I stand and stare at my boss, Frank Reese, as he goes over the instructions for pumping gas for all the employees. I don't listen to him but I nod every once in a while, and try to maintain eye contact with him, even though he has some sort of scary growth just to the right of his left eye. What is that thing?

Anyway, I don't really need to listen because it's my fourth summer working at the Gas ‘n Go here in Cape Williams, Long Island. I already know not to try to top it up, even if the moron whose yacht I'm filling wants an even dollar amount on his Black Amex statement. I know that I need to smile and ask everyone how their stay in ‘paradise' is going. I know that I'm not allowed to engage in lengthy conversations ‘no matter how cute their daughters are.' (I'm the only girl that works here, so Frank usually forgets to warn me not to talk to their sons. Either that or he thinks I'm a lesbian. I'm really not sure.) No flirting, no taking my shirt off to sunbathe on the job—I must wear my uniform. (Oh really? Please, can I take my top off like one of those Girls Gone Wild girls? Please, Frank? Eye roll). No negative comments about the food in the Sugar Shack (the attached restaurant and bar where my sister works). No jumping off the dock to cool off in the water. That one I take seriously. You never know when a boat is going to zip over to the dock and, if you’re in the wrong place, it’s game over for you or one of your limbs.

Anyway, I'm nineteen, and every year, I apply here hoping to get on in the restaurant like my big sister, Carla, who has a much larger set of tatas and a much smaller waist than me. She gets on in the restaurant and I'm stuck out on the dock.

Carla's been waiting tables and bringing in the big tips for eight years now. Mind you, she has to bring in a lot more money than me. She has a son, Ben, who is about to turn six. They live with my mom and me, and we both help support Ben—a fact which my mom reminds us of every single day. Poor Carla. She met the guy of her dreams, they spent a steamy summer together, and when he left, he changed his cell phone number. She actually drove to Boston to find him and tell him that she was pregnant, only it turned out he lied about his last name the entire summer and likely where he was from. Bastard.

So, for the past six years, my mother has shaken her head in disgust at Carla, and me, just in case I ‘get any ideas that one of those rich boys will ever fall in love with me.' She should talk. Carla and I have different fathers (apparently hers had women with fabulous, huge yet perky breasts in his lineage and mine had frizzy blonde hair, so that's fair). Anyway, both guys were ‘richies' who came to town looking for fun then escaped without a trace. So, now she spends all her time warning us against the evil rich people. My mom works at the post office. She's known as the ‘grouchy one.'

“Wow, this guy is really serious about us not taking our shirts off.” The fourteen-year-old boy, Wyatt, next to me nudges my arm as he says it, bringing me out of my thought bubble. He’s my best friend Dina’s little brother and I got him the job.

I nod and put my finger on my lips to silence him. If there's one thing that sets Frank off, it's his workers talking when he's giving them the big speech.

Josh leans into me. "What the hell is that thing next to his eye? Fuckin' scary, man. I feel like it's going to jump off his face and attack someone."

I snort out a laugh, then get it under control, but it’s too late. Frank is glaring at me and now I have to stare at the purplish red lump. I shake my head and say, “Sorry, Frank. Won’t happen again.”

Twenty minutes later, the summer in Cape Williams has officially opened and I’m standing on dock number one. That’s the gas pump reserved for the largest yachts. I’ve really moved up in the world because only the most experienced gas jockey gets to ride pump number one. I settle myself onto the wood planks, let my toes drag in the water, and grab my phone so I can read a dirty book on my Kindle app. Dirty books are really the only escape I have.

A lot of people think that it would be wonderful to live in a place as beautiful as this. And in some ways, it is great. It’s really pretty here and the weather in the summer can’t be beat—lots of warm sunshine and a nice cool breeze to keep you from getting overheated. I can go to the beach for a swim whenever I want, that’s true. But everything else in the town is for the rich folks. I can hardly afford to go for pizza downtown. Not since it turned into an organic, artisan pizzeria a few years back and they charge a whopping forty-dollars for a 10.” If I’m paying for 10 inches, he better be hot and ready to go. Haha. Just kidding. I’d never pay for sex.

Anyway, I’ll sit here and read my books all day and wait for the first of the vacationers to show up. We might get one or two today but things won’t get busy until Thursday when everyone leaves the city early to get here in time to throw fabulous Independence Day parties.

“Jess!” Wyatt calls to me from way down at dock number four. “Jess!”

“What?” I holler back.

“This is really boring!”

I cup my hand over my mouth so the sound will travel directly at him. “I never told you it wasn’t! Bring your phone tomorrow, you meathead.”

“My mom took it away from me for a month!”

“Were you looking at dirty videos again?”

“Yeah,” he says with a grin.

“Then bring a book!”

Wyatt’s shoulders drop at the thought of reading and I shake my head at him, then text Dina that her brother is already bored. I get an answer back immediately from her. Well, tell him he shouldn’t have been looking for rimming videos then.

I giggle, then write back that he’s three pumps away and I don’t really want to shout about anything to do with rimming at the moment.

Dina has two more days until she starts work as a nanny. She’s been working for the same family for three years now. They have two very spoiled, bratty kids, a father who only shows up two weekends of the summer, and a mother who looks tighter and more like a lizard every time she comes. She’s a stressed-out ball of rage who guzzles expensive wine like it’s the fountain of youth. Dina says she needs to get laid. Don’t we all?