Whoa Baby.
Chapter 9 - Beach House
"There is a heaven for me, I'm sure it has a beach attached to it."- Jimmy Buffet
There is one place that almost every teenager loves to escape to. That is the beach. Why, is a personal reason, different for every human being, but to me, it is the tranquility it brings to my mind. The moment my feet hit the warm sand, the soothing breeze passing by, the smell of salt water, and the warmth of the sun on my skin. I imagine that this is what heaven will be like, if not, better. A person cannot have too much beach. Especially for us people living in Avon, who would need to take a two hour drive to experience such safe haven.
Beach, a place of relaxation, rest, and tranquility. For heaven seem to be a little closer whenever I step foot on a beach. The dream of being someone different, someone who nobody knows of, here, a perfect place to escape to. Like being in a crowd in New York. People see your face but they don't know your story, they don't know who you are, where you've come from or what you've done. The beach is like that place. Escape from Avon. The little town where everyone knows everyone.
The baby blue house that we've been speaking of so often is finally in front of me- or technically behind me, since I stand on the back porch looking over the beach and ocean. It's this place I walked into some months ago, declaring I was going to have my last hurrah before College awaited, with my friends together one last time. Now that dream has changed. Things are completely different now than they were a few months ago. How life and silly decisions can change your life in a snap within such a short amount of time.
Things will be different not just this summer but for the rest of my life. As of right now, I didn't know what to do. What to do or who to tell first. When to tell someone, because I felt the longer I keep it to myself, the longer things will stay normal. The longer people would just see me for me and not some sinful, knocked up teenager.
"PAISLEY! GET IN HERE!" Alice shouted from in the house. I looked over my shoulder and saw through the window Emma sitting on top of Alice at the bottom on the stairs that go to the second floor.
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, a small amused smile on my lips. "What are you guys doing?" I question them with a chuckle.
"Tell her I get the bedroom with the attached bathroom." Emma said looking up at me, pushing Alice's shoulder down while sitting on her back.
"Um, no! I get the bed and bath room. I said that when we first came here." Alice disagrees, holding her head slightly off the ground. She squirms from underneath Emma, throwing her legs around in attempt to throw Emma off. "Emma Montgomery get off of me!"
"Not until you agree that I get the room." Emma argues, holding down Alice. As they continued to bicker I slowly made my way closer to them, tip toeing until I reached the stair case.
"Paisley, what are you doing?" Alice hollers, trying to crane her neck to look at me.
"Taking the bedroom with the attached bathroom, bye!" I shout, running up the stairs the best I could with a heavy suitcase.
"NO!" They both shouted. It was a little too late for them because by the time I heard their flip flops clack up the stairs I already threw my suitcase on top of the bed and rolled all over the bed and messed with the blankets.
"Mwahaha!" I laugh evilly, beginning to jump on the bed, "The room is mine!" I shout in victory, throwing my hands up in the air. It's not like this was the only bathroom in the house. The first floor had a half bath, and the second floor had two full baths. One attached to this room, the other across the hall in between the other two bedrooms.
"I call the one with the big closet then!" Emma says quickly, running across the hall.
"We are sharing that closet!" Alice yells, following her to the room. The two soon started to bicker all over again and I had to be the person to get between them and find the peace.
"Emma either share the closet or let Alice have all the bathroom space." I tell her. The horrified look on her face spoke for itself, silently allowing Alice to have a small piece of the closet, since there wasn't one in the other bedroom.
We weren't expecting any visitors, so you could say it was strange when the doorbell rang and all our heads turned. "Um, who is that?" Alice said sounding a bit nervous.
"I don't know we just got here." Emma replies, coming out of the room.
I head down the stairs first, taking a turn to the front door. I peeked through the window not recognizing whose truck was parked on the curb in front of our house, with a couple of boys chilling in the bed of the truck. I unlocked the front door, since the two girls didn't have the guts to do it.
We came face to face with two other guys. A blond and a brunette, and from first glance I immediately thought the brown headed boy with no shirt looked more attractive than the blond in the baseball cap.
"Hey we saw you girls moving in and we wanted to invite you to our beach party." The blond said handing us a colorful piece of paper.
