(First, and only disclaimer: Every character portrayed is above the age of eighteen (18), for the sake of "secrecy", "protection"? I dunno, names have been changed or omitted. So onto the other part of this, I've done some things I'm not proud of, I'm not a horrid person, and I think in the end the scales balanced if you believe in karma and that kind of stuff, but these are just some stories of moments in my life that I remember sometimes fondly and sometimes with regret.)
Confession # 1 - Jenna
"I wouldn't cheat on you." I'd barely said those words hours ago, and in the moment, I sincerely believed them with everything I had.
Now here I was, standing on the beach arms wrapped around Jenna's waist, her lips brushing lightly across mine as we pressed closer to one another, while her hips swayed from side to side, keeping an uncanny rhythm with the waves as they crashed against the shore.
Now what really took the cake in this whole situation, she was my girlfriend's cousin. The same girlfriend that a few hours ago I'd told I wouldn't cheat on her.
How'd I end up in the situation? Mainly because I was a selfish, but how'd I end up in the situation with Jenna? No idea.
See, I'm not vain and I can't lie and say I was the picture of a healthy level of self-confidence, so I don't look in the mirror and think, "Damn I look fucking awesome, I'm god's gift, every woman wants me." No, but, I've had my fair share of partners, and
apparently
I'm attractive, so I rolled with it. But, Jenna?
This was girl was undoubtedly one of the hottest girls I'd ever met, even when I'd first seen her in school. She was this short caramel toned girl with almost pixie like features, and eyes that always seemed to have this permanent mischievous twinkle in them, and I swear her smile could melt gold.
Body wise, she was slender, lithe even. Something that she attributed to the fact that she danced for most of her life, "I have a high metabolism." She told me one time, and while she wasn't on the buxom side of her family, and I got to know her family, her curves while pert were still there.
So the fact that I was kissing her, and neither of us was shit faced drunk. It was pretty surprising to me.
This night in particular was the first night of summer "vacation" for us. So upholding a ritual from school days, we had to hit the beach.
Aaron called me up at 4:30 PM on the dot, I was still at work at the time so I had to call him back, but I knew what it was about. We'd been talking about it for a couple of days prior, it was Friday, summer had begun. We were going to go get wasted, why? Because, it was the tradition.
By five, I was packing my cash tray into the vault and heading through the door. By five thirty, I was home and had returned Aaron's call.
We agreed to meet up at the beach around nine, we'd buy some drinks, the night would begin. That gave me more than enough time. So I did some stuff around the house, called my girlfriend, we chatted for most of the evening, then the time rolled around for me to leave home.
"I don't really want you going out with Aaron and the others you know." She said to me as I was saying goodbye. I'd told her the stories about how Aaron and I would roll when we hung out, so she was concerned about the drinking.
"Fine, I won't drink too heavily, I promise." I crossed my fingers and smirked, she breathed a sigh of relief then dawdled for a moment in silence, "Hello? Jessie?"
"Yeah, I'm here." Another sigh, "I just feel like, you're going to do something tonight, and..."
"Jess, listen to me, I wouldn't cheat on you." There they were, I really did believe it.
"I know, just a thought." She chuckled, I smiled, "Alright, talk to you later?"
"Well, you might be sleeping by the time I get home."
"So? Message me. I might not." She was so cute when she did that annoyed tone of voice.
"Okay, I will message you, ma'am." I pressed the home button on my phone and the screen glared to life, 9:18 PM showing in the status bar, I was late. I was always late, "Enjoy your night, babe." I said in an attempt to end the call.
"Alright, bye." Another sigh, but the call was over and we both hung up and went on our separate ways for the night.
By nine fifty-seven I was pulling into the parking lot at the beach, and I saw Aaron propped against his car, another five or six people standing around with him. Small group, but it'd grow.
"My dude!" He shouted stepping out of the crowd to greet me, hand held high before bringing it down and clapping it into mine before we pulled in and bumped shoulders. We were bros, alright? I mean, like we had a real brotherly bond.
Then after some teasing about my repeated lateness to multiple events, we made our way over to the convenience store to buy the drinks.
A couple beers, some vodka, and we definitely couldn't forget the rum, to do that would just be to commit a sin. Somewhere in between there Aaron got a call and I heard him tell the person, "Yeah, we're in the convenience store, you know, just across the street."
At the time it really didn't bother me who it was, it'd just be another face to add to the ever-growing list of faces that I couldn't remember after sloshed nights. At least that's what I thought. Then while we were getting our items rang up, Aaron having to go through the, "I need to see your I.D." procedure, and I stood behind him waiting my turn, she walked in.
Looking as stunning as I'd ever seen her, wearing a little black number and matching slippers. Bright red lipstick on lips that curved into a smile as she saw us, and she'd cut her hair. Funny enough, it was styled in a pixie cut.
I'm telling you, if the manic pixie dream girl trope ever existed in my life, Jenna was the one that brought it. The girl was a free spirit, always smiling, effortlessly fantastic and quirky. John Green, eat your heart out.
Once Aaron got through and I paid, skipping the I.D. check, one of the perks of having a full beard, and not having previously told the lady that she looked like a bitch. We exchanged our pleasantries and headed back to the beach, kicking off shoes and slippers alike as we hit the sand.
It was summer, and feeling the cool sand between my toes, the breeze blowing across the ocean to hit me smack in the face bringing with it that refreshing salt water smell, the sound of the first beer cap that was popped off. It made me smile a little to myself, slightly ecstatic about doing it all over again, I never thought it or I would get old.
"I, have not seen you in ages." Jenna said walking up, half empty cup in hand.
"I know right?" I was practically blushing as she talked to me, she'd always smiled at school, and honestly she was pleasant in passing, but we'd never really had a conversation, at least nothing that I could think of that would lead to her opening with "I haven't seen you in ages.", I just knew her by name, everyone knew her by name, she was
that
, girl, "How've you been?"
"Ugh... Miserable. Work, dancing, I actually went dancing tonight before this, but earlier Aaron told me about the lime, so here I am." She took a sip from the cup, a brown liquid, probably vodka and coke, or rum and coke, or just coke. I personally didn't enjoy anything mixed with coke.
"I hear that. Well, the work part anyway. I started working at the bank after I left school, I am utterly miserable." I took a sip of my beer, "But, the pay is decent." She laughed.
"My pay, is not." I laughed. Then awkward silence ensued. Again, we'd never spoken before, we were not friends, hell, at this point she didn't even know I was dating her cousin, "Going to check back with these guys." A quick nod sufficed and she turned away leaving me standing looking out over the vast blackness that was the sea, the only discernible color being the white foam as the waves crashed against the shore.
