Seth
“So, guess what?” I said to Amy. She was sitting in her lifeguard chair, bent over a book with her legs crossed underneath her. She had a yellow sundress on and was wearing a straw hat.
“What?” she asked, not looking up and continuing to read her book. This was just one of the many things I had learned about Amy in the past few weeks: you could never tell if she cared about anything, really. Only in very rare moments would she say or do something that indicated any type of emotion.
“I got a job.” She looked at me, taking her sunglasses off. She was surprised.
“Where?”
“Conner’s Club,” I said, shielding my eyes from the sun so that I could look at her.
“Oh,” she said, going back to her book. I reached up and grabbed it out of her lap.
“Hey!” she protested, reaching down for it.
I stepped back out of her reach. “When do you get off?”
She narrowed her eyes. “In an hour.”
“Okay,” I said, walking away.
She cleared her throat. “My book?”
I looked back at her and shrugged, smirking. She rolled her eyes and gave me a dirty look.
Conner’s Club had to be the most popular club in Shelby. It was the largest in town and allowed eighteen-year-olds in with a no-drinking wristband. It was also Will’s dad’s place. After bumping into Will at the restaurant, I reached out to him and spent the Fourth of July with him and some of his friends I didn’t know. He mentioned that the club needed some help and told me to stop by after the holiday.
When I walked in, the lights were low; it was empty and smelled like old beer. The bar was off to one side, near the entrance, encircling a large dance floor. There was a stage in front of the floor, and I wondered how often they had live bands. To the left of the dance floor was, by the looks of it, a restaurant. It was raised off the floor and separated by a short wall. It looked added on. I couldn’t remember a restaurant being part of the place.
“Can I help you?” a voice called out from the bar. I looked over, and the guy came toward me. I was surprised to see it was the blond lifeguard. Then I remembered Will had a younger brother, and as I looked at Paul I felt like an idiot for not recognizing him sooner. He looked equally surprised.
“Man, I didn’t know it was you. Was your hair always that blond?” I smirked.
Paul laughed. “Yeah, I thought that was you at the beach. But it’s been awhile, so I didn’t say anything.”
“Is Will around?”
He nodded. “Yeah, Will’s around. I’ll get him for you. You can take a seat at the bar.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Will appeared a few minutes later. “Hey! So you decided!”
I shrugged. “I figured if I’m going to be here for the rest of summer, I might as well take you up on the offer. I could use the extra cash.”
So far I had stayed at the motel, paying weekly. Although it was cheaper than staying anywhere else, it was still money I hadn’t anticipated spending.
Will nodded. “Well, that definitely makes me want to hire you.”
I smiled.
“So why are you here?”
His question echoed in my mind for a second, and I realized I was beginning to lose sight of the answer myself.
“I’m trying to fix things with John. He hasn’t talked to me since I left for college.” I paused. “I didn’t even know he remarried.” I swallowed hard, containing my emotions. I knew Will would understand, but I didn’t want to get into it fully.
“I’m sorry, Seth,” Will said quietly. “I wondered if you knew. There were times when I wanted to reach out to you, but I just…didn’t know what to say.”
I nodded. “It’s okay.”
“You do know whose mom he married, right?”
“Yeah.” I scoffed. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“Does she know?” Will asked quietly. He glanced sideways, and I followed his gaze. Paul was nearby sweeping. The thought of what a small town this was crossed my mind again.
“No, she doesn’t.”
Will let out a heavy sigh and then laughed. “Man, this is pretty messed up.”
I gave him a look. “Thanks, Will.”
“I own the place now. My dad retired last year.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised and glad for the change of subject. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” he said, a little surprised himself. “We added a restaurant, and it’s been pretty successful so far. Paul helps out sometimes, but he’s a lifeguard, so it’s mainly just me and a few workers that have been around since the beginning.” He paused. “If you’re up for a job, you found one. I could use another waiter. This has been a busy summer.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” he said, smiling. “Come in tomorrow around this time, and I’ll train you.”
“Okay, sounds good.” I got up and he clapped me on the shoulder.
“Listen, keep trying with your dad. He kept tabs on you.” He smiled and then turned away from me, grabbing some remaining glasses off the bar and taking them into the back.
I was on my way out when a flyer caught my eye. In big, bold letters it said, “OPEN MIC NIGHT—THURSDAYS!” I looked at the details and continued walking out.
Now, as I walked away from the beach onto the boardwalk, I looked at Amy’s book, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. It was funny to me that in just a few weeks I had come to know more about Amy than I ever had about any other girl I’d dated. Not that we were dating. With Amy it didn’t matter. Spending every day with her made me realize that. Doing things the normal way didn’t work with her, and I didn’t mind. I was realizing that the normal way had never really worked well for me.
When I went back to the beach, I found Amy packing up her stuff. She saw me coming and gave me a dirty look.
“Here,” I said, handing her book back. “Stop pouting.”
“I was not pouting,” she said, putting it back in her bag. “I’m so hungry. Do you want to grab something to eat?”
We walked back onto the boardwalk and she went up to a hot dog stand. “Hot dogs okay?” she asked, already getting one.
I nodded, getting a chili dog. We found an empty bench and ate.
“So, does this count as a date?” I teased, winking at her.
She laughed. “I was just hungry, but sure.”
When we finished eating, we walked on the main road instead of the boardwalk.
It was getting darker now, but we continued walking, turning back when we reached downtown.
“So I guess that means you’ll be here for the rest of the summer,” she said somewhat randomly, I thought. I looked at her but couldn’t read her face.
“Yeah, I will be,” I answered. I could see her nod out the corner of my eye.
I thought about the night when she told me she thought I had left town. It was the first time she had shown any emotional attachment to me. Since then, I could feel it steadily growing between us, even if it was still unsaid. Sometimes the space between us was so unbearable, and I wanted to reach out to her and never let her go, but there were too many reasons that kept me holding back.