Not Who You Thought (BxB Drama-Romance)

Blister

Now

One month later

In the sun I bake. I perspire, but I don't take off my t-shirt. My socks are sticking to my feet with sweat, and still I don't remove my shoes and let my toes bury into the sand. I'm sitting on the beach, not caring that my entire ass will be covered in sand once I actually decide to get up.

I hate August. Everyday that passes is a thirty day countdown until I'm back in school. The weather sucks; it's perpetually hot with no relief. In August I have to buy school supplies which my family can't afford, and drain my savings for fall clothing. In August the people who live by the lake in their summer homes leave, and the air loses the festive feel that comes with vacationers.

August could have been exciting. It had potential to be exciting; I'd be looking at colleges with Charlie and looking forward to cruising through my senior year with him at my side. It could have been fun to go shopping with him, because he'd actually make doing that on a budget fun and exciting instead of stressful and difficult. Me and Allison were supposed to take him to New York this month for his first time there. He probably would have fallen asleep on the train ride, with his head on my shoulder.

The waves lap the shore, and children go shrieking into the water. They splash one another while their parents watch closely from the shore, sitting underneath enormous umbrellas. The children are wearing brightly colored swimsuits, their stubby arms and legs tan from the merciless sun. They seem happy, their jubilant faces looking as if they've never cried once in their lives.

The sight of the children makes me sad. I was once a kid. I didn't clearly remember being a little kid until the night Charlie came over and bled into my blankets. Now that I've started remembering, I wish I hadn't. At the same time I cling to the memories I have of Charlie from my childhood, with the knowledge that he always cared for me. He chose me to be the one he protected and then later sought out in life. Who knows why; I guess he was right when he said me and him were tied by fate and destined to be.

"Hey, you!"

I don't look up until I'm being nudged with an ice cold Gatorade bottle. The condensation on the plastic leaves a wet spot on my bare arm. It's a blue Gatorade, which was the only flavor I would drink during my competitive wrestling days. I used to down one of these almost everyday, until I realized how many grams of sugar it contained.

"You look like a man who's low on electrolytes." Allison plops down beside me, and promptly begins to unfasten the buckles from her sandals and slip her shoes off of her feet. Her toenails are an electric shade of blue today.

"How does someone look like they're low in electrolytes?" I ask her, accepting the bottle after she nudges it into my hand.

"Well, you're super sweaty." She knots her hair and tosses it over her back. "Also, you've lost what looks to be a lot of weight, which means you probably aren't taking in as many fluids or vitamins."

I shrug.

"You're sunburnt." Her temple wrinkles with concern. "Let's get out of the sun, yeah? You can come over and watch a movie in the air conditioning. I'll give you more magazines to cut up for your art project."

I haven't touched any of my art in a month.

"I don't sunburn," I say stubbornly. "I'm Mexican, we don't sunburn."

"Then why is your forehead peeling? You're turning red underneath that tan, Lucas."

"I don't really care." I uncap the bottle and take a swig of the cold drink, my tastebuds flooded by sweetness.