It Starts With Him

04

I stare in shock at the stranger, my eyes wide and lips parted. He stares at the employee and the two of them hold eye contact for a moment before he turns to look at me.

"I hope you're ready to lose," he says without smiling, but his voice in a joking tone. I watch in silence as he loosens up his posture and sits down in the seat next to me. He runs a hand through his dark hair and turns to give me a half-smile.

I manage to shake myself from the shock of what just happened, and I smirk at him. "Trust me, I won't be the loser here," I reply. A hint of humor lights up in his eyes and I grin, turning to the water gun. I aim the gun at the target, eyeing the bright pink pig stuffed animal.

"Alright, the game will start in 3... 2... 1!"

Water streams out of the gun and hits the target almost immediately. I concentrate on keeping it steady and occasionally glance over to see my opponent's progress. I can't tell who's winning since I need to keep the majority of my attention on my own target.

"You're going down," the employee says to me, and stranger boy laughs a rugged chuckle. "Hell yeah, she is," he mumbles and I squint my eyes trying to focus harder. I don't even care about the pig. I could get anything for dad that reminds him of mom. All I really care about is beating this cocky guy.

A bell rings out, and I look up to see the score. He beat me, just like he said he would. I groan and roll back my head, and he laughs in response. I stand up, and shake my head at him, a small smirk on my face.

"What prize do ya' want," the employee says rudely, and I give him the side-eye. Some people really have the audacity to be terrible people for literally no reason. The stranger eyes all the stuffed animals and glances at me.

"Which is your favorite?" he asks, and I smile. "The pig," I reply, pointing at the cute little hog. He looks at it, then at the employee. "I'll have the teddy bear," he says with a bright smile. I frown and roll my eyes. "Smartass," I mutter under my breath and he laughs. He takes the bear from the employee, and we walk away from the stand together, going in no particular direction.

"Thanks for playing with me," I tell him, and he nudges my arm. "No worries. The guy was an asshole, I liked seeing him squirm," he replies, and I laugh and I take another moment to look at him. The bone structure in his face causes me to stare, and when he looks over I clear my throat noisily and look away.

"So where are you from?" he asks me, and I tell him Madison. I explain that's clearly the reason I'm not tan, and he tells me that he's lived on the coast ever since he was a kid. "I used to come here every summer as a kid. I wish we hadn't stopped," I explain as we near the bridge leading to the beach.

I grab my phone out of my pocket and notice that it's getting later, and I should probably head back to hang out with dad. I stop walking at the beginning of the bridge, and the stranger turns to me. "You coming? Heard there's a bonfire on the sand tonight," he says, a half-smile forming on his lips.

I squirm uncomfortably and rub my arm with my hand. I've never liked saying no when someone offers to do something with me.

But I know I should get back to dad. Plus, I can see Lucas and his newfound friends by the water, some of them walking along the shoreline, others jumping right in. Even from afar, Elijah still looks cute. I can't go over there when they're around, especially.

"My dad's kind of waiting for me," I explain, pointing to my house in the distance. He squints his eyes at my house and then looks back at me.

"Sure," he says, and then looks at me with a weird expression. I cock my head in confusion. "What?" I ask. The warm breeze blows his hair across his forehead and he walks behind me, and I stand there frozen. "You have a bug on your back," he says, and I cringe. Bugs. Ew.

After a moment, he walks around me, comes back into view, and turns towards the bridge. He starts walking on his own to the beach, and I call after him, "See you around..." I realize I forgot to get his name. He turns around, grins, and puts a hand around his mouth. "Ace!"

I smile and wave. "See you around, Ace," I say.

"If you're lucky," he replies, and I watch as he disappears into the shadows on the beach, the smell of salt thick in my nose.

"When's your brother heading home?" Dad asks as I sit at the kitchen table feasting on some Oreos. "Don't ask me. He made a group of friends almost as soon as we got there. Doesn't shock me," I reply, dunking my cookie into milk.

I pull the list out of my back pocket and carefully cross off the "beach carnival" bullet point. I take off the big drawstring bag that I'm still wearing from the carnival and toss it onto the table in front of me.

I click the pen open and go to examine the list a bit more when I notice something about my bag. It's bigger than it was when I brought it. I pull it towards me and carefully open it up. I chuckle as I pull out the teddy bear Ace won at the shooting game.

Just as I start looking at it, the door swings open, and in walks a soaking from head to toe Lucas. He puts his finger to his lips to quiet me, and I nod and muffle a laugh.

He walks up the stairs leaving a trail of water, and I look back at the teddy bear. Ace must have slipped it in when he was getting the bug off my back.

I look out the big kitchen window that looks out at the beach and smile to myself when I see him sitting there by the bonfire.