It was a bad breakup.
It was the kind that cut deep, the type that was going to take some time to get over.
Abigail thought she and Stew would be together the whole rest of the year, go to the prom, party it up together at Senior Week.
In all of her 18 years, she had never felt pain like this.
To make it worse, just to twist the knife even more, Stew had fallen for Abigail's best friend, Lucy.
So there was nowhere to turn. Abigail's boyfriend had dumped her, and her best friend, in her mind, had betrayed her.
As the weekend drew closer, Abigail Summers - an honor student and standout member of both the Spanish and French Clubs - grew more and more withdrawn. Her days remaining at Alfred Ely Beach High School were dwindling, and she was glad.
She just wanted to get away.
****************
"I still don't know about this," Claire said to her daughter.
"Mom, Rhonda's your best friend. She's not gonna let me get into any kind of trouble," Abigail insisted as she brushed her shoulder-length, brown hair while nervously chewing on a piece of Hubba Bubba.
"It's not you I'm worried about," Claire insisted. "It's Rhonda. She's a little...out there."
"Pff," was her daughter's response. "Mom, you've known her since YOU guys went to high school, which was like a million years ago..."
"Watch it, young lady," her mom teased.
The two heard the front door open. It was Rhonda, whooshing in like Hurricane Allison.
"Ready for a fun weekend?" she asked excitedly.
****************
It's not often that a car perfectly fits someone's personality.
But Rhonda's fluorescent-green Geo Tracker seemed to be a perfect match for her spunky and plucky demeanor.
Once 91.5 FM played its third straight 'Hootie and the Blowfish' song, Rhonda decided to make use of her cassette deck.
"Hand me that, sweetie," she asked of her passenger, gesturing to the shoebox full of cassette tapes.
While keeping the Tracker humming along Route 80, Rhonda rifled through a music collection that varied from 'Janis Joplin' to 'Radiohead.'
"Coolio?" Rhonda asked as the two sped closer and closer to Tybee Island.
"Sure," Abigail said.
"Fantastic Voyage" blasted in the Tracker and perfect sunshine broke through the Savannah clouds. There was no traffic at all.
The weekend seemed to be fast approaching.
****************
The Geo pulled up into the driveway and came to a stop.
"Sweetie," Rhonda began, reaching over and holding the girl's hand, "that really sucks about you and Stew."
"Yeah, it's...It's just, everything was fine. We were still saying the 'I love you's' to each other and talking about the summer...Then that week, he was really distant. And Friday morning..."
That's all she could muster. The charming, darling brunette burst into tears.
"Aw, sweetie, it's okay," Rhonda sympathized. "It happens to all of us."
She hugged her young friend and tried to offer as much advice as she could.
"Hey, the point of this weekend is to get your mind off of things, okay? And maybe open a few new doors," Rhonda said as the two got out of the car and began to head inside to Rhonda's cozy, seaside bungalow.
"I like your skirt," Abigail said as she dried her tears, now a bit more composed.
"Isn't it great?" Rhonda asked as she twirled around, making her flowing, ankle-length, tai-dai garment roll gracefully. "I got it at 'Dunes and Tunes.'"
Abigail, meanwhile, dressed provocatively in a pair of tight, white shorts, was showing off a lot more leg. She just hoped she could get them nice and tan this weekend. She looked so pale, and it fit her mood. She wanted things to brighten up.
****************
"Thought the beach would be the perfect start to the weekend," Rhonda said as the two slowly made their way to a good spot, trudging through the hot sand.
"This is...not the same beach we came to last time though," Abigail noticed as the two found a nice, flat spot to lay their towel and set up the umbrella.
Rhonda giggled.
"No, it isn't," she simply replied.
They set up their beach chairs and reclined. Rhonda pulled a four-pack of Bartles and Jaymes Mojitos out from her bag while Abigail opened up to page 43 of 'Lies My Teacher Told Me,' where she last left off.
"Hey, no reading," Rhonda objected as she took a big, healthy sip. "This weekend's about fun."
"Well...what are we supposed to?" Abigail objected, tugging the waste of her baby-blue one piece.
"Just relax," Rhonda insisted. "The scenery will be arriving soon..."
****************
The beach slowly started to fill up.
Now onto her second Mojito, Rhonda noted that the two had picked a good spot, right in the middle of everything.