I took it from his hands with a grin, looking down at it quickly until the other boy spoke up, "My name is Lukas." He introduce, sitting out his hand.
"Jack." The blond kid spoke up, raising his hand as a wave of some sorts, looking behind me to my suddenly super shy friends.
"Paisley." I introduce as well, "Emma and Alice." I added, pointing to each face behind me. "Where do you guys live?" I ask curiously.
"Right there." Jack answered, pointed to a house two doors down on my right. "If you ever need a cup of sugar just knock on our door." Jack said smoothly with a wink.
"Hope to see you at the party. We'd love to stay and chat but," Lukas waved his stack of flyers and backing away slowly, "We still have to pass out all these."
"That's fine. It was nice talking to you." I said waving to them as they jogged away. They all hopped in the truck, driving away and still waving.
"Hot guys on our doorsteps and it hasn't even been an hour." Emma giggles, hugging me from behind.
"And we've been invited to a party." I said in addition, looking over the flyer the boys gave me. "Beach, booze, and bonfire. Come one, come all, for a great time." I said in a loud and promising voice. "Wow, these boys are so creative." I say sarcastically closing the door behind me.
Alice takes the flyer from my hand and shakes her head, "We can't go to something like this. The only thing that'll be going on at that party is drinking and drinking and even more drinking. This is not some bonfire with s'more and red solo cups of iced tea like we have back in Avon, guys."
"You don't think I know that?" Emma mutters snatching the flyer from her hand. "Don't start being the buzz kill. We promised each other that we were going to make this last summer together memorable. That we're going to experience new things and meet cute guys, don't start going back on that now." She says to Alice specifically.
"You can have all the new experiences you want, but I'm drawing my line on drugs and alcohol." Alice tells her, crossing her arms as she heads up the stairs.
"Go ahead and be a stick in the mud but don't tell me where to draw my line." She shouts up the stairs to her, "And Alice's party pooping begins." She mumbles walking past me. "And for the record my line stops at drugs, okay, like I'd never do something as crazy as that."
"I believe you. You didn't even have to tell me that and I already knew." I told, following her into the kitchen.
"Thank you. So we're definitely going tonight, right?" She asked, opening the fridge out of habit even though there was no food. "Maybe we should get some food first." She decided.
I chuckle, nodding my head as I grabbed the car keys off the counter, "Yes for the party and yes for food in the fridge. Come on, let's get it over with now so we can come back and get ready for the party." I tell her, hopping off one of the bar stools that surrounded the island.
"You ask her if she wants to come." Emma says, pointing up the stairs meaning Alice.
"Just be nice." I tell her with a small sigh and a roll of my eyes, "Alice we're going grocery shopping, come along." I shout up the stairs. "Hey, don't forget to grab the house keys off the coffee table." I tell Emma. She gasps, going back to the living room to grab the house key.
Alice's flip flops clack down the stairs meeting up with us at the front door. We all piled into the car, the three of us Googling for the closest market since we didn't know where we were going. The closest one we found was only eight minutes away, so I drove those eight minutes to a semi deserted parking lot, parked, and entered the grocery store.
Emma grabbed a carriage, pushing it in front of her and started in the first aisle. "We need milk, and cheese, and cream cheese, cream for my coffee-"
"Slow your role there, Em." I joke, grabbing the gallon of milk, "We'll get everything we need. Especially ice cream."
"Tons of ice cream. And I was thinking that we should have either a bowl or jar of M&Ms because I love to eat M&Ms when I watch movies at night with some popcorn." She goes on, grabbing things out of the fridge to put into our carriage.
"What about you Alz?" I ask, turning around to our ginger friend who kept quiet on her phone.
"My mom never bought us Lucky Charms cereal because she thought it was too sweet for kids to eat in the morning. I'm so buying it now just to see what I missed all childhood." Alice told, a small smile playing on her lips.
"You sure you want to do that? Go behind your mom's back and eat the cereal she never let you have?" Emma gasp, in a teasing tone just to push Alice's buttons. Alice pathetically mimicked her words, passing Emma as we went to the next aisle, which happened to be the cereal aisle. Alice searched for the red box with the little green leprechaun. When found she placed it happily in the cart, "Oo, badass." Em taunted.
