"The bike ride..."
"What's the bike ride?" Sara knew intrigue was apparent on her face and her ignorance made her look stupid. But who cared? Jenna, best friend number one, wasn't one to judge.
"Come on... Every love story has a bike ride. The guy rides the bike and the girl is behind him and they—"
"I'd rather be on a motorcycle. It's much faster and bikers are hotties," Lisa, best friend number two, added and her arms stretched behind her neck to support her head. Her exposed body baked slowly in the sun and Sara could see drool on boys' mouths from a mile away.
Jenna and Lisa were as different as day and night. True but oh so clichéd. Then again, what was original these days?
Sara listened to the waves sweeping seaweed in and out from the wet sand. Salty air hit her face and the sunrays didn't dare to bake her crispy golden like Lisa. Conscious of her body as usual and afraid of the affects of UV rays on her skin, Sara hid underneath a big watermelon-colored beach umbrella with Jenna. Jenna, her long black hair in a bun, her green eyes covered by big-bug sunglasses, was reading a cheesy romance novel and eating baked chips. Lisa, in a teensy-weensy unpolkadotted blue bikini, oiled herself meticulously and winked at every cute boy within a few feet away.
Sara laughed suddenly as the fact of possessing archetypical friends bemused her. This was officially the last summer of freedom... the summer before senior year began and she couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be at the moment. Or with anybody else but Jenna and Lisa. High school was a place of drama and hurt, but it was nothing compared to college. The thought of colleges and universities shattered her laughter. Yes, she was quite the moody one, though classmates often referred to her as the least of three evils. Jenna, Lisa, and Sara were the self-proclaimed Feared Three. Like her flamboyant sisters, Jenna and Lisa made Sara their shadow.
Being a shadow had its benefits, Sara would agree. She felt no pride in being a leader and so she was always the follower. Another face in the crowd? Why not? Plain and ordinary and at the most, she was pretty cute. Short brown hair and bangs framed her oval face. Her eyes were large but her lips weren't kissably full. Her nose wasn't a button but at least it wasn't crooked. She wasn't tiny, but she could use a few more inches to boost her height. As for her body, well let's just say no magazines would feature her as their choice model.
"Anyway, loser, the bike ride is quite essential. Without it, the purity of young love is obsolete. Or rather, nonexistent."
"Use words normal people can understand, you witch." Lisa flicked some oil at Jenna with her long, slender fingers. Jenna, a wiccan with a love for dark colors and moods, didn't find Lisa's title for her insulting.
"Go on." Still intrigued, wide-eyed Sara edged closer to Jenna.
"Imagine riding down an autumn path with the boy of your dreams on a bike with frictionless wheels. It is like floating on air."
"Geez... You two have to grow up. These days, a bike ride is for fobs. Get it? Fobs. Find a guy with a Porsche, hop in and that's what I call romantic." Lisa shook her head and like a goddess, her cascades of pale hair danced in the air. She stood up and stretched her lithe body. "Let me teach you two a lesson. Love and purity do not mix."
"Slu—"
"Jenna heads up!"
A water balloon sailed through the air fluidly and exploded upon impact with Jenna's barely-there chest.
"Aw, I thought you would dodge it. And I got your book wet?" Angel-faced Joey was apparently the culprit of the rage-eliciting water balloon. Golden boy Joey, jock-extraordinaire with a flaming crush for Miss Goth.
Jenna tossed her book aside and hastily wiped her drenched shirt.
"I didn't come to the beach to get wet."
"Me either..." Sara was an innocent bystander in the way of the now dead water balloon.
In seconds, Jenna tackled Joey and both fell and hit the sand bum first.
"Stupid moron!"
While the lovebirds in denial fought it out, Lisa flirted up a storm with Joey's friends and Sara was left alone under the massive coverage of the umbrella. She picked up Jenna's book and flipped through the wet pages.
"Love is a bike ride. There are bumps in the road. There are falls. One can ride alone. One can ride with another. Down a path that is both known and unknown... Interesting."
Sara buried her nose in the book for the rest of the day. If there wasn't a niche for her to fill, then her place was beneath the umbrella, alone and yet still very happy.
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Ian wanted to be in Europe. He wanted to work for an architect there. He wanted so much more than this boardwalk and this beach. Riding his bike to his aunt's house, he spotted an unusual umbrella on the beach. Maybe it was his boredom. Maybe it was the sun. Maybe it was even his exhausted muscles playing tricks on him. But whatever it was, he would have to agree that the girl beneath the umbrella was the silliest one he'd ever seen in a while. What sort of girl would wear her granny's one piece at the beach? He had to thank her though. He hadn't had such a good laugh in a long while.
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