Late Nights & City Lights (Connor Franta / O2L)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gina and I spent the rest of the week exploring more of the city, spending the majority of our time in the shopping districts and the nearby beaches.  I was two weeks into my trip and I felt as though there was still so much for me to do.  I had a feeling I would never discover all of LA, even if I didn’t return to New York at the end of August.

Eight o’clock Friday night I found myself in Gina’s room, helping her pick out an outfit to go over the hot pink bikini she had bought from Beach Bunny’s.  When I had walked into her house—or should I say mansion?—I was blown away.  Stepping into Gina’s room, I had been convinced Veronica’s entire apartment could fit inside it.  Why Kelly would leave this house to live in a tiny ass apartment was beyond me.

“White or green?”  Gina had two tanks held up against her chest.

“White,” I said, pointing at the shorter of the two tops.  “Then you can wear the floral high-waisted shorts to tie together the colors.”

Gina looked around at her pile of discarded clothes, finding the pieces I had put together.  When she saw the shorts lying on her bed, she snapped her fingers and grinned at me.  “You’re a genius, Allison.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I joked, flipping my hair back dramatically.  Gina pulled on the shorts and tank over her swimsuit and sat on the floor, putting her makeup on in front of the mirror.

“By the way, you need to change,” she said to me as she drew a perfect line across her eyelid.  “We’re going to a party at the beach, not mass.  You look way too conservative.”

“I didn’t bring any other clothes with me,” I said, crossing my arms.  “Besides, what’s wrong with my outfit?”

“Your shorts are fine,” Gina said.  “But don’t wear a tee shirt.  Here, take this tank.”  Gina pulled a muscle tank with a sugar skull on it from the bottom of one of her piles.  I swapped my shirts and then looked at her for approval.  “Perfect.”

An hour later we were pulling up to the beach in Gina’s silver Cadillac.  The party was already in full swing, with several bonfires along the sand.  People were dancing to a Nicki Minaj song and there were coolers at each fire pit, filled with alcohol and water bottles (though mainly the former).  A game of volleyball was going on and there were a couple surfers in the water.

“Are we meeting Shawn here?”  I asked Gina.  The breeze blew a curl in my face and I tucked it behind my ear.

“Yeah,” she answered, checking her phone.  Her face was illuminated by the blue glow in the darkness, making it look like it was just floating there.  “He said he’s on his way over.”

“Let’s go wait by one of the fires,” I suggested.  Gina took the lead, strutting along the sand.  I followed, watching as guys nearly broke their necks trying to get a good look at her.  I bit my lower lip to hide my smile.  Gina grabbed a Corona for herself and gave me a water.  As we went to find a log to sit on, some girl ran past us screaming, “Sam!”  She barreled into Gina, who managed to hold onto her drink with the tips of her fingers.

“Watch where you’re going!”  Gina shouted at the girl’s retreating back.  “God, I hate people.”

“You and me both,” I agreed.  We had just found an unoccupied log when Gina’s phone buzzed. 

She groaned.  “Ugh.  This is so difficult.”  She craned her neck to look down the beach.  “Shawn said he’s like three fires down from us.  He met some friends.”

“That’s fine,” I said.  “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“That’s the spirit!”  Gina replied happily.  We set off to meet Shawn.  At the next fire, a group of guys got up, racing for the volleyball court.  Gina and I were caught in the middle of the stampede.  We tried our best to dodge the guys and were pretty successful until the end.  I stepped to the side to move out of the way of a really tall kid and ended up walking straight into someone else.