"Oh shut up." Alice grumbled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. I grabbed a different box of cereal off the counter, Apple Jax, and Emma got her own box as well, Coco Pebbles. In that same aisle was the granola bars and I love granola bars. We went through all the aisles, it was fun being independent and doing our own grocery shopping to our preference.
When we got to the ice cream freezer it was like we all saw a little piece of heaven. If we couldn't choose just one box of cereal then I don't think we could choose just one pint of Ben and Jerry's or any ice cream for that matter. I had actually found a new brand that I've been in love with, no, not ice cream, fancier than that; it's gelato. So much creamier and softer than ice cream.
I found my two favorites, Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Grabbing it out of the freezer I showed the girls, "Mine and only mine." I warn them.
"Fine then Ben and Jerry's Hazed and Confused Core is mine and if I see any of your grimy little hands on it I will kill you in your sleep." Emma warns putting her's in the carriage.
"Where can I find vanilla?" Alice mumbles looking around.
"Vanilla what?" I ask, looking where she is.
"Just vanilla." She responded to me.
"See this is why you're so boring, you need more wild flavors in your life." Emma tells her, shaking her head and grabbing another pint out of the fridge, "Here. Try this and thank me later." She says, handing Alice a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
Alice reads over it, shrugs and puts it in the cart. The ice cream aisle was our last. I didn't want to read the register screen to find out how much we spent on a weeks' worth of junk and some healthy food. The price, wasn't so bad after being divided three ways.
We drove home, almost getting lost but the GPS redirected us back home. It took about fifteen minutes or more to put the food away and decided where everything went. Emma spent those fifteen minutes solely searching for a jar or glass bowl to put her jumbo bag of M&Ms in. And by jumbo I mean a three pound bag of M&Ms, supposedly all to herself. There was no doubt in my mind that Emma could finish that bag entirely by herself by the end of the summer, if not sooner.
"So what time did that flyer say the party is?" Emma asks, clapping her hands together after Alice and I finish putting all the food away and throwing all the bags out.
Alice rolls her eyes as I grab the flyer from behind me and read off of it, "Eight o'clock." I read, handing it to her after I'm through with it.
"Good, I have time to make myself a sandwich then." She says, looking at the clock. "I was thinking to wear a dress tonight. Too much too soon?" She asks me, opening the fridge and taking things out.
"Well that depends on what kind of dress. The one you wore to the senior sunset would be cute. I was just thinking about wearing a romper." I tell her, sitting on the counter as I watch her make a sandwich.
"I think I brought that." She nods once trying to remember, "You're right that would be a good choice. Thanks girl."
"No problemo." I tell her, stealing a slice of cheese. "What about you Alice, what did you plan on wearing?" I ask, turning to her. She would cave in into going anyways.
"A tee shirt and shorts." She responds bluntly, "It's just a simple bonfire guys."
"A simple bonfire!" Emma shouts, slamming her hands on the counter. Oh great, here we go. "This is not a simple bonfire Alice. This is a bonfire on the beach with hot beach guys who don't go to Avon High shall I care to mention. Most importantly it's the time to make your first impression and first impressions stick like STDs."
Both Alice and I gave Emma a gross look which consisted of us narrowing our eyes at her and parting our mouths looking slightly speechless, "You could have said tape or super glue you know." I suggested to her.
"I like to be original. Anyways, ditch the tee shirt and shorts attire, you're dressing up a little bit and enjoying yourself. You came for a great time and this is your chance." Emma argues. Alice gave a small sigh, resting her elbows on the counter and her chin in her hands. Even I knew Emma is right, so therefore Alice surely knows Emma is right as well. We all came here for a great unforgettable summer and opportunity just came knocking on our door inviting us to that moment. "You can borrow anything from my closet if you'd like." Emma offers, holding her plate in her hand with a smile, passing Alice as she stalked off to the living room in front of us.
"You know she's got a point." I mumble to Alice quietly, as we both watch Emma try to work the TV.
"Yeah I know." Alice sighs, running her hands through her hair, "I'm just trying to make her realize there's adventure and taking chances that you'll always remember and look back to smile and laugh about. Then there's the risk taking and danger, the moments that you'll look back on and regret doing. It may be all the same now, but they have different outcomes."
