Find It Again

Chapter Four

ALYSSA

I stepped on the hot pavement of the boardwalk, instantly feeling the waves of heat rise from it and wrap around my legs. Good thing Hailey and I had our shoes because by the looks of it, the people who didn't were rushing to shaded areas and walking into the stores just to cool down.
"Come on! Alyssa hurry, you're walking so slow!" My little sister shouted as she pulled me by my wrist.

Next thing I knew, I was lying on the hot pavement. What had happened? "Alyssa are you okay?" I heard a high pitched voice that seemed very distant. I opened my eyes to a fuzzy image of a little girl. It was my sister, but there was someone else crouching next to her. Finally my vision cleared up. It was a boy with brown wavy hair and light brown eyes. He had biceps that were not too big, but not too small. He looked like he was around my age—eighteen—or nineteen. Maybe even twenty. I'm not going to lie, his face alone was beautiful. But I couldn't look at him that way right now because I was so confused as to what had happened and mad that they weren't telling me what was going on. He and my sister were pearing down at me as I lay on the floor, creating a shade from the bright sun.

"I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" His voice rang through my ears."Here, let me help you up." I stared at his outstretched arm. On the inner part of his arm he had a tattoo that read Charlotte in dark purple letters with two swirly side-by-side lines underlining it. In the right corner were three small butterflies. I quickly stood up by myself, and maybe a little too quickly, for I received an immediate rush of dizziness and almost fell back. But he pulled my arm and set me back up straight before I could even panick. I sat down on one of the seats in front of the ice cream shop. He rushed inside and came out with a white pouch. When tried to put the ice pack on my forehead, I moved my face away.
"I'm fine." I said coldly.

"It's going to swell up and hurt really bad if you don't use this." He said in a concerned voice, pointing at my head. I looked down at his shirt. Lifeguard. Of course, no wonder he was doing this. It was his job.

"I said I'm fine." I started to get a little irritated. I knew he had to do this, but I just wanted him to stop.

"I'm not leaving until you put this ice pack on your head." He blocked my path as I tried to move. He really wasn't going to let me leave. Were lifeguards always this annoying and persistent, or was it just him in particular?
"Fine." I took the ice pack from his hand and started to walk into the ice cream place, when I heard him start talking again.

"You should be more careful." He said. And at this point I was furious. I turned around and started to yell at him.
"I should be more careful?! You're the one that hit me with the door! Why should I be more careful?" I yelled.

"Because I thought you saw me walking out . But you kept walking." He answered.

"Well I didn't." I responded and kept walking into the store.

"I'm sorry, Alyssa." He put his hands up in a joking surrender, but didn't smile too widely. "I agree, it's my fault. It was an accident." After a while I realized he had said my name. How did he know my name?

DYLAN

"Who was she?" I asked myself. Well whoever she was, it didn't matter now because I'd made a horrible first impression. I took a quick glance into the ice cream place, then walked away.