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Chapter 35

As quickly as finals week had come, it ended. After what had happened with Anna, I was not interested in going to the restaurant where most of the senior class was meeting to celebrate. Fortunately, Alyssa's semester ended today and she wanted to celebrate. We packed up her car with our suitcases and started the two hour drive to the beach. Around 7 pm, half way to the beach, my phone vibrated in the cup holder. I reach down and pick it up. I had a message from Bradley. Hey Teres-Teres. Where are you at?

Without telling Alyssa the reason why I had taken her up on her offer to spend the weekend I responded to the message quietly. Hey! I had other plans for tonight. I placed the phone back into the cup holder and looked out at the farm fields that lined both sides of the straight road. Luckily college wasn't over for all college students until tomorrow so we were able to have a quick and uncrowded ride down to the beach. Around 9 we arrived at the townhouse Alyssa's family friends were letting us use for the weekend.

"This place is perfect!" I said as we walked through the wooden gate and unlocked the front door. The three story beach themed townhouse was right on the beach. We walked onto the balcony and could hear the waves crashing against the sand as the full moon illuminated miles of the empty beach.

"Dude. Lets rent a movie and get some sleep so we can get up early and take advantage of the whole day." Alyssa suggested as she turned around and went in through the sliding glass doors. I followed her to the kitchen and grabbed the pack of water we had bought and placed it in the fridge. I grabbed two and tossed it to Alyssa as she went through her suitcase looking for a pair of sweatpants. Once we were both changed into comfier clothes we ended back up on the ocean front balcony. We stayed out there for 3 hours talking about random things.

The next morning we didn't wake up until around 10 am. The long sleep was well deserved. "Good morning best friend." Alyssa said as she tossed her blanket off her body.

"Good morning." I replied.

"No clothes. Just bathing suits the whole time." She said as she walked into the bathroom to change.

I reached over to the nightstand between the beds and grabbed my phone. There were two missed messages. One from my mom asking how I was and one from Bradley saying that he wished he had skipped the senior celebration too. Hey. Why do you wish you had missed the celebration?

I put the phone back onto the table and went over to my suitcase that was sitting at the end of the bed. I unzipped the top pocket and grabbed the bright red bikini Alyssa had convinced me to buy. I quickly slide into the two piece and rummage around in my bag looking for the cover I had packed. I find the black lace cover as Alyssa opens the bathroom door. "Ooh girl. You look hot."

"Me? Look at you!" She had ripped jean shorts and her navy blue bikini top on exposing her pierced belly button. She laughed at my remark and I slid into the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day.

We both grab a power bar from the snack backpack, we had stopped and filled on our way here. We walked down to the second floor and grabbed our beach towels and volleyball before leaving. We walked to the semi-busy beach right in front of us and laid our beach towels down in the hot sand and started to lay there and waste time. After an hour of sitting there and reading, I stand up and tell Alyssa I am going to jump in the water. She agreed to follow and we left our stuff on the beach and ran towards the crashing waves. We walk deeper into the water as our bodies begin to disappear under the hazy blue water. With each wave my body would be carried freely farther from the sand. After 30 minutes of diving and jumping through waves we headed back to sit and dry on the beach.

By the time we got back to the townhouse it was 3:30. We grabbed our wallets and drove down to the boardwalk. After easily finding parking we started to walk along the boardwalk looking into shop windows before choosing to eat at a pizzeria. As we sat there, it became clear that the college students were beginning to arrive. As the hours ticked by the crowd of barely dressed girls and fraternity looking guys crowded the boardwalk. We were fully fed and ready to spend the rest of Friday night walking up and down going into as many shops as we could. I had left my phone at the house, determined to escape the life back in the city.