After having a late lunch, figuring out how to change the TV channel or at least watch a DVD, we all went upstairs to get ready for the bonfire. Though the bonfire didn't start for a few more hours we knew it'd take us a while, especially if we were sharing bathrooms. Waiting for my hair to dry I unpacked my clothes while looking for something to wear. It occurred to me, as I found places for my clothes, that soon enough I'd been unable to fit these clothes. I think that's one of the small things that scares me the most. At the bottom of my suitcase I came across my romper I thought about wearing.
It's white and floral. Light, happy flower colors on a thin fabric. The straps were the spaghetti kind, but cris-crossed on the back. I had to find my strapless bra and the right shoes to go with it but other than that my outfit was set. I sprayed my hair with some beach salt bottle that I found in Emma's belongings. It gave my brown layered hair a beach wave sort of look which I wasn't used to, to be honest, but I liked it for the most part. I put on very little make-up, going for the natural look. Even at my slow pace I still was left with an hour to spare.
I walked over to Emma and Alice's bathroom, seeing how much longer they'd be. They weren't nearly done and Emma was still trying to convince Alice to put on make-up. So as I waited, I walked around aimlessly for a while, ending up on the deck looking over the ocean. The sun was just setting and the wind faintly blew my air around but I didn't mind. The breeze felt nice in a way.
Its many moments like these, when I'm alone in a peaceful environment, I couldn't stop but to fall into my deepest thoughts. My deepest thoughts would only stay on repeat with the same two words: I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant. After God knows how long those two words kept on reminding me the next half dozen words that I still have no answer to came into repeat played next: What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?
And my thoughts would go on and on like that for quite some time. There were no answers, just questions that I didn't know how to solve. Something as life changing as this. Years from now, when I got this news, I would expect to be delighted and ecstatic beyond words and tell the world! I didn't think to be depressed or scared beyond belief.
It's definite. Every test has proven to be positive. It's not a scare, it's for real. I just wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare because I don't know what to do or who to tell or when to tell. But personally, I'm just not ready with myself. I know that when the truth comes out, and it's all out in the open, that's when things are really going to change. Everyone will see me differently, treat me differently, and everything from there on out will be more surreal.
All I want is to live my life as normal as I can before things change. I want everyone to see me as the same ole Paisley Devoncourt as long as possible before everyone starts to look at me and think 'oh that's Paisley Devoncourt, the teen mom' or 'the knocked up girl' or even worse 'the virgin that got pregnant her first time' so naïve.
I didn't think I was standing outside for so long, but when Emma and Alice were calling my name and standing on the deck behind me I snapped out of it. "Dude we called you, like, fifty times." Emma says to me.
"Yeah, Em here was upset thinking you ditched us already." Alice chuckles, tossing her hair over her shoulder, "What are you doing here all alone?" She asks caringly.
"Just thinking." I grin, pushing myself off from leaning over the deck railing, "Shall we go?" Persuasion wasn't needed. The same second the words came out of my mouth Emma had grabbed our hands and pulled us down the stairs and onto the beach.
"So girlies, night one in our little memorable beach filled summer vacation. Let's start it off right, shall we." Emma settles, looping her arms through mine and Alice's.
"Alright but a few rules first." Alice begins, earning an annoyed eye roll from Emma. "They're just the basics like no drugs. Agree?"
"Agree." Em and I repeat without hesitation.
"If one of us wants to go home then all of us should go together. We don't leave each other behind alone." Alice explains the next rule as we slowly walk the shore line of the beach, toward the party.
"But it's got to be reasonable. We have had to stay for at least an hour or two. Unless the party really sucks then we just leave." Emma negotiates.
"Got to give her some leeway, Alz." I say, seeing Alice's hesitant look.
"Fine I'll give you that and there's no getting out of your mind wasted, Em." She tells her strictly.
"Why do you put my name at the end of the sentence and leave Paisley out of it?" Emma says slightly offended.
"Because I can't see Paisley trying to get shitfaced. You just like parties a little too much." She explains, trying to be kind about the truth. Not only was I planning to not get shitfaced I was planning on not drinking period.
