“Ugh. I don’t know Reagan. This all seems too good to be true. He was probably just being nice. He doesn’t even have a phone. I probably won’t even see him again.” Reagan rolled her eyes and put one arm around my shoulder.
“I know Sutton it’s so hard to believe you’re beautiful and you’re a catch,” Reagan said dramatically.
The next day Shane, Reagan and I spent the whole morning at the beach. The strong sun beat down on us and we spent the entirety of the morning forced in a cycle of tanning on the beach and dipping in the ocean.
Reagan insisted we have pizza for lunch, of course but this time I decided not to protest. We headed to the pizza shack where Luke was positioned behind the cash register. He noticed us right away and flashed that beautiful smile and waved. He welcomed us to the Pizza Shack and was reciting information about some “Pizza for Pyros” that included hot sauce and buffalo chicken. We all laughed.
“Actually sounds good.” We agreed “And a large pitcher of Mountain Dew.” Shane added.
“Got it,” Luke said, punching our order into the cash register. “$12.54,” He said. “Gave you my employee discount.” He whispered and winked at me. “Hey, what are you guys doing later today? Want to see a local treasure?”
Reagan pinched my arm and I winced. “Definitely!” I replied before Reagan could injure me anymore.
“Sweet. I’m off at 3 if you wanna meet me here. I should have a pair of trunks in my bag.”
“We’ll see you then.” I smirked at him as his hand brushed against mine handing me my change.
At 3 sharp we met Luke in front of the Pizza Shack. I thought I’d find him behind the register trying to sell some pyro pizzas but when we walked up he was nowhere to be found. I nervously adjusted my bikini top.
“Sutton why don’t you think he’s going to show up?” Reagan said, fixing my hair. “He invited us. He’ll be here.” I took a deep breath, Reagan was always my voice of reason when I started overthinking.
Just then Luke came out from the side door of the Pizza Shack. He was wearing hot pink swim trunks with green Gators on them. He was shirtless and had a towel hanging around his neck. Luke definitely looked like he spent some time in the gym. Reagan and I gulped at the same time and Shane looked at us disgusted.
“Hey guys.” Luke flashed a big grin. “Are you ready for an adventure?”
“Definitely.” Shane dapped him up.
“So I’m letting you in on a local secret. Not many tourists know about this so keep it that way.” He winked, still smiling. “Follow me!” He started walking towards the south end of the boardwalk and we followed behind.
When we got to the complete end of the boardwalk past the ice cream stand Luke hopped the rickety fence and held out his hand to help me over. We walked down the sand dunes and on a dirt path through a wooded area. Luke informed us we were almost there.
In front of us were two large bushes with a small opening in between them. Luke reached back and grabbed my hand again leading me through the narrow space. When the bushes opened up, the space in front of us was wide open.
There was grass in front of us and a few feet away was a wide bridge. Kids of all ages surrounded it. Some were standing on the wooden railing; others were just hanging out nearby. There was a small beach area on the left side of the bridge and a few girls were laid out tanning. The kid from the ice cream shack the other day was one of the kids balanced on the railing. He turned around and noticed us.
“Hey Luke’s here!” He said towards the girls tanning on the beach.
Luke grinned and waved in his direction. One of the girls on the beach paid no attention to Luke, her face glued to her phone but the other girl pulled her sunglasses low on her nose and looked over at us. I could see she was looking Reagan and I up and down.
A smile quickly developed on her face and she said, “hi Luke.”
“Hiya!” He replied and turned to me only seconds later clearly uninterested. “Are you ready for this?” Before I could answer the girl shouted over to Luke.
“Oh no, Lukey, you didn’t bring tourists here did you?” She rolled her eyes and I could hear Luke clenching his teeth. That was when I realized why she looked familiar. She was the same girl from the ticket booth the other night.
“They’re my friends Bianca.” She let out a loud laugh.
“Luke, the lone wolf brought friends here huh?” She said just loud enough for us to hear. Luke continued to ignore her and looked over at me again.
“Should I show them how it’s done?” The ice cream kid yelled over to Luke.
“Do it bud.” Luke walked a little closer to the bridge and motioned for the three of us to follow. His toes hung over the edge of the railing and he leaped into the air flipping. I peeked over the edge and heard myself gasp out loud. He whooped out loud and plugged twenty feet down into the water. I could hear Shane and Reagan laughing behind me.
My heart was beating out of my chest. I watched in awe as children as young as Gia stood up on the edge of the railing and hopped right off like it was nothing. Suddenly, I felt a warm hand on my back.
“You okay?”
