Picturesque

Chapter 13: Hermosa Beach

The early morning sun was crisp and hot as Jo led me to the garage. She was wearing a pair of high-waisted jean shorts with a loose white button-up sloppily tucked in. She donned a different pair of sunglasses, these ones more rounded. Her fluffy, wavy blonde hair was being tussled by the wind as we approached the garage. She was carrying a beach bag on her shoulder, and after I had told her I didn't have a swimsuit, she had stuffed an extra one of hers into her bag. Unsure of what to put on, I had decided on one of my more casual blue sundresses with no sleeves.

Still feeling like a burden, I kept a bit of distance as I followed Jo across the front driveway of the house. There were more workers in the front lawn and flowerbeds, and even from afar I could see the sweat already accumulating on their faces.

The sound of Jo lifting the loud garage sliding door startled me, and when I looked over, I was shocked to see that the garage had several nice, shiny cars lined up. Among them I noticed a yellow Porsche 911 and a black Ferrari 500, but Jo was walking towards the nicest, sportiest car in the garage.

"Old Fury," Jo remarked as she walked over to the convertible car whose top was already down, tossing the beach bag into the creamy white backseat. She opened the door and slid into the driver's seat as I walked along the side of the car, almost too afraid to touch it. It was a Plymouth Fury, painted a bright, hot red that did not have one smudge or scratch anywhere on it. Silver chrome sparkled in the sun that the open garage let in.

"Jesus," I whispered as Jo turned the car on, listening to it loudly roar. I looked up at her—she was looking at me through her sunglasses with a half-smirk.

Coolly leaning one arm on the side of the car, she leaned her other elbow on the seat and pushed her sunglasses down with one finger. "Ever seen a car like this, pretty lady?"

Although enamored and amazed, I was shocked at how cool she looked and the way that her mood seemed to change only in the matter of time it took to walk from her room to the garage.

"I have not—ever," I said as I carefully opened the door, petrified of marking this epitome of vehicular beauty. I slid into the car, and Jo's smirk turned into a grin. She was about to turn when she looked me up and down again.

"Where's my sunglasses?"

"Oh," I remembered, reaching into my small black purse and taking out Jo's sunglasses that she had given me at the pool. "Sorry, I forgot." I handed them out to her, expecting her to take them back.

She looked down at the sunglasses and then back at me, grinning so widely that she absorbed every atom of the sun blaring into the garage. "Well, put 'em on."

I hesitated with a small, creeping smile before I gently unfolded the glasses and put them on my face.

Jo grinned at me. "Cool girl." With that, she put one hand on the wheel and slammed on the gas, zooming the car so fast out of the garage that the force pushed my head against the soft leather seat.

"Jo!" I exclaimed as she sped down the driveway dangerously fast, the wind blowing my bangs straight up off my head. I grabbed onto the seat as she laughed maniacally, leading us out of the Donnelley Estate.

I could hardly settle my eyes on anything with how fast Jo was driving down the highway. When Neil had driven me through the area the first time, it was getting dark and I was too tired to really look at anything. Now, in the midmorning sun with the top down, I could see everything. The palm trees and other blooming trees, the shiny cars that passed us on the bright highway, the little stores and shops as we got further into a town.

The people that walked down the streets looked so different. They were hardly clothed. The women were wearing shorts and tank tops, and some men were not even wearing shirts. Everyone was skinny, tan, and beautiful, and looked like their pockets were filled with cash. Everything was clean and nautical as we got closer to the beach. Although New Orleans was by the sea, I had never been to an actual beach before. When Jo took a turn onto another narrower road, I looked past her and spotted the wide, blue stretch of the ocean and the sparkly white sands of the beach as we drove parallel to it. Brightly colored hotels and restaurants lined the coast, and even from there I could see all the bodies of people crowding the beach.