Young Guns

"I'm Sorry I'm Not More Attractive"

-Alex Bowman Story-

I'm not sure what kind of joke Ariel, my best friend, is trying to play on me but she has invited me out to a lake party with a bunch of her friends. Don't get me wrong I love her, and her boyfriend Josh is great. But all of her friends, male and female, have amazing bodies. They are all attractive people, and here I am. Looking into the mirror in my bathroom staring at my own body, disgusting. I just bought a two-piece swimsuit for the first time since I was ten-years-old. Looking at the length of my 5'1" self I admire the burgundy high waisted bottoms with hibiscus flowers on it that match the top which has ruffle looking fabric that drapes down covering part of my stomach. Looking past the swimsuit I grimace as I grab the side of my stomach, pull, and squeeze. I put my hands by my ribcage, push down the fat, and watch it move. I want to gag at myself. I quickly grab a loose-fitting flowing racerback tank top that matches the color of my swimsuit. I look further down at my thighs and grimace as I shake them and look at the stretch marks covering them. I sigh staring at the two pairs of shorts I have out, the denim ones are longer, but I have to take them off if I want to think of going near the water. The athletic ones are a little shorter but I can keep them on in the water. I put those on, grabbing the denim ones and shoving them in the tote on my bed. I grab my bag unplugging my phone and looking down to see that Ariel texted me.

'Josh and I are leaving now to come get you. Expect us in 15 mins'

I roll my eyes checking to see that it was sent 10 minutes ago. I sigh going back into the bathroom to grab a few extra hair ties knowing that my curly mess of hair will probably break a few today. Somedays having full curly hair is annoying, other days when I feel like straightening it, it feels great to see it hits the small of my back. Today though, my hair is up in a dutch braid falling to the middle of my shoulder blades. With a final once over in the mirror I grab my bag and phone heading off to the kitchen to grab my sunglasses. With a final look around my kitchen, I pull my blue Chacos on, walk out my back door and lock up as I slide my sunglasses over my dull brown eyes.

Walking around my house I hear a car pull into my driveway and rounding the corner I see Josh's black 2012 Ford F-150 parked next to my Jeep. Ariel hangs out the window waving as I walk over with a half-smile on my face. I climb in the car as Josh says a quiet "hi" to me as I buckle up and we take off.

"Are you excited?" Ariel asks as she pivots in her seat to look back at me. The shrug of my shoulders has her sighing. "It's just a small group of people. Alex, Daniel, Ricky, and William. Then of course Kenzie, and Erin. So calm down."

With that being said I felt a little better, one there were way fewer people than I expected, and I won't be the only single one. We spend the ride listening to music, Ariel singing as loud as she can and Josh glancing at her with stars in his eyes. This is how the twenty-minute ride from my house to the boat launch on Lake Norman continued.

Upon arrival I notice everyone else was already here; all of the guys with shirts already off and girls in bikini tops and short Soffe shorts. I grab my bag out of the car and grip it in front of my stomach as I follow Josh and Ariel over to their friends. The two of them go around saying 'hi' to everyone while I just stand there and give everyone a small wave. One of the girls comes over to me enveloping me in a hug before speaking.

"Oh, you must be Lauren-May. Ariel talks about you all the time. I'm Erin," she tells me as we start walking to the boat. "That's William," she points at the blondest of the boys.

Nodding my head, "your boyfriend right?" As she smiles I add, "Ariel tried to fill me in on everyone who would be here." Erin goes and sits next to William as we get on the boat. The boat has a captain's seat in the middle of the boat off to the right side, occupied by Ricky... I think. Then behind the driver's seat is an empty area with hooks where coolers are tied down. The back of the boat has a wide opening where you can get on and off the boat. Then around the left side of the boat to about halfway is bench seating. A break where there is another exit point to the boat and then the rest of the way around the front of the boat back to around where the captain's seat rests is another bench seat.