20 minutes from the time I leave my apartment, I'm at Venice beach, and the sun is giving me a near heat stroke. The way over is filled with getting harassed by a bunch of summerbreakers, or whatever you call them, as I was driving for whatever reason. It wasn't a bad type of harassment, it mainly consisted of whistles and catcalls at a stoplight, but other than that, it wasn't a horribly long drive. I'm just thankful for the rental car the Scoop payed for me to have after I asked.
Ignoring another small group of teenage guys as I pass, I put my head down and make my way down to the place where Tyler had texted me to meet him.
Venice is obviously obnoxiously crowded, which is odd considering it's at least 100 degrees today. With a quick scan of the beach, trying to think of a way of finding him without calling him clueless and confused. Instead, I walk forward, trying to avoid flipping sand up on my calves but it seems unescapable at the moment.
"Hey, Swift,"
I spin in a circle, trying to find where it comes from, finally looking up to the lifeguard station where I find what I'm assuming is Tyler. It's hard to recognize him without his Braves hat. But its definitely him, messy hair complete in the stickiness of the Cali weather and humidity that has my tanktop clinging to my skin. He hops down from the lifeguard stand, red rescue-can float in hand.
"Oh, hey." I smile. "I didn't know you were a lifeguard?"
"I need a side job when I'm not in school and I love the beach so here I am," He says, grinning. "Great to see you again, Taylor."
He pulls me into a hug, one that makes me acknowledge the full extent of his muscles that stretch across through my tanktop. His arms wrap across my waist while mine around his neck, and even though it's a short hug, I find myself savoring the feeling for some reason.
"You too," I pull back, still smiling at him. If you were wondering, he's wearing one of those bright orange lifeguard tanktops and the typical red board shorts. He looks great nonetheless, and I can't help but staring until he speaks up again.
"So, should we go? My shifts' been over for a good 5 minutes now,"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I was looking around for awhile but I couldn't find you," I say.
"No, no, it's absolutely not your fault.Chase wasn't even here yet," He glances around me at another guy approaching who's a lot shorter and probably in his 30's. Chase waves him off and laughs.
"My bad, man," He says and Tyler tosses him the rescue-can.
"It's all good." Then turns to me. "Ready?"
"Sure," I smile, taking a quick look around before following him off away from the beach.
•
"Here we are," Tyler smiles as he holds the door open to the little corner coffee. It's called 'Cup of Steam' which is adorable in itself, and I'm overtaken with the smell of ground coffeebeans and some type of pumpkin bread as I walk in in front of Tyler. "By the wall."
He points to a booth next to the window and I follow him, taking one of the seats across from him with a sigh. A waitress approaches a second later, her curly brown hair falling into her face.
"Hi, I'm Maria. Could I get you guys anything today?" She says, smiling courteously. I can tell she's shy, just by the way she doesn't make complete eye contact with rather of us.
I look to Tyler, and then back at Maria. "uhm, I'll take a pumpkin spice latte, please."
"Just coffee, 4 cremes, 4 sugars." Tyler smiles, and Maria scurries off behind the counter, leaving me and Tyler alone once more.
