Distance / Gilinsky

Chapter 3

I had texted Levi 7 times that evening. I hadn't seen him all day. I asked Drea if she had seen him, but she said she hadn't. All day Drea and my mom were down at the beach and I was inside. I was beginning to feel sick, and there was nothing more I hated than a summer cold.

I used to always get them when I was a kid, and I'd be forced to watch Levi play with his friends at the beach while I was stuck inside. I would always lie and tell my mom I felt fine, but then I would end up throwing up 10 minutes later.

I had sat inside all day and watched re-runs of The Wonder Years and drank grape soda. Finally, around nine, Levi barged through the door.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Whoa, you're starting to sound like my mother." He laughed. "I was out with some friends, chill."

"I am chill, I was just wondering."

"Well, now you know. Oh, and I almost forgot, there's a party tonight."

"And?" I asked sipping out of my 4th can of grape soda.

"And, Matt wants you to go."

"Matt?"

"Yeah, you know, the one from the pier. He shook your hand? Had a blue tanktop?"

"Oh, yeah. Matt." Was all I said.

-

I had on a plain white sundress, and Drea had insisted on French-braiding my hair. Levi had on board shorts and flip-flops, so I began to think I over dressed.

"You look pretty." Levi said as we made our way out to the car.

"Thanks. Why didn't you tell me the party was casual, though. Now I'll feel stupid for wearing a dress."

"Your dress is casual." He said. "At least it's not the type of skin-tight leather dress where you can see your undies."

I laughed at his comments. Yeah, at least it wasn't.

The car ride there wasn't very long because it was on the beach only a couple of blocks down. When we pulled up I saw girls wearing bikini tops with shorts and I felt over dressed.

To get to the actual beach you had to walk down and boardwalk, and it was packed full of people. Music was blaring from speakers somewhere and I could see the flames of a fire licking the night sky. When we got on the beach, as I suspected, there was a huge bonfire. There was a beer pong table and there were girls standing by, cheering some guys on. Some people were just sitting by the fire having a beer and some other people were actually swimming.

"Hey, man." A voice came from behind us.

Levi and I both turned to see Matt, and he smiled widely at me. A group of boys was following behind Matt, and I recognized them from the pier. My eyes instinctively scanned for jack.

"Hey guys." Levi slung his arm around me, protectively.

"This is Shawn," Matt began and I didn't realize he was talking to me at first. "Cameron, Aaron, carter, Nash, Jack Johnnson, and Jack Gilinsky."

I said hi to Jack and he smiled in response.

"Oh, and Taylor is somewhere over there, playing beer pong." Matt laughed.

The guys had begun to disperse except for Matt, and Levi took his arm off of my shoulder and gave me a tiny push towards Matt.

He whispered to me, "Don't drink. I don't need to return you to your mom wasted. She'd kill me. It's really crowded, so if you can't find me and you need me, just text."