Toddlers Until Teenagers

Chapter 52

   "Damn, I was hungry." Parker decided he would join us on our cheap, motel filled road trip to New Jersey for the weekend. Gotta live a little, Hilroy, cause not everybody is a businessman like you, I told him. And so he tagged along, and now here he is, eating cheap burgers and slurping pepsi with his expensive khakis and Hilfiger shirt.

    After finishing off our greasy food, we decide to swim a little. Or just head outside. Matt gets the little towels and the beach umbrella ready, as we all sat in the sun. Little kids laugh and screech in the water, but they are scattered and so it isn't that annoying. Women and men intertwine hands as they walk by the water, and some ladies decide to sunbathe. I can't help but stare at one. She's gorgeous.

   Her light brown hair blows in the wind as her red two piece looks fierce and gorgeous on her lightly tanned body. She lies in the sun, under an umbrella, near the water, farther from us.

     "Found yourself a nice woman?" Wes nudges me, winking, and I don't know why I turn bright red.

   "Wes, man, it's not only her body. This time, she actually looks graceful yet fierce lying there." I shake my head, what the hell has gotten into me?

   "Man, are you Shakespeare?" Matt laughs, and Wes slaps his knee, dying as well. Parker rolls his eyes and shakes them off, being the only one with a stable fiancé and soon to be wife who's usually back in Austria but decided to come with us to New Jersey. New place and all, and she's actually really pretty and sweet. She's at the spa right now, getting her nails done. She thinks New Jersey is cool and the spas are totally worth it.

   "There's no need, guys, shut up. Brace yourself. Don't be players, you all are in your late twenties, not seventeens." Parker swats Wes who is still doubling over with laughter.

   "Yeah, man, he's right." Matt's tone is now sincere, his eyes on Parker. "Celeste is totally lucky to have you. Much love."

   Parker's eyes are wide, and he's smiling. He opens his mouth to say something, but Matt's sharp laugh interrupts his glee. Wes was wiping his eyes, but now fresh tears escape them. He's an easy crier. Both of them laugh in a corner, and Parker shows them the finger.

    "Hey, hey, Parker, don't be mad." Matt is probably numb from laughing, as he falls onto Parker and laughs some more. "I know you can't resist me, okay? Sorry, I couldn't help it." He manages to say, breathing heavily.

    Parker's frustrated frown is slowly changing into a small smile, and then to a little grin, until he's grinning cheekily like Matt. "Guys, shut up, now. We all know Alex seems really cool about this woman, so why don't we bet on it?" Wes smirks.

   "Let's see..I dare you to walk up to her and flirt. If she totally is into it and you get her number afterwards, you get anything from my wine stash." Wes starts.

    "And you get Wes's Louis Vuitton stuff Parker bought him," Matt grins. Wes looks taken aback by this decision out of his will, and I grin at my friends.

   "And what if he loses?" Parker asks.

   "Oh, he can totally give me that hottie from last week and his new button down." Wes winks. I smile at him, because I know I'm winning this.

    "Deal," I declare, pulling my shirt off as the sun hits my upper torso. I slap my friends' hands one by one and standing up, shoving my feet into the white, soft sand as I leave my shoes behind. I seriously want to win this, because last bet I lost and I'm trying to gain my pride back.

   I try to walk properly in the sand that pulls me in, but I end up trudging. Good thing her view is not focused on me. I lick my lips and run a hand through my hair as I slip my sunglasses on my eyes, and the sun fades a bit. The wind is there, flowing through her hair, as I'm only a couple of feet away. It somehow softens as I approach her. Everything seems to fade as I speak, and she looks up.

   "Hey, stranger." I smile. She turns her head to look at me, sunglasses atop her head, her elbows now on the sand, getting herself stable to look up to me. Her eyes are the bluest I've ever seen, and her hair is the most silkiest looking ever. Every sound suddenly fades, as I realize this person is someone I have to know. I can't just not know someone like her.

    And I realize, with dread, as I push my sunglasses on top of my head, that this must be that woman from maybe last month? The one who I partied with and maybe had some steamy moments with. She looks like her.

   The dreadful thing, is, that girl was a blonde.

  "Do I know you?" She asks, and that voice travels up to my ears as I'm taken aback with shock. No. No, this can't be her.

    This can't be her.

     She soon realizes this, too. She recognizes me. And even has some friend approaches, I don't notice. I only notice her hair flying freely behind her, her eyes piercing into mine, her red lips parted, soft and tempting.

   I deny everything I just saw and walk away. I can't stay longer, this is ripping me apart. Flashbacks and memories roam my mind, and even as my friends laugh at me as they comprehend I lost the bet, even as I'm losing my favourite shirt and the hot girl form the other day, I don't care. I'm numb and oblivious to everything. No, not only because I lost the bet, also because it was her.

   It was Jennifer.

   ***

omg i actually loved this chapter

hope you did too