Luke gripped the edges of his tank top and carefully removed it. He was grasping a bottle of sunscreen in his hands. When I caught his eye he tossed it to me with an expectant look. I grabbed the bottle and sprayed his golden skin until it shined. I pulled off my shirt and he did the same for me. My mother lathered Gia and Ronnie in sunscreen until they were as white as ghosts. Gia immediately begged us to hop into the water. “Gia, honey, relax. We have the whole day here. Let’s hangout and get hot for a while, then we can go into the water.” My mom explained.
Gia walked over to her bag of sand toys and dumped them out into the sand. Ronnie grabbed a bucket that he had struggled to carry from the house and stumbled by me. He reached inside and pulled two small turtles out holding one in each hand.
“Let’s build a house for Theo and Penny!” Ronnie exclaimed. Luke laughed.
“You brought the turtles with us?” I questioned shaking my head and laughing.
“Of course we did.” Gia replied. “They’re family.”
After about an hour of scorching sun beating down on us we were finally ready to give in and head into the water. We raced down to the shore and leapt right in. The water was cold and refreshing and the waves were gigantic. Luke took turns plunging Gia, Ronnie and I into the water. We rode the mountainous waves back to the shore.
We took a break from our beach day and all ventured back up to the boardwalk. We headed to the pizza shack for lunch, of course. The aroma of pizza smacked us right in the face when we walked inside. The shack was swarming with people and my mouth watered from all the different smells. Somehow our lucky booth was one of the only open seats in the place. We slid inside and Luke hopped behind the counter.
He returned 15 minutes later with two gigantic pizzas, a bucket of fries and a pitcher of soda. He balanced everything in his hands then gently placed it on the table. “Bon Appetit!” Luke said rubbing his hands together, licking his lips.
“It’s nuts in here. I still can’t believe you got today off.” I said, shoving a fry into my mouth.
“It wasn’t easy.” Luke replied. “Let’s just say my Uncle doesn’t exactly know but Wendy’s got my back.” Luke looked up at the counter and winked at a middle aged woman who must’ve been the manager. We dug into our lunch and headed back to the beach.
By 4 o’clock we headed back to the house to hangout and clean up before the big Fourth of July Beach Bash. At 7 PM there was going to be a big barbecue on the beach, lots of games, a huge bonfire and fireworks. We had even convinced Aunt Helen to come along.
Luke, Gia, Ronnie and I all piled into the outdoor shower to rinse the saltwater off our sun kissed bodies. Then we headed onto the hammock to air dry and rest before changing. My mom spent an unreasonable amount of time bundling Aunt Helen up in a cardigan and a blanket, even though it was 75 degrees out. Then we headed back to the boardwalk.
Hot dogs and burgers sizzled on the grill. They were served by the dozen. A gigantic stack of firewood was seated in the center of the beach and flames were blazing. As we walked down the ramp onto the beach we felt the slightly cool air and warmth of the fire on our faces. There were at least a hundred people crowded on the sand. Gia, Luke, Ronnie and I got in the buffet line while mom and Aunt Helen waited up on the boardwalk. There were all sorts of barbecue foods. Luke gazed around with a bit of a worried look on his face.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Yeah.” He stuttered. “My uh. My uncle is normally down here grilling but um maybe he’s not feeling well.” He said uneasily rubbing the back of his neck. I didn’t have the words to make anything better but I just grabbed Luke’s hand and squeezed it.
We found our way back up to a picnic table on the boardwalk to eat with Aunt Helen and my mom. Luke carried three plates like a waiter and handed them out. “You kids could have eaten down there we would have been fine!” Aunt Helen croaked.
“No way. We wanted to eat up here where the party is!” Luke replied. His tone was upbeat but I could still sense the stress in his voice.
The fire cracked and the flames danced, lighting up the beach. Tons of people gathered around it and s’mores supplies were handed out. The glowing embers lit up Luke’s gorgeous eyes as he focused on toasting his marshmallow just right. When it was browned to perfection he blew on it and squashed it between two graham crackers with chocolate. Just as he took a bite his phone began to ring.
“Hello.” Luke said looking up towards the sky. “Ugh. Ok. Alright. I’ll get there as soon as I can.” Luke looked towards me and attempted to find the words to explain to me what was going on. I grabbed his hand, mouthed to my mom I’d be back and we hurried off the beach.
Luke jogged to his house and gripped my hand tightly pulling me behind him. When we got there I saw a police cruiser parked out front. An officer was leaning against the car facing Luke’s house.
“Hi Officer Galer. Thank
