Authors: Holly Hood
“I’m angry because everything I thought I wanted out of life has seemed to fade to the background and
be replaced by this dark cloud, t
his choking stifling life that somehow turned into mine.” I closed my mouth realizing I was saying way
too
much.
Dad was confused, it was written all over his face.
Lynette appeared in the doorway, wet hair.
“
Hey, Hope,
”
s
he said sweetly.
I stood up. “Now if the two of you are done with the
bathroom,
I would love to shower myself.” I stalked down the hallway. “If there is any hot water left.”
As the hot water hit
my
face,
I willed it to wash away the
bad
feelings I
felt
toward Lynette. I tried to believe she was doing more good
than
harm when it came to Dad.
But, like everything else in my life my shower was ruined by someone’s intruding knocks.
I yanked the shower curtain to the side and yelled, “I’m coming.” Didn’t people know when a girl needed a moment alone?
I hurried out of the shower
toweling
the water from my body as the knocking continued.
“Dad, the
door,”
I screamed, hopping into my shorts and tank top.
I slipped from the bathroom, towel in hand, that oh so fresh feeling as the cool air kissed my sk
in. Dad was nowhere to be found, l
ong gone, probably frolicking on the beach with his
girlfriend. I
thought
.
I rounded the corner pleased to see Karsen standing outside the screen door.
“Don’t you know you’re always welcome to come in? You don’t have to bang like a wild animal.” She smirked and then looked down at the
inside
lock throwing my snarky comment to the wayside; it wasn’t going to work because she was locked out.
I flicked the
lock,
and she stepped inside
carrying a bag of laundry
.
“I wouldn’t say that to everyone. Who knows what
weirdos
might
be lurking around these parts,” s
he commented
,
pulling up a seat. She tossed her laundry on the tabletop. I pushed
it
to the floor.
“We don’t want your nasty panties on our table. I thought you did your laundry at Kidd’s?” I took a seat and started toweling my hair dry, working the towel from the very top all the way to the ends.
“I just wanted to get out of there.” She smoothed her hair behind her ear flashing me an innocent smile, but I wasn’t buying it.
Ever since we were kids I knew how to tell when Karsen was hiding something.
“Nothing
pries
you away from Kidd, spill it sister.
” I stared her down.
She sighed,
looking
bothered. “I told you I
didn't
want to be around her anymore.” She didn’t have to say who
her
was. I knew she meant Audrey.
“I slapped her today,
” I said with a satisfied smirk creeping up on my lips.
“Good. I slapped Slade today too.” She dodged my shocked expression and my fallen jaw
, crossing her arms in defiance
.
“Karsen!”
Karsen shook her head, refusing to feel
awful
about what she did. “I told you I would never let anyone treat you bad. He walked into the house with
Audrey. It
made me
angry,
and I slapped him. Sue me.”
I released a
breath of air frustrated.
Before I could say anything more, Karsen jumped up. “But before you go getting all upset about your
so-
called boyfriend
,
hear me out.”
She started across the kitchen
floor. Her
flip flops slapping her heels.
I eyed her cautiously.
“Kidd told me to steer clear for
a while
seeing I
didn't
know how to play nicely. I’m sure it will blow over after he is done defending his best bud, whatever, that’s beside the point.” She rolled her blue eyes obviously still bitter Kidd sided with Slade over her. “While I was on the way here some surfers on the beach told me about this
party,
and I think we should go.”
She had to be kidding if she thought now was the time for a party.
“You can’t be serious. I am so not in the mood for partying. I am trying to figure out what to do about this whole mess.” I stood up, crossing the room and going to the refrigerator.
“What mess?”
I spu
n around.
“Slade.
Audrey, j
ust
everything.”
If she only understood how deep it all went.
“If Slade was any kind of a boyfriend or
man,
for that matter
,
he wouldn’t be
hanging
around with Audrey alone,” Karsen said with a shrug. I knew she was only trying to be honest because she didn’t want to see me hurt, but it hurt anyways.
“There has to be a reason other
than
he is a lying cheating jerk, Karsen. Why are you so quick to jump to that conclusion with him
every time
?”
I knew Karsen was angry with Slade for having such a hot and cold personality. And I knew she hated that he disappointed me the entire school year.
However,
she didn’t know Slade like I did.
Karsen laughed
finding my aggravation humorous
. “He is running around with
Audrey,
who I know for a fact is into him. I heard
those exact
words escape her lips. Slade knows what Audrey wants and the fact he isn’t keeping away from her is fishy.”
