California Beaches: Chapters 14-17

Chapter Fourteen: The Un-Thinkable

The party ended at twelve a.m. and I had to stay up later to help clean up. Justin helped clean so and of course Kelsey stayed too. I caught her staring at him once or twice, maybe even three times or more and it made me angry…”Ok, it looks like were good. Do you want a ride home Kels?” Justin asked and I was pretty sure I knew her response.

“Yeah, that would be awesome.” she replied with a huge grin on her face. “Ok, cool. I’ll see you later Lacie,” he said as he hugged me. I got chills up my spine. I waved goodbye and shut the door behind them. I said goodnight to my mom and my future step dad and headed upstairs to my room. ‘Finally’ I thought, ‘I get to sleep in my own bed in my own room.’ The thought made me hurry up the stairs even faster.

I opened my door and jumped onto my bed. I lightly laid my head on my pillow. My head was pounding still and the music didn’t really help at all, but I’ll live. My cell phone then rang so I picked it up off the table next to my bad. It’s a text from Cody and it read, “Hey Lace. Meet me tomorrow at the California Café around two?”

I pressed the reply button and thought of what to say. I want to date him, but I really like Justin. I weighed my options, which were to date a person who I know and likes me back, but can get very cocky at times. He gave me my first kiss. I just realized this, wow. Then I thought about Justin.

I don’t know if he likes me back, my best friend likes him, and he saved my life. He is always there for me and I can tell him anything except that I like him. Cody or Justin? I’ll meet Cody at the café and see what he has to say. I typed “Ok, I’ll see you there : )” I put my phone on the charger and laid down to go to sleep. Gabes jumped onto my bed and laid at the bottom near me feet. I then fell asleep.

The next morning I got up at eleven forty-five. I hopped in the shower and got ready to meet Cody. I wore my favorite green spaghetti strap top and a pair of white shorts. I threw on my white flip-flops and went back into the bathroom to do my make-up. My hair was curly and I thought that I looked pretty nice and smiled at myself in the mirror.

I walked into my room, grabbed my purse next to my bed, and checked the clock, which said it was one-fifteen. It will take a while to walk there. I walked down stairs and texted Cody that I was on my way. I took a pop tart from the kitchen and went to open the refrigerator when I heard a knock at the door.

I walked over to the door and opened it. “Justin what are you doing here?” I asked surprisingly. “I need to tell you something.” he said seriously. “I can’t talked right now Justin. I’m, uh, going to meet Cody.” and I looked down at my hands while I turned my thumbs around each other. I felt so guilty telling him that and he had a very disappointed look on his face.

“Oh, ok. Sorry that I bothered you.” he said sadly and started to walk towards his truck. “Wait, you didn’t bother me at all.” I walked to him and grabbed his arm to make him face me. “Please tell me what you need to tell me.” I asked desperately. “I can’t tell you, but I can show you.” he said and finally turned to face me. “What do you mean?” I asked and then he did the un-thinkable.

Chapter Fifteen: The Chase

His lips were soft on mine. He kissed me passionately and I kissed him back. He held me close to him tightly. We broke away from our kiss and he said “That’s what I needed to tell you.” he smiled. “Wow, I wasn’t ready for that. Thank you.” I replied. “For what?” he asked. “For showing me what you needed to tell me.” I blushed and thought, ‘So he does like me…He just kissed me!’ And that’s when I chose Justin over Cody. “I really like you Lacie and I wanted to tell you for the longest time, but I couldn’t find the words.” he explained. “I wanted to tell you that I liked you too, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” I said. “It’s ok.” he replied. “I need to go see what Cody wants, but I’ll be back in a little bit.” he frowned and said “Alright.” in disappointment. He gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek and I started walking towards the California Café.

I got there exactly at two despite my little encounter with Justin. I saw cody sitting at a table drinking some water. I walked to the entrance and made my over to him. “Hey cutie.” he said once he saw me. I blushed and said “Hey.” I sat in the chair across from him. “So what do you want to talk about?” I asked. “How anout that kiss last night and the fact that I like you.” he answered. “Um, what about it?” I questioned. “Well did you like it and will you be girlfriend?” I froze and tried to think of a way to break the news to him about Justin. “Um, last night you kind of caught me off guard. I did like the kiss, but I’m sort of seeing someone else at the moment.” I explained. “Justin…” was all he said. His face was full of disappointment and anger. He got up from his chair and walked out of the café. I got a bad feeling that he was going to do something to Justin so I called him.

The phone rang only once and Justin immediately pick up. “Hey, Lace. What happened?” he asked. “Well, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I told him that I was already seeing someone. He looked really mad and said your name then left. Please watch out for him. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I said. “Are you implying that I cant take him?’ he said. I laughed and said, “No, I just care about you, that’s all. Well I’m going to go to my house, get dressed, and then heading down to the beach. Meet me?” I asked. “Definably.” he replied. “Ok, bye.” and we hung up. I walked out of the café and headed towards home.

