Just Jack

Part Two: Chapter Sixteen: Just Blink

Chapter Sixteen

Just Blink

     A lot can change in six months. Things change, friends leave. And life, well, it never stops for anybody. We don't even notice time going, its gone in the blink of an eye. Its only when you wake up, when you truly open your eyes, that you realize how much has really changed. And then you see that change has been happening all along. Gradually. You look back and you think, wow look how far I've come. However, its important to remember who you once were. You shouldn't forget the person you used to be because they made you who you are today, right now. A wise nurse once told me that nobody can go back and have a new beginning, but we can all start today and have a new ending.

     I haven't wrote anything in my diary in months. Six months to be exact. Since she left. I don't know if it has anything to do with her leaving, some would say its probably the biggest reason, but I don't know. Maybe I've just grown up. Too old to keep a diary now, I guess. It sits in my bedside locker, gathering dust upon its old, leather cover. I can't even remember the last thing I wrote in it. I'm too afraid to read over it because I know what will happen if I do. Old feelings will resurface and I can't let that happen. Not now or ever again. I've kept them at bay for so long. For six months.

     And to be perfectly honest, I don't feel like I have any of those feelings to write about anymore. I'm a different person now. I don't run around, causing car accidents and stuff. That was the old Jack. He's different now, I mean I'm different now. I'm back surfing and laughing. I'm laughing now. With people, with friends. It's all different and new, yet it feels so perfectly right. Maybe Emily leaving was what needed to happen. Maybe she was right, there was too much water under our thing. Bridge or whatever. We needed to escape. Before it was too late. Now I'm thinking of her and all I want to do is cry and write in my diary. Perhaps tomorrow.

     Chris shouts up to me from the beach, calling my name and gesturing for me to follow him. Its a beautiful summers day in Bridge Bay and most of the town has flooded to the beach, as usual when we get weather like this. It's extremely rare so when it happens it kind of becomes a holiday. People skip school, adults call in sick to work. And everyone just enjoys the sun on the beach. I'm sitting with Skylar and Mandy at the Beach Café, all three of us sipping on sodas in tall glasses stacked with thick ice cubes.

     “I'll be down in a minute,” I shout back to Chris, holding up my near finished drink. He smiles and retreats into the crowd of shirtless men and bikini-wearing-women to retrieve his surf board. I sip down the last of my Cola. Chris and I, the professional surfers, are going to show these amateurs how it's done. We've rented out a small beach chalet between us and decided we are going to spend the day at the beach. After all, we are graduates from High School now, we need some form of celebration and relaxation.

     I slip away from the table un-noticed and walk over to our chalet. It's built beautifully in a line of about twenty other chalets, all of them right in front of the ocean – they are like something from Hawaii. Some people spend the night here and I assume we all will, too, tonight. I undress out of my light, white shirt and pull on my swimming shorts. I didn't want to wear my wet suit on such a warm day so I brought my shorts instead. I grab my surf board that rests against the wall and fly out the door and back up to the cafe where Skylar and Mandy have only noticed now that I've been gone.

     I'm standing shirtless in front of two girls, something I've never done in my whole life. I've never let anyone ever see me shirtless, except the odd time someone would accidentally walk in on me or when a doctor asked to. What's weird is, I don't even care. Yes, I'm not as toned as most of the guys on this beach - most notably Chris with his perfect, surfers body. But, I'm also not the skinniest. Not anymore. So I don't feel uncomfortable standing here, semi-naked, in front of the girls.