Distance

Chapter Two

It took forever to get to the beach. It's the first day of summer, so everyone just had to go to the beach. It's a beautiful day today. Summer hasn't fully set in yet, so it's warm outside, but there's still a slight, cold breeze. When we got to the beach, we couldn't find a parking spot. I suggested to park in a nearby parking lot, only we ended up in a lot seven blocks away. It's not far, but not that close to the beach either. Taylor got the bag out of the trunk. I stuck out my hand, waiting for him to give me the bag.

"No, I got it," he said. I looked him incredulously. The bag was pretty girly. It had giant, pink flowers on it. "I'm serious. I got it. It's pretty heavy. I don't think you'll make it all the way to the beach." The bag wasn't heavy, at all. It wasn't even half the weight of my schoolbag, and that's saying a lot since I keep a lot of junk in there. I never clean my schoolbag out, so old papers just sit in there.

"The beach is not that far. The bag weighs practically nothing to me after carrying my schoolbag all year long. C'mon, just give me the bag."

"It's fine, really. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you carry a heavy bag, even though you say it isn't? You need to stop being so independent. It's okay if someone wants to help you, you know."

"Fine. You can carry the bag, but you have to carry it back, even if you get looks for holding the girliest bag in the world."

"Deal."

We proceeded to the beach. It was a terrible walk. I almost got ran over by a dude on a bike, stepped in gum twice, almost attacked by a huge dog, and got hit on by this creeper, even though Taylor was standing right next to me. Taylor looked like he was about to deck the guy, but I told him to ignore it and to calm down.

"You shouldn't be concerned about him. He didn't hurt me." I saw that he was still looking behind us in the direction the guy ran off to.

"Yeah, but he could have. You know what he did wasn't right. I could have been your boyfriend."

Yeah, you could be, but you aren't. So, stop rubbing it in my face. "Whatever."

We finally made it to the beach. We chose a spot that was close enough to the water so we can keep an eye on our stuff while we where in the water, but far enough from the water the things to stay dry. I decided not to swim just yet. It was still cool enough not sweat if you're not in the water, so I decided to tan. After I took off my dress, I placed the blanket on the ground and sat down to apply sunblock.

"Hey, can I use some of that, Ari?" asked Taylor.

"Sure, but first, can you do my back?" I replied.

He nodded and I turned my back to him. I looked out to the water while his rubbed my back. He and I didn't talk at all while we listened to seagulls and children's laughter.

"Finished," he said as he squit some lotion in his hands to apply some on his awesome abs.

"Thanks." I get more lotion to do the rest of my body.

"Are you going in the water," he asked, getting up.

"No. Not yet."

"Okay," he said as he ran towards the water, screaming for no reason.

I shake my head at him and grabbed my iPod. I put in the earbuds and went to the summer playlist I made last night.

"I'm at a payphone/ trying to call home/ all of my change I spent on you/ where have the times gone/ baby, it's all wrong/ where are the plans we made for two." I listened to the song as I cracked open a new book I got from the bookstore.

Just before I hit the fifth chapter, a shadow came up from behind me and hovered over my book. I turned around to see Jackson from homeroom.

"Hi, Arianna."

"Oh, hey, Jackson," I say, looking up at him. "You want to sit?"

"Yeah." He sat down next to me a little closer than normal. "Can you believe school's over?"

"Yes! What kind of question is that?"

"You're not a fan of school?"

"No, but who is?"

"True. You got plans for this summer?"

"No, not really. I just want to spend this summer with Taylor before he leaves." I look at him swimming in the ocean. "You?"

"I'm thinking about going to Florida."

"By yourself?" I ask.

"No. With friends."

Taylor walked up to us and said, "Hey, Jackson. How's it going?"

"Great," Jackson replied. "I should be heading to work, now. Bye, guys."

Taylor and I told him goodbye and I gave him a hug.

"Are you ready for the water yet?" Taylor asked.

I nodded and walked towards the water. Taylor ran up from behind me, picked me up, and carried me all the way to the water against my protests. When the water touched the top of his knees, he threw me in the ocean.

"Ahh!" I stood up and gave him an angry expression. "Seriously?"

We swam for an hour, trying to dunk each other in the ocean. Okay, so it was more of him pushing my head under and me trying to chase him to reciprocate. My stomach growled for food when Taylor's did, too. It's like we were meant for each other. I can't think about that.

"Hungry?" I say walking towards our stuff. We raced to the blanket and I sat down before he did. I grinned up at him, which he returned, but there was something in his eyes. I stopped smiling and said, "You let me win didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, keeping a neutral face.I looked up at him and tilted my head with a raised eyebrow. "Really, I don't!"

"Yeah, right." I just leave at that and get the sandwiches from the bag. I handed him his when he sat.

"Thanks."

After the awkward silence of eating, we packed up our stuff and walked around on the boardwalk.

"You want to go back home yet?" he asked.

"No. Not really."

"You want to swim some more?"

"No. How about we go to that little shopping plaza in Heights? It's only ten minutes from here."

"Yeah. We can go there."

Luckily, this time on our way back, nothing bad or weird happened to me. I put my bag in the trunk and grabbed my wristlet wallet out of it. Taylor was fiddling with the stereo, trying to find a good song. He always does this.

"Just pick a song already." I say, sliding into the car.

"Fine." Call Me Maybe starts playing. "No!" His hand shot out towards the knob, but my hand beat him to it. "Hey. I like this song," I say, keeping my hand on it until he lifted his off of mine and waited a little more in case he tries to change it again.

I start to sing to it. "I trade my soul for a wish/ pennies and dimes for a kiss/ I wasn't looking for this/ but now you're in my way."

"You have a nice voice, Ari. I still can't believe you didn't join choir."

"I told you. Hilary is in choir. Remember?" Hilary is Taylor's ex-girlfriend from last year. She's always hated me and threatened me. She was afraid that I was stealing him from her. I would never purposely destroy any relationship that made him happy, no matter how much I love him.

We got to the plaza and went into this little store that sold books and music. I scanned the shelves for something that sounded interesting.

"Hey, Arianna. Come here. You have to see this," Taylor called to me, waving me over. I made my way to him and sat down next to him on the couch the store had. He was showing me his Facebook page that had this joke on it. I read it and laughed. "Doesn't this remind you of homecomeing last year?" he asked.

"Yes. There's nothing here that I want. You want to go to a different store?" I responded to him. He said yes. We walked around until we were hungry again.

"Want to eat in that diner that we saw ten minutes ago?" I look up at Taylor. He nodded.