Chapter Two
It only took a few minutes to get back into town. The store was small, but as we walked in the front door I could smell fresh baked bread and pastries. I aimlessly followed my mother around as she picked out items, occasionally asking my opinion on something. I was thinking about Trey, about my old friends, about how this would have been the best summer of my life if we didn't move down here. But, I decided since I was here, I might as well make the best of it. Make as many new friends as I can and make some great memories. It was actually a little refreshing to be able to start over, be whoever I wanted to be. I was walking down an isle staring at my feet, and I was startled when I looked up. I almost walked into a large box. I looked up to see a tall, dark boy stocking the top shelf. I couldn't help myself from staring at him. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had an almost perfect face. I guess he noticed me staring at him, so he looked to the side. I quickly looked down. "I'm sorry, I almost walked into you." I said. He looked me up and down and gave me a strange look, like he knew me or something. This was followed by a crooked smile. "You don't have to apologize," he said, "I was in your way." as he proceeded to move himself and the box out from in front of me. I could feel my cheeks blushing. He was so tall I almost had to strain my neck to look at him. I caught myself staring again so I decided it was best to keep walking. I found my mother in the next isle trying to choose between crunchy and smooth peanut butter.
We finally finished once the cart was overflowing and headed to the cash. I was surprised to see the same boy walk behind the cash counter and start scanning our items through. I looked at his name tag which read 'Jacob'. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out to see Trey's phone number. I quickly ran outside the store to avoid bad service and answered my phone. "Hey babe!" I said excitedly. "Hey Gwen. I need to talk to you about something. I've had some time to think last night about everything and well, I don't think this long distance thing is going to work out."
I was completely shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How was this possible? Just two days ago we were happy together laughing and smiling. I was speechless. All I could manage was "Please. Please don't do this." I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. I begged him not to leave me between sobs. "Don't beg, Gwen you sound terrible. Look to be honest, there's someone else, and since you're gone now, well, I'm going to ask her out." he said. I felt my hand start shaking. I dropped my phone which smashed on the pavement sidewalk. I ran into the car, put my head in my hands and started to bawl.
My mother got to the car and tapped on my window. "I need you to help me- Gwen, are you okay? What happened?" she asked as she peered in. I lifted my head and looked up at her. "Honey what's wrong?" she asked me, confused. I tried to choke out words but I could only cry. Finally, by the time we got back to the house, I could manage a few words. "Trey- broke-up-another-girl." My moms face fell. She threw her arms around me and did the typical mom thing; she told me everything was going to be okay. I considered this thought, but I knew only time would tell.
* * * * *
Nothing seemed to be changing. It had been almost a week since Trey had dumped me, and I still felt awful. I couldn't enjoy anything anymore, I couldn't eat, could barely sleep, pretty much all I could do was think about him and what he had done to me. I also wondered who the other girl was. I probably knew her, so that was a question I kept asking myself over and over. My mom had already begun working, having people over for sessions and meetings in her office, but I usually was in my room sulking anyway. It was a Sunday evening, and my mom and I had agreed that every Sunday we would cook a nice meal together. I didn't really have an appetite, but I decided I would make good on it and help her out.
"You know I'm worried about you Gwen. You haven't been yourself since- well you know." she said to me. "Yea mom, I'm a little upset." "Well, I think you just need to take your mind of it. You haven't even been outside once in this beautiful weather." she said. "I know, I just don't really have the motivation for it." I replied. "Well, I've pulled a couple strings and gotten you a job." I dropped the knife I had been using to cut up green peppers. "What? Mom, I don't want a job right now, I'm in a fragile state if you haven't noticed." I yelled. "Yes, and you will continue to be in this state if you sit around here all day everyday, I had to do a lot of talking and convincing to get you this job so you're going to go!" she yelled back. I stood there, thinking for a minute. Maybe she was right, maybe this would be a good opportunity for me to get out and make some friends or something. "Well, what the hell is this job?" I asked. "You'll be working at the marina, helping out with the boat maintenance and office duties. The pay wont be great, but it's something." she said hopefully. "I don't know anything about working at a marina." I replied. "I know but I'm sure you'll learn everything. You start tomorrow morning." she said.
We finished dinner, I managed to get a few bites in without feeling sick, then I went back up to my bedroom. I decided to pull out my laptop and check my emails. I had received a few emails from some of my friends back home wishing me luck and such, but I was really hoping for an email from Trey. There of course was nothing, so I shut my Mac book and flopped down on my bed. I was a little excited to be able to get my mind of things the next day, so I decided to sleep early so I could wake up refreshed and with a new lease on things.
I woke up to my alarm the next morning. I made sure I set it for an hour before I had to leave so I could shower and get ready. I was nervous. I had had summer jobs before, but I didn't have a clue about boats, or even what I was going to have to do at a marina. After showering, I threw on some ripped jean shorts and a white tank top. I brushed my wet, hair and decided to let it air dry, it had a nice wave to it when I did. I applied some light makeup and headed downstairs. My mom was cooking breakfast. "Are you hungry hun?" she asked. "No I'm fine mom, I'm going to head out now." I replied, grabbing the car keys off the table. "Okay well drive careful and have fun, alright?" "Yepp." I called back and shut the door behind me.
I knew where the marina was from when we had first drove through the town. It was kind of hard to get lost as pretty much everything was on one road. I pulled into the marina's parking lot and looked at the clock. Ten minutes to 9. I decided to go ahead and go in, better to arrive early on the first day I thought. It was another surprisingly beautiful day. I had overheard mom talking to one of her clients and they were talking about how unusual it was to have such nice, sunny weather so many days in a row. Apparently this place is like, the rain capital of the U.S. I made my way to a small building which read "La Push Marina: Office." I opened the door to see a tall, built man organizing life jackets. He turned and looked at me as he heard the door shut behind me. "Ah, you must be Gwen. I'm Sam, nice to meet you." he said smiling. I couldn't help but notice he slightly resembled the boy I had seen at the grocery store, but Sam was a bit bigger and not quite as cute. "Nice to meet you Sam." I smiled back.
Pretty much the entire first day was learning. I learned a lot of things about boats, and even fishing. There had been several clients who had come out that day to take advantage of the nice weather and fish. One of them was apparently the sheriff of Forks, a nearby town, which I thought was kind of cool. Sam was really nice, too. He took the time to explain everything to me thoroughly. I thought he was kind of weird though. Every now and then he would make strange facial expressions as if he were having a conversation with no one. I did enjoy working there, though. It really did completely take my mind off Trey, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt like there was still hope to have a good summer.