The Hot LifeGuard

When she says she loves you, tell her you love her too

We laid our towels on the sand quickly, so we could lie down to rest our burning feet from the sand.

"Check out the lifeguards on duty," Taylor chanted. I looked over to the lifeguard post, I already knew Tyler would be there today so I expected to see him on the post. Yet... He wasn't there.

"Hm, is Tyler not working today?" I asked Taylor.
"Not sure, can't seem to find him. Hmmm, why does Kate have a crush on the Hot Lifeguard since their last kiss?" She said jerking me in the ribs. I froze.
"Um, what do you mean kiss.." I asked wearily. Taylor brought her sunglasses down and roller her eyes.
"Are you serious? The kiss of life when he saved your butt from the ocean?" She said pushing her sunglasses back up. I fake laughed.
"Ohhh, yes yes, now I remember.... Nooo, of course not. It's just I like never thanked him for it, that's all," I lied.
"Oh there he is!" Taylor chirped pointing to him. He was with Jasmine and the usual group of girls by the lifeguard post. My heart sank.
"What's Tyler doing with Jasmine?" I said disgustingly.
Taylor pulled her glasses down again to get a good look at them across the beach.
"Hmm.. Not too sure, but I'm not surprised. They used to be girlfriend and boyfriend for a year or so."
"What?" I had no idea about this... Tyler certainly didn't tell me any of this. "I didn't know they were going out."
"Yeahhh, they only broke off a couple of months ago. Rumour has it she cheated on him with some older guy, and apparently he's really hung up about it. Poor guy," Taylor said with a side smile.
"What like he's not over it?" I asked with a burning sensation of jealousy within me.
Taylor looked at me confused. "Not sure why the sudden interest here Kate. You know the drill of a breakup, the guy wants to make his ex jealous again and she wants him back sort of thing. I'm not even surprised if they've been on and off these two months," she shrugged. The pit of my stomach felt like it was just getting deeper and deeper.
"Where did you hear this from?" I asked.
"Kate, it's just talk and rumours, I don't know what goes on in their lives!" She said with a laugh. I sat back. Yeah maybe it is just "talk and rumours" or at least I hope it was because that meant that Tyler was just playing with me as his side chick. The thought was just breaking my heart.
"You okay?" Taylor asked putting a hand on my arm. I smiled and lied. "Yes I am."
I peeked over at Tyler and there Jasmine was flirting away, playing with her hair between her fingers and touching his arm. Ugh. Just seeing them together was making me feel sick. They spoke a bit more and she gave him a piece of paper and tucked it away in his back pocket of his swimming bottoms. What was she giving him her number so they could meet up? All these thoughts relentlessly circled my mind to the point where I couldn't even think straight anymore.

They departed after a while of talking - that felt like a lifetime to me. He went back to the lifeguard post and scanned the beach as usual. This time I was waiting to meet his eyes with mine to let him know that I was looking at him. When our eyes met, he immediately smiled at me and blushed slightly, whilst on the other hand, I gave him a scornful look.
Taylor pushed me on the shoulder. "Kate, he was totes checking you out! Why did you give him that death glare," she laughed.
"All boys are the same," I said rolling my eyes.

It was getting late, the sun was setting behind the clouds which left the sky with a tint of pinks and purples. Taylor had to rush off to pick up her little brother from football practice, and asked if I wanted a lift, but I told her I would just walk or get the bus home. In truth, I just wanted to see if Tyler would come up to me now that she wasn't here to see. I waited on my towel, pretending to look busy by listening to music and reading a book. That obviously didn't work because he still didn't come over. I decided I had enough; to be honest my heart felt a little shattered after what I saw today and he didn't even come up to speak to me. I packed up my things and left the sand. I started walking along the pathway making my way home.
I was already halfway home when heard someone shouting my name. I looked back and it was Tyler in his car. He stopped next to me.
"Where did you go! One minute you were there and the next you were gone," he said.
"Oh you were probably too busy looking and talking to other girls," I rolled my eyes at him and continued walking forward. He moved up further along the road and stopped again.
"What are you talking about Kate."
"I saw you with Jasmine all flirty and touchy, ugh," I said with disgust.
Tyler laughed. "Getting jealous are we? Jasmines just an old friend, she was just asking how I was," he reassured.
"By old friend, don't you mean ex-girlfriend?" I declared. His eyes widened. "Oh yeah, the one you didn't tell me about."
"I didn't tell you because I thought it was irrelevant. This thing we have is too early to bring in any past relationships anyways, that just brings arguments," Tyler stated.
"You could still have had the decency to tell me, at least I could have figured out if I was your rebound girl," I stammered, carrying on stumping forwards. Tyler stopped the car and got out and stood in front of me.
"See, I didn't want to talk about her because all it causes are silly arguments! She means nothing to me, I wouldn't be here if she did. And you're not my rebound girl, what the heck is that supposed to mean Kate?" He asked.
I reached for the back of his pocket in his swimming bottoms and pulled out the piece of paper that Jasmine had placed there. I opened it and there was a number, probably hers.
"What's this then?" I asked flinging the paper in front of him and then throwing it in his face. "I am so your rebound girl. And now that you have your 'girl' back, you don't need me. But I certainly don't need you. What even are we Tyler?" I asked him. His face looked lost and didn't have an answer. "How do you feel about me? Where do we stand? What are you embarrassed to be with me; I can't even be seen with you in public as a thing?" His expression was emotionless and didn't say a word.
"I love you Tyler," I blurted out. "I know it's too soon to say this, but I think I'm in love with you!" I said with tears in my eyes whilst Tyler stood there still, standing so so eerily still. "I can't eat, I can't sleep. All I do is think about you and want to be with you. But I don't think the feeling is neutral. So you know what, I'm done," I said turning away from him.
"Kate," he called, "I can explain everything. It's not what you're setting it out to be!" I still ignored him and carried on walking home. Part of me wished he would have ran after me and told me everything would be alright. Part of me also wished he would have said he loved me too instead of running away. But part of me was glad that this was over, because deep down I knew; it was too good to be true.