Undertow (12 page)

9

I had gotten settled into schoo
l
and Cape life, and before I knew it, mid-October had arrived. The shadow stalker never reappeared, Raef’s eyes stayed blue, and the vial? I gave up on the vial. It had to contain just some nasty-smelling herb and I was just being a freak. Not to mention, life had been perfectly normal and I was with friends who I really enjoyed.

It was a good thing too – the normal part – since Mae had left on her trip a few hours earlier at the crack of dawn, heading to London and beyond.  While I would miss her, I was thrilled for the freedom. I fully intended to keep an eye out for Marsh and invite him for a sleepover when I saw his furry frame.

Mae had been flip-flopping on whether or not to go for weeks. Getting her to not cancel took some fast-talking and perhaps ten promises founded on certain house arrest if they were broken. In the end, however, my non-existent social life and perpetual lack of boyfriend seemed to assure her that I would be having an outstandingly dull and chaste fortnight.

Mae, for the most part, was right. With the exception of MJ, Ana and, to my delight, Raef, I really had no set social network here. But it didn’t matter to me - I had made three good friends and they made all the difference. And, bless the Fates, Nikki and I had not had any further confrontations.

I had come to actually look forward to BHS. I started every morning by parking my very cool Wrangler next to MJ’s equally uncool hunk of sputtering junk. Ana would park somewhere near us, and we would all walk into school together. We had plans to hang out at my home that night, maybe get pizza and watch a movie.  It was the first time that they would actually be in my home and I was excited to have visitors to entertain, including Raef.

As I walked through the parking lot alongside Ana and MJ, arguing once again about musical preferences, I couldn’t help but be lost in my own thoughts. In a few hours I would be enjoying a movie night with my friends and the one boy who set my soul ablaze. The thought of him sent an odd flurry of emotions rippling through my skin. 

One part of me knew he was a strong, faithful friend to have - the boy you wanted in the foxhole when all hell broke loose. Yet there were still fleeting moments when I would look at him and could not be sure whether I was in the right foxhole to begin with. My inner voice would question the sanity of being near him, but it was a voice that shrank day by day and now was barely a whisper.

It was easy to imagine kissing him, but thus far he only seemed to be in a “friendship” mode. I reminded myself that I was lucky to have him as a friend and tried to push aside any further desire. The problem was, it wasn’t just a desire. It was a magnetic pull cranked to a thousand and impossible to turn off. 

Since my brain seemed to continuously dwell on Raef, I utilized my occupied mind to devise three possible explanations for his behavior towards me: a) he was interested in me, but shy, b) he was not interested romantically, but a good friend or c) he saw himself as a big brother. Gag.

Option “c” I buried in the back of my mind because it would eliminate all hope of him becoming more than a friend. Of course, there could be an option “d” that I had not thought of yet, but option “a” kept me preoccupied with hope for the future. 

When the last bell finally rang for the day, my head was already calculating what I needed to buy at the grocery store for the four of us. I was making a mental list as I navigated my way to my locker when Jesse caught up to me, calling my name and waving a bright yellow paper in his hand. I stopped in the hall, trying to dodge the masses fleeing academia.

“Eila! Wait up!” he yelled, finally reaching me. He handed me the flier for a beach bonfire scheduled for the evening. “This is the first party of the fall and it’s always a blast. You, as a washashore, must come! We have music and bonfires. Perhaps a few brewskies,” he said with a knowing smile.

“Thanks for thinking of me, Jess, but I have plans.” I started to hand the paper back to him, but he refused it.

“You mean you
had
plans! Trust me, this is too damn fun to miss.”

I stood there, debating what to do. The flier said that the event was the seniors’ yearly party on the beach near Town Neck. I thought about the sand, the surf and the stars.

I thought about enjoying all three with Raef. 

Suddenly pizza and a movie seemed to pale by comparison.

“I
did
have plans, but I may be able to change them,” I said, a completely new, snuggly, beach-at-night to-do list forming in my head.

“Excellent! I’ll see you there,” said Jesse and bounded off as a few other random males yelled to him as he passed. Being the captain of the football team meant that a virtual spotlight followed him wherever he went. He seemed to enjoy the fame. I would have hated it.

Thank goodness I was an extra in life and not the star.

I headed to my locker and found Raef and Ana waiting for me. I was a little surprised to see Ana still at school. She usually bolted in her Trans Am to get out in front of the belching, diesel buses.

“Hey. What’s up?” I asked, twirling the combination lock on my locker.

“MJ said someone called in sick and now he has to work tonight,” said Ana, hiking her backpack higher on her shoulder. “He’s pissed he’s missing the pizza and grand tour of
su casa
.”

“I was actually thinking maybe we should postpone the pizza and movie and do this instead.” I handed her the paper. She didn’t even look at it, but passed it to Raef, who read it carefully.

“I already know what that is. It’s the beach bonfire. One of many different parties all year long, each used as an excuse to either get laid, get drunk or both,” she replied. I flushed a little at her brutal honesty.

“Well, who says we can’t go and enjoy ourselves without such intoxicated debauchery? I’ve yet to go to the beach at night or bonfire by the ocean.” I glanced at Raef, who was now folding the paper, hoping for agreement.

“It’s fine with me,” he said, knowing I wanted to go.

Ana sighed. “Okay fine. Sheesh. Flipping beach-bonfire virgins. So demanding,” she said with a grin. “Dang washashores are ruining the Cape.”

I laughed and Raef smiled. “That is what Jesse called me too when he gave me the flier.”

“A bonfire virgin?” asked Raef, an eyebrow raised.

I nearly choked. “No, no! A washashore!  He called me a ‘washashore,’” I babbled, an even darker pink dusting my cheeks. Kill me now.

