It took a bit of walking to get there, but Summer managed to make it to her lifeguard stand...
After collecting her equipment and changing into her uniform, Summer exited the shack and sat down in the chair that was in its balcony. From the looks of how many people were on the beach today, it seemed like she was going to be dealing with the surfers here and that's about it. So, with only that small amount of people here today, it seems like her shift today was going to be both easy-going for her...and yet probably very boring. This place is usually a lot more tolerable and enjoyable for her whenever there's a lot more people around here, since it's usually boring whenever there is none. Though, she pretty much expected this, she's only had this job for about an entire year now.
As she was sitting there looking out to the Atlantic Ocean out in the distance, Summer couldn't help but try to look around for the surfer gang she saw earlier. Considering that they're the only group of people here today, she felt like she needed to at least know where they are so that they don't end up hurt or drown. They weren't anywhere in front of her stand, so they were probably either near the pier itself or around another part of the beach. Hoping that they don't hurt themselves, Summer picks up the nearby lifeguard board and headed off to find where those surfers went off to.
After about a short walk, Summer found the surfers hanging out near some giant rocks at one end of the beach. Seeing them hang out around here made Summer annoyed. Of course of all places that they hang out at, it's probably the most dangerous spots for swimmers and surfers to be near. The only good part is that none of them were in the water, but still. Summer blew the whistle that she had been carrying, getting their attention as she went over to them.
"Hey!" She shouts, before pointing to a nearby sign that was sticking out of the ground. "You guys do know that you're hanging out around this area is off limits, correct?"
"What? That's bullshit, man!" One of the surfers said. "It says that we're not allowed in the water near these rocks."
"Hey, I don't make the rules here! Tad does!" She then pointed her board towards a random direction behind her. "Unless you guys want to take it up with him, be my guest! Because I know for a fact that he's not going to put up with this!"
"Did I...miss something over here?" Another voice said from nearby.
Summer turned her head towards the direction the voice came from. When she turned that direction, she was immediately surprised to see that it was actually Luke who was asking them this. Losing her surprised expression to stay focused on her job, she spoke.
"Oh, hey...you're that new guy that Goth Boy told me about." Summer said pointing at him with a smile. "Luke was it?"
"Uh...yeah. That's right." Luke said with a nod. "What seems to be the problem over here?"
"Just that your friends are hanging out around these rocks over here. I'm telling them that it's too dangerous for them to be hanging out around here, and...I don't think they are wanting to listen one bit." One of the four surfers there rolled their eyes, as Summer continued. "Do you think you can talk them into leaving this spot?"
Luke nodded his head, before turning towards his friends. "Alright dudes, you heard her...we got to just head back to the pier rather than here. I already told you guys that this place is a bad idea for us to hang out at."
"Fine...whatever...we'll leave this spot." One surfer said, as all of them started to collect their things. "Come on dudes...let's get out of here..."
Summer and Luke just stood there as the surfers collected their surfboards and sports-bags, then head off to another part of the beach. The two then began to head off to Summer's post, standing side by side as they walked together. She decided to say something to him during their walk, believing that it's only right to show her gratitude to him.
"Hey, thanks for convincing those guys to leave that spot." Summer said. "It's usually never easy telling people to leave those rocks. After somebody had tripped in that area into the ocean, Tad made sure that nobody goes over there."
"No problem." Luke told her. "Anything to help out around here, since I work here too."
"Yeah, Goth Boy told me you now work at that 'Surf Shop' on the pier."
"That's right. I used to work at one back in California when I used to live there, so...I decided that I should also work here too, you know?"
"Really? What made you come to Maine?"
Luke shrugged his shoulders, before answering that question. "Eh, I just had a cousin who lives in a town nearby. I couldn't find a house there, so I settled here in Simport instead." He then decided to take a look around the empty shoreline, deciding to touch upon that to Summer. "So...is the beach usually this empty?"
"At times, yeah..." Summer then rolled her eyes, before continuing on about that. "Most of what the people around this town do is head off to parties or go to the club...it's sometimes rare to see people around here, at times..."
"Damn...that's a shame..."
"Oh well...at times, we can get a ton of people here too, so not all hope is lost."
"Well that's good, at least."