There was Frisbee throwing, there were footballs being thrown about, a few kites being flown.
Rhonda put on her tan, oversized sunglasses while Abigail put her hair back in a royal blue headband, as the gentle winds had picked up a bit.
Suddenly, Abigail saw something out of the corner of her eye, something that didn't quite fit. And now she made it the point of focus.
It was jarring.
"Ummmmmmm," she gasped. "Is that guy nude?"
She pointed. Rhonda casually glanced over at the man Abigail made mention of. He was walking about along the edge of the water.
Before Rhonda could even acknowledge her friend's discovery, Abigail and her lovely brown eyes spotted something else.
"Oh my God, there's another one," she noticed. She said 'another one' as if she were speaking of some kind of species in the wild.
It was another naked beachgoer.
"He's naked too," she marveled.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh, and another one," she said, now seemingly surrounded by nude men.
Rhonda simply chuckled.
Abigail began to put the pieces together.
"Wait a minute...are we at a nude beach?" she could hardly believe.
"Clothing optional," Rhonda corrected her, leaning back casually in her chair.
"Oh...my God," Abigail said, shocked.
"At least you'll have a few stories to tell about what you did over the weekend," Rhonda said with a wide grin.
****************
The two continued to relax in the sun.
They munched on Fritos and sipped their drinks - Mojito for Rhonda, orange juice for Abigail.
They also counted the number of naked men they saw.
"This is ca-razy," the honor student said, as fear and apprehension slowly gave way to whimsy and wonder.
"Thought you would get a kick out of this," Rhonda exclaimed. "I come here all the time. It's a real trip."
There were a few topless women here and there, but the number of naked men far outnumbered the number of nude gals.
Rhonda began to chat with more and more people. She knew them by name. A seagull crept up to their blanket, stealing a half-empty bag of Fritos.
Rhonda and Abigail didn't seem to even notice. They were too busy looking all around them.
"So...aren't you glad I brought you here? Get your mind off things? Get your mind off breakups and proms and all that sort of thing?" she asked her young friend.
"My mom said you were 'out there,'" Abigail laughed.
"She said that?" Rhonda fired back with a chuckle. "Oh, your mom can be such a square! Hon, I love her to death but she needs to loosen up..."
Abigail decided to go for a walk. She slowly scaled the dunes, pacing back along the boardwalk, glancing up at Shelby's Pizza, Krendy Krafts, and a tiny, two-screen movie theatre.
"While You Were Sleeping" and "A Goofy Movie" were playing.
When Abigail's soft, tiny feet began to hurt from the hot sand, she decided to make it back to the blanket.
She saw that Rhonda, still seated comfortably, was talking to a man. And he was bare-ass naked. He had his back to Abigail.
She laughed, thinking this is gonna be one heck of a weekend.
"Cute butt," she also said to herself.
The brunette walked over and retreated back into her chair.
"Oh, Abigail, this is Jim," Rhonda said casually.
Abigail was a bit startled by something.
She shook hands with Jim, but could hardly speak a word.
"Jim works for the parks department. Plus, he's a volunteer over at the Tybee Island Fire Department," Rhonda explained.
"Oh, neat-oh," Abigail mustered.
'Did I just say neat-oh?' she wondered to herself.
"Now what were you telling me, about...cross lays?" Rhonda pondered aloud, putting her sunglasses back on.
"Cross lays are like, eh, 200 feet long, have a diameter of, oh, about one and a half inches," he informed, holding his fingers that far apart to illustrate. "And they can gush water at 95 gallons per minute..."
"Wo-ho, boy," Rhonda exclaimed. "That is a lot."
"I mean, for smaller fires, such as small wood fires or chimney fires, the small booster line is adequate," Jim instructed further, leaning on one leg now, casual as can be. "A booster line is the smallest hose on the truck and has a diameter of about one inch."
Abigail was still in a stupor. She was fading in and out, caught completely off guard by something.
"Ab, Jim was telling me all about the fire company before you came back. I was testing his knowledge," she kidded.
"You okay, Ab?"
She was startled back into the moment.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm...fine," she said.
"Well, Jimbo, it was great seeing you," Rhonda told her male visitor.
"Yeah, lemme know about the party on the 28th," he said, departing.
"I will, I will," she assured him.
"Nice meeting you, Abigail," he shouted over the sounds of the crashing waves.
"Nice...meeting," she could hardly reply.