The Boxer (editing)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Mitchell volunteered to drive to the beach, claiming Abby and I as his patrons on the drive. Dread churned in my stomach, because once again, they would be discussing my love life.

Abby shoved me out of the way to get the passenger side and I resigned to the back waiting for the pestering to start.

"Sadie, how do you just sit next to that guy and not want to drag him to bed?" Mitchell yelled out while I reclined in the back seat, "He is gorgeous!"

"Mitchie," Abby tittered, "You should have seen them this week, she's been treating him like complete garbage and he has been nothing but sweet. He's fascinated by her, he even saw her fight."

"Do you want me to get out of the car," This was completely mortifying, "You seem to be having a conversation about me easily without me being even involved."

They pestered me on and on about Charlie and romantic feelings which continually got weirder and weirder, each question I insisted I was with CJ. After a while, I zoned out and reminisced on the times I spent at the beach. Unless we were going with our friends, Alex and I never went to the beach, it contained too many memories.

My family would go there all the time, my parents could lay by the shore forever. Alex and I could swim for that long too. I'd remember my dad and I would bury Alex in the sand, only his head popping out of the sand. Mom, she always wore her signature embarrassing, too big, floppy yellow hat. Pale like me, she insisted to always have her neck covered, she hated sunburns. I got my reddish hair from my dad too, and the mixed blue and green eyes. But he had a medium tan, just like Alex. Alex rivaled my in skin hue, he had the tan I'd always envied, with chocolate brown hair, and grayish blue eyes. Those eyes could read me like a book.

We got to the familiar private spot, Alex and I had come to since we were kids. Abby and I would always race to our favorite spot, just tradition.

That butthead won. Let's just say I'm a sore loser. 

Before I lost myself in the weight of losing, the beach's impact and all of its memories hit me like a ton of bricks. I spread my towel on the ground and curled my knees into my chest as I watched the waves repeatedly lapping on the shore. Alex seated himself next to Abby and they spoke in hushed voices about what I assumed were the same things that were running through my head. Charlie sat down a comfortable distance next to me, "Why so quiet?"

"Mom and Dad loved the beach the most." I glowered at the serene scene in front of me, it was tainted from the memories. Maybe that's why I wanted to go to school on the opposite coast, there was so much here that meant the world to me but those things and places were shattered into thousands of pieces in my mind because the memories of them would never be whole. Without Mom and Dad, these places were empty. I assumed Charlie would understand what I meant considering Alex probably told him. 

Charlie let me wallow in my own silence while the salty breeze relaxed my burning skin. I wiggled my toes in the sand and he spoke up next to me softly, "What would you do with them?"

"At the bigger beaches, all of us would surf, Mom and Dad were surfing fanatics. Dad would make these super extreme picnic lunches for the beach and we would sit out here, right here, all day and not get sick of each other. Mom was a nut about sunscreen and made us apply every hour. Alex and I would have sand castle building competitions, when we would start to fight about who was best, Mom would kick them over and Dad would mock her behind her back as she'd lecture us about how we were the worst competitors."

Charlie's lips quirked up in the nostalgic way I'm sure mine were. "I can imagine little Sadie and Alex being terrifying monsters about competitions."