"Like, totally." It was at that moment, Summer and Luke finally made it to Summer's lifeguard stand. "Well, this is my post. I guess I'm going to get back to work now, which is a shame because...really, you're a pretty nice person to talk to, Luke."
After the two came to a halt near the tower's ramp, Luke smiled. "It's not like this would be the last time we speak, right? Maybe one of these days we can hang out together."
"Maybe...if Chaz trusts you enough..."
"Chaz?"
"He's...my boyfriend...I always hate it when I have to confess this..." Summer rolled her eyes, before continuing to talk. "Long story short, he was a bully throughout our entire time in college...not to mention that he once got easily jealous over me hanging out with one boy that I was friends with, when really...all Travis needed was dating advice from me..." She sighed, before continuing. "I'll admit, he no longer gets jealous of me hanging out with other guys and he did apologize to me and Travis for everything, but...still, I hate it that he had to go and bully him all because of a misunderstanding. Travis is such a nice person."
"Damn...sorry to hear about that..."
"Oh, it gets worse from there...he's also friends with a girl who happens to seriously hate me, all because she's 'cool'...like that's really a good enough reason to like someone..." She then shrugged her shoulders, before leaning on the ramp's rail. "Like, I'd be fine with him being friends with her and all, but that bitch gets in the way, too much might I add."
"So...what are you going to do? Are you going to break up with him or something?"
Summer just stood there silently, not responding to Luke's question whatsoever. She truly did love Chaz, but the more she sat there and thought about it, the more she thinks that there's more bad in their relationship than there is good. Granted, after graduation, Chaz had become less of a bully and was pretty romantic towards her, but she still didn't feel happy in this relationship at all. The countless times Crystal got in the way of their dates isn't helping this either. With a sigh, Summer finally said something.
"I probably will later on." She told him. "Besides, I always kind of doubted our relationship would've lasted long after graduation anyway..."
Luke then nodded his head. "Well, you do what you got to do, I guess." The surfer said, before patting her on the arm. "I got to get to my shop now. I'll catch you around when I get the chance to."
"Alright. Thanks for the talk."
The two smiled at each other, before Luke walked off of the ramp to head off to the Boardwalk's pier. Summer remained standing there, watching the surfer walking away from it, not taking her eyes away from his location as he left. After she no longer could see him, Summer walked up the ramp to get back to work.
'Such a nice person to me...way better than Chaz ever was...' Summer said in her thoughts, as she sat down in her chair again.
Meanwhile...
With James...
He had no idea how a simple idea could go so wrong, so fast. He genuinely couldn't explain what on Earth happened back there, let alone why everything had played out the way that it did. Somehow, placing a note into a mailbox turned into a situation where Jenny believes that she now has a 'Secret Admirer' out of nowhere. So much for everything being so simple and easy for him.
After his talk with Jenny, James just decided to walk on home instead of do anything else. With everything going so wrong in a matter of seconds, he rather be sitting at home, doing absolutely nothing. He could try to give his friends a call about what had happened, but...he couldn't bring himself to do it, as well as the fact that they'd all be busy at the time anyway, and James didn't want to be a bother to them during work or family. So he just chose to not call anyone right now, feeling like it's for the best.
During his walk home, James was just entering Main Street. He kept his eyes focused on the sidewalk he was walking on, an expression of anger and disappointment filled his face as he silently walked by his lonesome. It wasn't until James made it to the park that was between the Town Hall and Gino's Pizzeria. He was just walking passed it, only to be stopped by the sound of an all too familiar voice calling out his name from the top of the park's wall.
"Like, it's funny stumbling upon you once again, isn't it?" A female voice said from behind him.
Slowly turning his head towards the entrance of the park, James glared behind his shoulder only to see nobody standing behind him. He then looked up at the wall, seeing Sapphire was just sitting there looking down at him with that same exact excitable and cheery smile that she usually has. The moment he saw that it was her of all people, James was just about to just ignore her and continue to walk home, however, he had somehow found himself unable to do so. It was probably because Sapphire is usually helpful when it comes to situations like the one that he's in. Giving in. James just sighed, allowing himself to talk to the party girl.