"You're forgetting about the most important rule of all." Emma interrupts. We look at her, waiting for the answer, "Have fun!" She shouts, throwing her hands in the air.
"Have fun." I repeat. We were now standing at the back of the party house, observing all the people dancing around either on the sand or on the walk out patio. Not a single person didn't have a red solo cup in their hand. The music played loud enough, some kind of loud but soft beach rap kind of feel. I only knew who the band might possibly be because Emma made us listen to it the whole car ride here.
"Well, whoever choose the music I'm already interested in. I hope it's the blond one from earlier." Emma said with a playful wink in my direction. "Come on, grab a drink with me, girl friend." She insisted pulling me along.
I made an effort to look excited for Emma's sake, but in the inside I was miserable. Not because I couldn't drink, hell no. I'm not that type of teenage girl that runs off to parties to look for some cheap booze or in Alice's words earlier "shitfaced". When Emma handed me a solo cup I clashed it against her, pretending to take a sip from it.
"I found surfer dude" Emma snickers, leaning against my shoulder and pointing out the blonde dude from earlier in the crowd with a glance.
"Maybe you should go introduce yourself to our lovely neighbors." I suggest slyly, nudging her hip with mine for some encouragement.
"Well someone needs to talk about this outstanding music taste." Emma scoffs playfully, "You don't mind?" She wonders taking a step away.
"Go for it. And for Alice's sake be careful." I chuckle, pushing her away.
"I've got my cellphone." She reminds, patting her dress pocket as she walks away, shouting over her shoulder. I hold my thumb up to her and look back down to my cup. I look around, throwing the contents of the cup behind me onto the beach and casually stroll around for something simple to drink.
I found Alice, taking out a bottle of water from a cooler and smiling to a girl next to her, making light conversation. I walk up beside her, reaching down for some ice to throw into my cup. "Em already ditched you?" Alice snickers.
"Nah, I let her go flirt with surfer dude." I said shrugging it off. Alice chuckled, then looked over to the girl she was talking with earlier. At first glance it almost looked like a brunette version of Emma.
"Paisley this is Payton. Payton this is my best friend Paisley, she's one of the girls I'm housing with at the end of the beach." Alice introduced.
"It's nice to meet you." I grin, giving her a small wave, "I smell s'mores. Do you smell s'mores?" I ponder, looking around, spotting a bon fire on the beach.
Alice laughs shrugging her shoulders to Payton as I walk away. Sure enough I found a s'more's table. Who knew parties like this would still give s'mores! After burning one of my marshmallows, discarding the nasty thing, and then taking my time to golden the second one, I made the perfect s'more, and that's not an exaggeration.
As I enjoyed my s'more, looking around for either Emma or Alice, I grabbed a water bottle, pouring it into the cup I previously had. I could eat a whole bag of marshmallow and make them into s'mores. I know it sounds so bad but I never got the pleasantry to have s'mores so often in my childhood. I can remember all the times I've ever made and ate a s'more; all on one hand. So I guess you could say I'm making up for it now.
As I stood by the fire, keeping warm and eating s'mores, I chatted with a few random people about meaningless things. Small and quick conversations. Staring into the fire I realized that later I would definitely need to shower and wash my hair because it smells like fire smoke. I couldn't go to bed like this.
I sat on a chair, next to a girl that I've chatted with a few times. When she turned to talk to the guy next to her I looked towards the back of the house, seeing if I could catch a glimpse of Alice or Emma. The only light that gave me visibility to see other people faces came from the bon fire, the tiki torches that were posted randomly, and some dim patio lighting.
Instead of finding Alice or Emma, I found someone completely and shockingly different. I could be wrong, I mean, what are the chances that someone else from Avon High would be at this beach? I mean sure this is the closest beach to our town, but this whole strip that had four other beaches and he conveniently is at the same one I'm spending my whole summer at. Again, I can't be sure that's him. How many other dark hair, tall, built boys are in this world? Not every one of them could be JC.
But then again, how many dark hair, tall built boys that smoke, have tattoos, flirt and make out with girls that live by are there really? Still, probably a good amount, but the boy's vague appearance reminded me so much like JC. Or maybe I was just thinking of JC too much at the moment because of what's been going on.