I then saw a familiar car in front of me, a black mustang, but I couldn’t remember who’s car it was. I thought a little harder and remembered that it was Cody’s. I stared at the car wondering where he was going and I noticed that he was turning around, but why? As he started speeding towards me, I started to get nervous. His car is almost next to me so I moved closer and closer to the store buildings on the side of the round as I could be so that he couldn’t get any closer to me than he already was. He stopped at the curb beside me, wound down the window and said, “Get in.” “I’m fine walking.” I replied and started walking faster. “I said get in!” he yelled back. “I said no! You don’t take rejection very well, do you?” I yelled back and kept walking.

I didn’t look back but I heard a car door open. Once I heard that I started running. I could heard foot steps behind me. It’s a good thing that I’m not far from home. I felt a hand on my shoulder and the force of his hand was strong and brought me to the ground. He stood above me angrily. “What do you want?” I asked.

“I want…” he started then he was tackled to the ground. “Justin!” I yelled when I saw who it was. Cody was on the ground glaring at Justin. He got up and said, “Your going to regret doing that?” he started walking towards Justin. “You think you’re so tough? You’re only mad because you got rejected. Your pathetic.” Justin said to his face. Cody then punched Justin in the jaw. Justin almost fell over, but stayed strong. He then punched Cody in the stomach which made him automatically bend over in pain. “You’re gonna get it now.” Cody said. I’m so scared right now. I’m still in the same spot where Cody pulled me down. I watched as the two fought. Justin was winning and he punched Cody in the nice and again in the stomach. Cody’s nose automatically started to bleed. Cody looked at me with hatred and started to limp over to where I was.

Justin noticed, but before he got to me, Cody was already behind me. “If you don’t want you girlfriend hurt I suggest that you get away.” Cody threatened. “Get away from her now!” Justin ordered. I was frozen in fear and I didn’t want to know what Cody would do. “Or what?” Cody asked. “Don’t hurt her.” Justin then demanded. He then took a step towards me to grab my hand. Cody’s hand went right to where my stitches were from my surfing accident. Justin took one more step towards me and Cody began to apply pressure. The stinging and burning was unbearable so I shrieked in pain. “I suggest that you back away now, or else this could get ugly.“ Cody said angrily. I put my hands up to his to get them off of my forehead. He fought me and pressed down harder. I started crying and pleading for cody to let go.
“Please Cody! Please let me go! It hurts!” I screamed. “What will I get in return?” he asked. “I don’t care! Just please let me go!” he did as I said and I laid on the ground crying.

“What would you do that?” I heard Justin ask. “I said or else and now get out of my way.” Cody replied. He walked over my body and went away. Justin ran over to me and picked me up in his arms. “Oh my God Lacie. Your stitches re-opened, I need to get you to the hospital.” he said urgently. “Do you have a thing for saving me life?” I asked weakly putting my arms around his neck for support. “Yeaj I guess I do.” he laughed any carried me to his car. He rove me to the hopsital to get my stitches fixed. “Lacie Barron, why are you back so soon?” the doctor I had the previous time that I was here asked. I took my hand off of my head to reveal my broken stitches. “How did you do that? What happened?” he asked, I explained to him my situation and he fixed my stitches.

I got to go home after that was done and I didn’t have to call my mom, which was a good thing. We got into Justin’s car and I asked “Hey can we go to the beach? Just to walk around. Please?” and I smiled at him. “Yeah, that sounds nice.” he replied. Stin was a little but bruised uo from the fight with cody. I could tell that he was in pain but he tried now to show it. We arrived at the beach and stepped into the nice warm sand. He put my hand in his and we started walking by the shore line. “How are you doing?” I asked him. “I’m fine, why?” he asked. “Because you look like your hurt.” I said. “Oh, I’m ok. it’s just a few bruises.” he replied. He pulled me to his chest and hugged me tightly. We sat down on the sand and let the waved crash on our bare feet. The sound of the waves were calming and helped me to put the events of today in the back of my head, other than any of the Justin parts. I looked up at Justin while we sat next to each other holding hands.

“What?” he asked gazing back at me. His eyes were so blue, like the ocean. “Nothing.” I replied and looked down at my hand that was available playing in the sand next to me. I felt his finger under my chin and he brought my face to his. He kissed me softly and passionately. I broke away from the kiss to pick up my phone which was ringing in my pocket. “It’s my mom.” I said. “Hey mom, what’s up.” I said sounding cheerful. “Hey honey. I was just wondering were you where. It’s dinner time.” she said. Wow, the day went by quickly. I took the phone off my eat to check the time and it sure enough it read five-fifteen. “Um, ok. One sec.” I said when Justin asked me who it was. “It’s my mom.” I told him. “Who’s with you?” my mom asked curiously. “Justin, we’re hanging out at the beach.” I replied and smiled at Justin.

“Well, why don’t you ask him if he would like to have dinner at our house.” she suggested.