I shook my head in denial. But it all made sense. “What does Kidd say about it?”
Karsen waved a dismissive hand. “Kidd is not going to rat Slade out. Are you kidding me?”
“What has he said, Karsen?” I glared at her. “He’s your boyfriend and I am sure
that
you guys talk about everything. So what has he said?”
“He says nothing.
Every time
I touch on the
subject. I
get my head ripped off or his tongue shoved down my throat. I don’t mind his tongue
,
but
getting
bitched
out by my
boyfriend. I
am not fond of. If I wanted someone to yell at
me,
I would have stayed home
with my parents
.”
I
sighed. “Where is this party?”
Karsen squealed with delight. “It’s farther down the beach, far away from Henry Park or Audrey or anyone
whom
we know around here. You need to let loose. See that
there are other fish in the sea.” She played with my hair irking my nerves as she gushed about clothes and hairstyles and all the fun things she was so sure we were about to do.
***
“Karsen
,
I don’t know about this.” I told her as we headed down a rather seedy part of Cherry
an hour later
,
a part I wasn’t aware even existed. The farther we walked the scarier the housing became.
The beach was lined with
tikis
, and various men clutching red solo cups as they bounced along to the music
pumping from some unknown source
.
Th
ere was about
half a dozen picnic tables,
most with
scantily-
clad girls
sitting on top of
them.
Ka
rsen steered me onto the sand, stripping down to her neon yellow bikini. She clapped her hands taking off into the crowd, tugging me along with her. I looked back at her discarded clothes. This was beginning to feel like a horrible idea.
The crowd thinned out the closer to the ocean we got.
“Take off your clothes, this is a
bikini
party,” Karsen
hissed. She
smiled pleasantly at every guy
whom
we passed that looked like they wanted to hum
p
her leg. What was it with her and attention?
“I’m fine in my clothes.” I told her. She obtained to passing solo cups from some unknown guy
who
was passing out drinks. I immediately grabbed the drinks out of her hands.
“What are you doing?” She asked as she watched me dump the contents in the sand, the liquid quickly absorbed at our feet and
left
nothing but a dark spot in the sand as a memory.
“
Haven’t
you learned anything?” I snapped. I grabbed the passing beers in the glass bottles with caps. I handed one over to
her,
and her smile returned. “You never drink from an open cup.”
I cracked the cap on my beer and swallowed half of the bitter tasting
liquid
before she could squeeze a pitiful excuse out.
My throat
thanked
me for the
ice-
cold beverage
even if it
tasted
gross.
Karsen did the same. And we polished off our first beer before the
next song came on
. Karsen danced to the music
,
several guys picking her out in the crowd the
moment
she began shaking it for the whole world to see. I gave a nod that
it
was okay to dance with one of the horny college
guys;
he
looked rather harmless if you asked me. He turned his baseball cap to the back, one hand wrapping securely around Karsen’s
waist,
and he tugged her close. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck enjoying the moment.
I felt a bit guilty watching Karsen grope the guy she was dancing with. And bad that I was witnessing her make
terrible
decision
s
just to right a wrong she felt Kidd had done.
However,
I soon pushed that to the side and grabbed another beer. Soon I was feeling less agitated
with
everything going wrong in my life and was moving along to the music.
“I never thought I would see you here,” Hutch said, coming to stand beside me. He watched Karsen as she pulled the
guy's
shirt over his head exposing his semi hairy chest. He wasn’t that
fit,
and
he had no tattoos.
However,
she didn’t care.
I tipped the bottle back finishing off my second beer. And I was feeling even better
I had to admit
.
“I didn’t know I would be here,” I told
Hutch;
he took
the
empty beer bottle
out of my hand
and replaced
it
with a
brand-new one.
“No boyfriend tonight?”
I shrugged, struggling to crack the
cap. He
took it back and with one swift movement had the
cap
off and sailing through the air. It landed in the sand.
“Does that mean no?” He grinned, taking a drink of his other beer.
“It means I don’t want to talk about it.” I kept my eyes on Karsen, making sure she wasn’t being manhandled as I
talked
to Hutch.
“Well then, what else can we talk
about,”
Hutch asked, tipping his head back and draining the entire contents of his beer. I looked over at
him;
he
too
was nursing some undisclosed problem. I knew a problem drinker when I saw one.
“How
have
you been, Hutch?” I asked feeling almost sad for him.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said back, he headed for the trash dropping both the bottles in it. He grabbed a shot off the passing tray and downed it. And as the next girl made her way through the
crowd,
he took two more off the tray and offered me one.