"So what are we feeling today?" My mom asked as she sipped her mug of coffee.
Carl wasn't awake yet. So it was just her and I sitting out on his deck that overlooked the ocean. It was peaceful, considering he had no neighbors next to him, right now at least. The new ones were coming in a week.
"I don't know." I answered her. I watched as the blue water splashed against the white sand. Even if I didn't like Carl, I had to admit, he has one amazing house.
"Well I think I'm going to go find a grocery store and fill this place with actual food." My mother said matter-of-factly.
I laughed.
It wasn't a secret, Carl ordered pizza almost every night, and basically only had junk food in his kitchen.
Not that I was complaining.
"Do you want to come with me?"
I thought for a moment. "No thanks. I'll probably just explore the neighborhood today."
My mom shrugged. "Whatever you want." She looked down at her watch. "It's 11:00, that man needs to wake up."
"Or not. I'm fine without him." I joked.
My mother gave me a pointed look, then smiled and stood up. I did the same and followed her back inside the beach house.
She stopped in the kitchen and went to a cookie jar that was sitting next to the stove. From there she grabbed three 20$ bills and threw them at me.
They floated to the ground like feathers.
"Seriously?" I asked. "Who in the world can catch bills flying at them?"
"Those people in the cash grab tunnel things." My mom said right away. "And just don't buy something stupid."
I rolled my eyes and picked up the money. I shoved it into the back pocket of my jean shorts.
"Thanks mom." I finally said as she started walking towards the stairs that led to Carl's room.
She just waved it off. "It's not my money anyways." She called.
I laughed to myself. The thought that Carl would have a cookie jar full of anything but money, would be surprising.
I walked to the front door and threw on my old pair of flip flops. I would probably regret not wearing tennis shoes later, but whatever.
Carl's beach house neighborhood was buzzing when I stepped outside. Cars were driving down the road, healthy people were running with their dogs, and some old lady across the street in her garden, waved at me.
I headed down the road towards the only place I remembered in this town. The park.
It was about two blocks from Carl's, so I didn't have to walk very far.
The last time I visited Carl was about two years ago. And because I still didn't like him back then, I had decided to go exploring. That was when I had happened upon the grand little park known as The Pineapple.
The park had an actual name, but I didn't really care to learn it. I decided to call it The Pineapple because when I first got there, some nice old man had offered me a piece of pineapple.
There really was nothing special about the park. To most people that is.
But I am not most people.
You see, there are these walking trails through the forests that are somewhat creepy, but I went through them anyways. And on one of the trails I found this random tree that was way taller than the rest. And to my glee, way easier to climb, than the rest.
I don't know why, but I have this weird obsession with climbing things.
Anyways, I embarked on climbing this random tree, and to my surprise, on one of the top branches, was a board. Probably a six by eight wooden board. It seemed to have been set there for someone to sit on.
So of course I sat on it. And let me tell you, the view was amazing.
Because the tree was taller, you could overlook most of the park, and also see across the street to the beach. It was the perfect people watching spot.
So that's where I headed to now. It took a little more effort to get up the tree than I remembered, but two years later, the board still sat.
I wish I could tell you something cool happened while I sat. But that would be lying.
Nothing happened. I just watched as people swam in the ocean or had cute little picnics.
It was sort of depressing. All of these people having fun, and here I was, sitting in a tree.
Stalking them.
If this was what I was meant to do in my life. Someone please kill me now.
So I sat in the tree. For at least an hour. And when I decided to come down, it was about 2 in the afternoon. (According to my phone that I had somehow miraculously not dropped yet).
I shimmied my way down the tree and cursed every time a branch scratched me. Hopefully there were no young children below me.
As I stepped down to one of the last branches, I felt my foot slip off the side. I squealed as I fell backwards towards the ground, the breath was thrown out of me.
Just as I thought I was about to hit the ground, I felt myself land into two outstretched arms. I gasped as some random stranger caught me.
I tried to recover from the shock of falling as the person set me down.
"Thank you." I managed to get out. I looked up at the person and froze.
"Hey no problem. It's not everyday I get to catch girls falling towards me." A tall boy who looked around my age answered. And just so I don't forget to mention this, he's attractive.
Super attractive.
I was at a loss of words for a few seconds as I looked into his dark brown eyes. But I managed to get out a small laugh.
"Are you alright?" He asked. His face was full of worry now.
I shook my head. "I'm fine. Just a little shaken up." Then I smiled. "Thank you again for catching me."
"I just did what anyone else would do." He waved it off. "My name's Garret by the way."
"I'm Langston. It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah! Are you from around here? I don't think I've seen you before." Garret asked.
"No." I shook my head. "I'm just here for the summer visiting my mother's boyfriend."
"Oh fun. Well I hope you enjoy it here." Garret smiled and I could feel my nerves buzzing.
This was crazy. Boys never made me feel nervous. What was going on in my head?
"Garret?" A voice from down the trail interrupted my thoughts. I looked over and saw a girl in short shorts and a tank top giving me a bad look.
Garret looked annoyed for a second, then his smile came back. "I better go." He nodded towards the girl.
"Right." I said disappointingly. I watched as he ran off towards the girl, and together they jogged off down the trail.
I wanted to believe that that wasn't his girlfriend. But really, with my luck, there was no way she wasn't.