"Great...because of course, out of everyone I could stumble upon right now...it has to be you, Sapphire." James said, rather sarcastically. "Moments like these, I'm starting to wish that I accidentally stumbled upon Brandi on the way home...because getting hit with eggs seems like lot more humane that stumbling upon you."
Sapphire cringed at James's cynical behavior. "Something's gotten you in, like, a totally bad mood." She said. "What happened?"
"Last night, I tried to tell Jenny my feelings, only for dad to tell me that she'd be out late, so...I placed a letter in her mailbox in order to make things a little easier."
"Okay...how exactly is that bad?"
"Because...Jenny doesn't know who even wrote it to her. She thinks it's Rob who left it there."
"So you placed a note in her mailbox without putting your name on it, is this what you're saying?" James nodded his head to Sapphire's question. "No offense, but that's like, totally dumb. I can be forgetful at times, but I'm not THIS forgetful."
"Enough with your criticism, Sapphire...can you at least give me some sort of advice to help me out?"
"Well...with all that you said...I do only have one piece of advice that I could give you..."
"That is?"
With a smile, Sapphire spoke. "You should just walk right up to her, and tell her that it was you who wrote the note. Clear up the misunderstanding that had happened, and I'm pretty sure that she will take you as her boyfriend."
"You have got to be kidding me here, Sapphire...you think THAT is going to work?" The man then held up his arms into the air. "What makes you think that she's not planning on going around and finding Rob during the week to ask him out, all because of that note?"
"James, don't you think you're overreacting about all of this, like, just a little? You don't even know if she's even going to find this Rob guy to ask him out or not." The party girl pats him on the shoulder, before crossing her arms with a smirk on her face. "Believe me, I came across something like this before and I told the person the same exact thing. They ended up getting their crush to date them, and two are married now, might I add. Just trust me on this one, Louiston...you'll get Jenny as your girlfriend if you tell her right now."
"Well...she's at work right now, so...that's impossible..." The goth points at the party girl, taking a few steps towards the direction he was previously going seconds ago. "...Besides, as much as Jenny hates working as the desk-girl at that place time to time, especially with the fact that the Agency might be on the brink of planning a rescue for Evelyn Gray, and the last thing anyone from the Agency needs is somebody to go and be a distraction for them."
Hearing one of the two reasons, all Sapphire did was just scoff out a chuckle. "Evelyn Gray? Seriously?" She said in disbelief. "Like, whatever...everybody in Simport knows that the Morcubus situation was nothing more but a complete myth. It's totally impossible for there to be such thing as a 'Nightmare Realm' or all that stuff." She then scoffs again. "You and Jenny seriously watch too much science-fiction stuff, you know that?"
"Oh whatever...I think I'm just going to go home now..."
"Alright. Just...don't forget to take my advice..."
"Whatever, I'll think about it..."
"Okay..." Sapphire then took a step back, as James was just walking away from their spot. "James being a typical rude asshole like he usually is..." She muttered to herself, before walking off to Club Candy to meet up with her other two friends.
Like he was before, James was walking back to his house all by his lonesome once again. He continued to walk along the sidewalk that was leading him out of Main Street, until he heard a text coming onto his phone. Believing it to be one of his friends, James pulled out his phone to see who it was texting him...only to see that it was his own mother texting him right now.
'Hello there James. I was just texting you to inform you that me, along with Trevor and Victoria are on our way back home from our vacation in Vermont. I was just checking in on you to see if everything is okay or not. Hopefully, we will see you soon.' His mother's text said.
'That's great. See you then, mom.' James texted him, much to his dismay.
"Great...a week of silence at my house has already passed." James mutters to himself as he continued to walk. "Now I have to deal with my step-sister from Hell once again...whatever next? A storm comes out of nowhere to rain on top of me?"
Right as James uttered that aloud, water started from the sky above him. The geeky goth stopped in his tracks, getting even more annoyed than he already was. But that was until he finally took notice of something that didn't make sense whatsoever.
"Wait a second...there's not even a cloud in the sky! How the hell is it even..." James stopped yelling as he turned towards the fence that was right next him, looking up to see that the water's coming from somebody's backyard. "HEY ASSHOLE! YOUR GARDEN'S IN THE BACKYARD! NOT OUT HERE!"
"Screw you, man!" The man behind the fence shouts back at the geeky goth who was now walking away.