“My mom wants to know if you want to have dinner with us.” I said to Justin who was running sand through his fingers. “Yeah, yeah. That sounds great.” he said not taking his eyes of the sand. “Ok, mom. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes. I love you, bye.” and I hung up. I put my phone back in the my pocket. “It doesn’t take fifteen minutes to get to your house.” Justin said looking at me with a confused expression. “I know.” I replied and laid my head on his lap and he started stroking my hair gently like the day he saved me from drowning. He smiled at me and stared at my face. “How did I get so lucky?” he asked me. “I don’t know. You tell me.” I said as he took my hand and started entwining his fingers between mine. Minutes past and we never moved from our comfortable position. I sat up slowly and said “Ok, we need to get to my house for dinner.” “Ok then.” Justin agreed. We walked to his car hand in hand and went home.

We arrived at my house and walked into the living room greeted by an amazing scent coming from the kitchen. I walked in the kitchen to find my mom with Justin following close behind me. “Hey mom, what’s for dinner?” I asked. “Chicken Enchiladas.” she replied trying to use a Spanish accent. “Hello, Justin. How are you today?” my mom asked me when she walked over to the sink and washed her hands. “im great and how about you?” Justin asked. “I’m great.” my mother replied. We sat down at the dinner table and my mom served dinner. The enchiladas were delicious. Justin rolled up his sleeve to accidentally reveal a large dark purple bruise on his forearm.

“Oh, Justin what happened?” my mother asked being concerned. “Oh, um, my , uh, my surfboard hit my in the arm from a rough wave earlier. I hardly even felt it.” he lied. “Oh, it looks like it hurts.” she said. “I’m fine.” Justin assured her. We finished our food and I washed the dishes with Justin at my side helping me. “Hey mom, me and Justin are going to hang out up stairs.” I called to her after we were finished. We walked up the steps into my room. “So what do you want to do?” Justin asked. “I don’t know.” I replied. We sat on my bed and he looked at me. “I never thought in a million years that you would like me back.” I confessed.

“Oh really?” he asked. “Yeah, the only thing that I’m mad about is that I didn’t get my first kiss from you.” I said. Then he looked up at me. “I didn’t give you your first kiss, but I can give you your second, third and fourth and even more than that.” he replied smiling at me. “Do you think that we should tell Kelsey?” I asked. “If you want to. I don’t have a problem with people knowing that I’m dating the most beautiful and perfect girl in the world. “ he said smiling. “Well nobodies perfect, but thanks for the complement.” I added and laughed. He held my face in his hands and looked into my eyes. “Your perfect for me.” he said and kissed me slowly. I kissed him back passionately and wrapped my arms around his neck. He held me as close to him as I could get and he held me tightly. His lips were soft and I have to admit that he was an amazing kisser. With that thought our kiss was broken because of a knock at my door. I looked at him, smiled, then walked over to my door. I cracked it open enough to see my mom standing there.

“Yes mom?” I asked. “I just wanted to know if you and Justin wanted any peanut butter cookies.” she replied. “Uh, yeah. Sure. I don’t know how many we’ll eat so just put some on a plate. Thank you.” I said. She nodded her head and walked down the stairs. I shut my door and felt two arms wrap around my waist. Justin pulled me towards him and turned me around to face him. “What did she want?” Justin asked putting his hands in mine. “She’s bringing up some cookies.” I replied. “Ooo, what kind of cookies?” he asked curiously. “Peanut butter.” I said. “Yum.” he said back. We sat on my bed and watched tv for a bit. My mom knocked on the door again. I stood p and Justin looked at me. I went to walked over to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me into a light kiss. He let me go and I got the door. :Thanks mom.” I said as she handed me a plate of cookies. “You two are very quiet up here. What are you doing?” she asked. “I put in a movie so we are paying attention to that.” I responded. “Ok, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” she warned. “Mom!” I yelled back in embarrassment.

I laughed while I shut my door and brought the plate of cookies over to a table. I went to sit on the bed when Justin sat in my spot. I went to the opposite side of the bed ans again Justin moved to were I was going to sit. “I’ll sit on you.” I threatened. “That’s what im trying yo get you to do.” he said. Then he motioned for me to sit on his lap. I did as he wanted me to. He was really comfortable to lay on. We watched the movie 300, it was one of my favorite movies. I eventually ended up with my head laying on his chest and we ate all of my mom delicious cookies.

I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was eleven-thirty. “hey Justin what time do you have to be home?” I asked. “Why do you want me to leave?” he asked sarcastically. “Oh, no. I was asking because its eleven-thirty.” I said. “Oh, I don’t know, I’m content with just staying here with you. Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked. I was confused now. “It’s late.” I pointed out. “Yeah, I take a walked every night at mid-night, but I can go a little but early for you.” he explained sweetly. “Ok.” I replied. We went downstairs and snuck past my mom and Keith who were cuddled up on the couch watching TV. I slowly opened the door trying not to make a lot of noise. I was successful in sneaking out and I closed the door quietly after Justin was by my side.