perfectly with Logan's plan.

"91... 92... 93... 95... Oh, hey Logan! What's up?" Zeke greeted, lifting up a 30lb dumbbell repeatedly.

"Hey. Do you mind if I borrow one of you weights?" Logan asked with a determined tone to his voice.

"Yeah, sure. Here you go," Zeke replied, handing Logan a tiny 2lb dumbell.

Logan shook his head. "No, I mean that one." He pointed behind Zeke, and when he saw what he was pointing at, he looked both shocked and unsure.

"Uh... are you sure, dude?" Zeke asked, Logan gave him a determined smile.

"Absolutely," he replied.

All the other kids continued to play in the water, having the time of their lives. As Gene was floating using his inflatable tubes that he brought with him, he noticed something that was happening at the shore.

"Oh, no," he said to himself.

Soon, everyone had their attention turned towards the shore. They were all confused, asking questions amongst each other.

"What's going on?" Talia asked.

"What the heck is he doing?" Jimmy asked.

Logan struggled as he pushed a long metal pipe with 100lb weights at each end towards the other kids. After he was able to put it where his "audience" could see it, he then stood up straight, his face serious and stern. Zeke watched from afar, shaking his head.

"He's a dead man," he said to himself.

Logan looked over at Louise, who looked back at him with a puzzled expression. He then bent down and put his hands on the metal pipe.

"Oh, crap," Tina said, putting her hands over her mouth. Louise looked over at her, confused.

'OK, strength. Don't fail me now,' Logan thought to himself. He was beginning to realize the ridiculousness of his plan to impress Louise, but he was in too deep. He had to go through with it.

With the confused teens (and adults) watching, he put all of his strength into pulling the weight off the ground.

Unfortunately, it did not go according to plan.

Logan's hands slipped off the pipe, and with the amount of strength he was using to try and pick up the weight, he was thrown back, landing hard on his back.

Everyone gasped and ran towards the fallen Logan. He groaned as he slowly got himself up.

"Logan, what are you doing?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, I mean that thing is twice your weight," Daryl chimed in. He then looked Logan up and down. "Maybe even three times."

Louise still looked at Logan with a confused expression. "Why were you trying to lift that weight?"

Logan looked down with no response, his face turning red in embarrassment.

Louise then threw her head back in realization. "Oh, I get it now." Logan, Gene, and Tina looked at her, shocked and terrified (on Logan's end).

Louise then frowned and pointed at Talia. "You were trying to impress your girlfriend. I understand." She then began to walk away.

Logan then gently grabbed Louise's arm. His mind was going a mile a minute. "I wasn't trying to impress... her."

Louise looked him in the eyes, looking slightly annoyed. "Then why did you do it? Who were you trying to impress?"

Logan couldn't comprehend his own thoughts anymore. Nothing made sense except for one thought. One thought that was screaming inside his head. He knew it wasn't going to go over well, but, like before... he was love-sick.

Without a moment's hesitation, without a single additional thought, Logan leaned closer to Louise and kissed her.

Everyone gasped, even bigger than before. Louise was so surprised, her eyes were as big as dinner plates.

After a couple more seconds of kissing, Logan released and looked Louise in the eyes. He then ran away quickly from Louise and the others.

As everyone watched him run and continued to be shocked, Gene broke the silence and said, "Well... that escalated quickly."