"So Paisley, would you tag along?" The girl beside me asked. I think at some point of the night she mentioned her name. Lacey I think she introduced at some time.
"Tag along for what?" I ask curiously, looking between her and the boy she had been previously talking to.
"Beach volleyball. My house is down by the pier." The boy explained, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. I didn't know the boy at all, but he was slightly good looking. I guess, good looking for a pale ginger who will surely burn all summer long.
"Right now?" I wondered slowly, slight confused how fun that would be in the dark.
They both laughed, shaking their heads, "No silly, tomorrow afternoon." Lacey explained.
"Oh!" I giggled, running a hand through my hair nervously, "Yeah, sure I'd tag along. Is it alright if I bring my two friends?" I ask the ginger boy.
"Heck yeah! The more the merrier." He said enthusiastically.
"Awesome!" I said enthusiastically back, "I'm Paisley by the way." I introduced, sticking my hand out.
"Gabe." He greeted back, shaking my hand. If I was going to be invited to this guy's gathering I'd might as well know his name at the least. He told Lacey and I we could stop by around noon, the place he was renting for the next few weeks with his buddies is the only red house next to the pier. Not to be mistaken for the beige house in front of the pier that the girls and I thought about renting.
Gabe, Lacey and I talked for a while about the high school we came from- we all had just graduated recently, with in the month- what we wanted to do and where we would attend college. Gabe got accepted to the same college I would be attending, but choose to go somewhere else.
We were listening to a story Gabe was telling us about, some story about a party he went to recently. He also complained about his neighbors, though, they've only been there for a day. I was also making more s'mores. Some dramatic, eye captioning movement occurred behind Gabe as I stared at him, eating my s'more while he continued talking; he sure could talk.
My previous assumptions were correct. Out of all the dark hair, tall built boys that smoke, have tattoos, flirt and make out with girls in the world, this one so happened to actually be JC. The same JC that I had such a wonderful, deep, serious and meaningful conversation with, followed by a hot make out session. Which then, lead me to forgetting my phone behind which he took, but let's not forget, the climax of it all, having sex with him on his living room sofa; taking my virginity away.
The same JC Ace that treated me like a one night stand trashy hoe, pretending not to know me at the slightest in a public place, rude as can be devil and most important, the burden of them all, the same JC freaking Ace who impregnated me. Avon's notorious bad boy making out with I'm sure is to be a random girl, because that's how JC works.
And I sat there on my chair, mouth slightly opened in shock, with s'more paused at the entrance of my mouth and looking over Gabe's shoulder. Because I thought, this could not be happening. There is no way JC is standing a yard away from me, kissing another girl, at the same beach I am. It did not seem real, like I desperately needed someone to pinch me as hard as they could so I'd wake.
I only felt this way for one reason, because other than shocked my stomach churned out of fear. For still, I had no idea if I should tell JC about the positive pregnancy test. Though, there was no way I would tell him before telling my mom or my best friends. But what had me queasy the most was wondering if he remembered if we used protection or not, because if he knew the answer to that then he'd know what the consequence of that would be.
My initial thought was to book it out of there without making a scene, but that doesn't really work out to your favor when your new friends decided to scream you name in your face because you're burning their marshmallow. After dealing with that I gave the stick to Lacey and lied to her, saying I'd go get her another marshmallow.
Making my quick exit, I tried hiding my face, but when a hand touch my bare shoulder and spun me around I knew I was caught. Frightened for this confrontation, I almost puked up all the s'mores in my stomach when I turned around.
That same admired smile that he revealed to me back on the field when I told him I believed in him came back. It's like he was ecstatic to see me, and I only wondered why because he never looked this way whenever I greeted him in school. If he continued to tug at my emotions like this, being polite one day and a jerk the next, I wouldn't survive.
I was so angry at JC before, putting a big part of the blame on him. Resenting him! I declared to myself not wanting any part to do with JC Ace, but if he looked at me like this every time we came together, then I know I'd be screwed into his world that I realized deep down I don't want to be a part of, because I know it's not right, and I know it's something I don't want for myself. Or a baby.
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Chapter picture: Whoa Baby banner
Chapter song: Woody Allen by AJR (curtesy to our little sister Juliana for getting it stuck in our heads)
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