Ana put her arm around my shoulder and leaned in to my ear, pretending to whisper but to be sure Raef also heard. “I think Jesse wouldn’t mind deflowering more than your bonfire innocence,” she said, a devious curve to her mouth.

I shrugged her arm off of me with a jerk, “You have a dirty mind, Ana Lane.” I was now absolutely red-faced.

Raef picked up my backpack off the floor and slung it over his shoulder, clearing his throat. “I can’t think of anyone who would want to be plucked by that player, though I bet he has plucked plenty.”

“Oh, ouch. So much for a brotherhood among boys!” I declared, but I suspected Raef was testing my state of mind regarding Jesse. “Shall I warn the other chaste girls in school?”

“I wouldn’t bother. I think you are the only one left,” he said as he started to walk towards the door. Ana punched him hard in the arm and he feigned pain, “OW! Okay, you
AND
Ana.”

I laughed, but I wasn’t sure whether to take what he said as a compliment or not. Did he applaud our honor or think us shrews? I decided not to ask for clarification and let the subject drop as we walked out to the parking lot.

Students were heading out in their vehicles, the seniors no doubt excited about tonight. Ana turned to me, “I’ll meet you at the boardwalk around 9:30,” she said, climbing into her Trans Am.

“Doesn’t it start at nine?” I asked, walking up to my Wrangler that was parked next to her.

“Fashionably late,” she replied and backed out of her spot.

Raef was standing next to me, still holding my backpack. I unlocked my door and climbed in. He tossed the backpack on the passenger seat then closed my driver’s door and leaned on the open window.  If I didn’t know him better, I would have thought he was about to kiss me. His closeness made my heart hiccup. “I am shocked this is held on a school night,” I said, trying to calm myself.

“The flier says that seniors are exempt from school tomorrow. Not sure how they pulled that off, but I guess tonight is technically Friday as far as school is concerned. For us anyway.”

I nodded and glanced at Raef’s black beast of a motorcycle parked next to me. “Want me to pick you up at the boat so you can leave the bike behind?”

“No – it’s fine. I’ll just meet you and Ana at the parking lot by the boardwalk. Nine-thirty, right?”

I nodded.

“I’ll see you then. Drive safe,” he said and walked over to his motorcycle. I started up my Jeep and pulled out of the lot as Raef climbed onto his bike. I headed back to my house debating what to wear as I drove.

Tonight was going to be awesome and couldn’t come fast enough.

By the time nine o’clock rolled around, I could barely manage my excitement. It had taken me
forever to pick what to wear, not that my wardrobe was very broad in selection.

In the end I went for cozy-casual, with a blue flannel button-down shirt, a gray tank top with a few little sparkles at the front, and dark blue jeans.
I pulled on a pair of leather boots, and tucked my mass of unruly locks into a large clip with just a few, petulant strands falling loose.

I grabbed my leather jacket and an extra sweatshirt as I headed out to my Jeep, flinging the spare clothing in the back. It landed on top of the two red blankets, shovel and small wooden board that I had learned were necessities in a Cape Cod four-wheeler.

              It took me about fifteen minutes to reach the curving stretch of northern beach known as Town Neck. A long, twisting boardwalk reached out over the dark salt marsh to the dunes where the ocean rolled. I had heard that you could see to the outer curve of Provincetown, miles and miles away from the beach. I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like with a bonfire.

I drove into the packed parking lot and immediately saw Raef leaning against his motorcycle, which was parked next to Ana’s Trans Am.  The golden bird on the hood seemed to glow under the cosmic light.

I pulled into the spot next to Raef and cut the engine as he walked around and opened the driver’s door for me.  The air by the water was raw and cold and caused my breath to trail off into the night air.  “Wow. I didn’t think it would be this chilly down here,” I said, leaning into the back seat to grab one of the two blankets. I looked briefly at the sweatshirt, but decided I would be warm enough in the jacket.

Plus, if I shivered, Raef might decide to keep me warm.

A smile sprang to my face, but I quickly contorted my lips until I wasn’t such a grinning fool. Blanket in hand, I climbed out of the Jeep. Raef shut the door behind me and I locked it, stuffing the key in my pocket.

             
“Shall we?” he asked.

             
“We shall!” I glanced to the Trans Am, “Where’s Ana?”

             
“She’s already on the beach. Someone’s truck broke down on its way out there and she had to help get it going again. It was carrying all the amplifiers for the music.”

             
“Handy, isn’t she?” I asked, laughing.

             
“That she is.” He took the blanket from me and we walked side by side onto the beginning of the boardwalk, the wood decking giving off a low luster.  When we passed other students, we were forced to form a single line, as the narrow boardwalk could not contain more than two people side-by-side.

A few times, I wobbled dangerously close to the edge, but f
elt Raef reach out from behind me and place his hand on my waist to keep me from toppling over and falling fifteen feet into the black marsh.  The boardwalk was busy, especially since it seemed a large portion of the 300 seniors actually came out for the event.

Toward the middle of the boardwalk was an incline and the highest point, a bridge, almost 25 feet above the snaking, black river that raced through the marsh on its way out to the ocean. People had said that only the highly brave (or terminally stupid) attempted jumping from the bridge, since the water was like a melted glacier and the current could drag you out to sea in seconds.

Even in the night, the moonlight revealed the speed at which the current plowed through the land. It was beauty, power, and hostility all rolled into one elegant statement of nature. Unforgiving and untamable, it was why people lived here, by the ocean, and were careful to respect it. I glanced back at Raef, “Wanna jump?”

“I think I’ll pass, but thanks.”

A couple classmates raced past us and over the bridge, laughing and screaming something. We could soon hear the low boom of a deep beat as we neared the dunes. We hopped down at the end of the boardwalk onto the soft, fine sand and followed the flow of students coming in and out of a break in the dunes that lead to the beach.