Home For The Summer

Chapter 7: Sweet Like Cotton Candy

Saturday night, Hannah texted me asking if I wanted to go to the Santa Monica Pier because apparently "all the cute boys were going to be there." Hannah's words, not mine. I don't know why she thought that this particular Saturday was any different than other Saturdays, but I didn't want to ruin her excitement.

Unfortunately, Hannah had to work that day, so she told me to just meet her there. I was surprised she had a job considering she was crazy wealthy and she's Hannah, a girl who you would never expect to have a job that required doing work.

Regardless, I drove to the pier alone.

As I mentioned before, I'm sort of an introvert, going out in public alone is terrifying.

As soon as I got through the entrance, I sat on the first bench I saw.

Hannah wasn't lying when she said there were a ton of cute guys there. In fact, there were a shit ton of people there, in general.

As I scanned the park, I noticed a familiar figure standing by the cotton candy cart.

Sam. He was alone, like me, probably buying cotton candy for his stubborn girlfriend who didn't feel like walking all the way across the pier.

I hoped to God he wouldn't see me, but I guess I just wasn't that lucky. As soon as the vendor handed him the fluffy, pink cavity on a stick, he turned in the direction I was sitting and made eye contact. His face when from a neutral, emotionless stare into a big, bright smile that honestly made my heart skip a beat. He raised his free hand to wave and began walking over towards me.

"Sydney!" He yelled, getting closer. "Hi, Sam," I said, as soon as he was standing right in front of me. He looked around, a look of concern on his face. "Are you here alone?" He asked.

"I'm waiting for your sister to get out of work," I stated, looking at my phone to see if she had texted. "What about you?" I asked, still looking at my phone, even though I had no texts.

"I am," he responded. I quickly looked back at him and raised my eyebrows. "You are?"

He nodded. "I came with Morgan, but she had a family emergency."

I cocked my head to the side. "How long ago was that? Is she okay?"

"Like twenty minutes ago. And she's fine, I think it was just her sister having false labor again. It happens a lot."

"So then why are you still here?"

Sam just shrugged.

I was going to say something else when I felt my phone vibrate. I looked down and saw that it was a text from Hannah saying her work was making her stay late.

"Well, guess I'm alone for the night, too," I said, standing up.

"What's going on with Hannah?"

"Her work is keeping her longer than expected." I began walking towards the entrance when Sam said, "you can hang out with me if you don't have any other plans."

I turned to face him. "You sure you'd want to hang out with me?"

Sam laughed. "I mean, you already drove all the way here and we're both alone, might as well make a night of it."

I smiled. "And ya know, I may not be my sister, but you still got one Travinski."

I bit my lip to keep my smile from getting too flirtatiously big. "Okay Sam, you got me there," I said walking towards him.

"Here, this is for you," he said, handing me the cotton candy.

I grabbed it, slowly. "You don't want it?" I asked.