Beach Day

My favorite thing about Long Island might just be the beach. Anywhere you live on the island, you are about twenty minutes away from a beach. Don't like a particular beach? No problem! Just drive in the opposite direction to the next one! It makes me never want to move away.

The girls and I made the short drive to the beach on Sunday morning. Two nights before, when I went with Justin to watch fireworks on the beach, the cool breeze from the water felt nice. As much as I enjoyed that night, nothing really beats being under the warm sun, feeling the hot sand between your toes, and drinking mimosas out of water bottles.

We set up our chairs around 10 AM and the beach was still relatively empty. I knew it would not last but I enjoyed the view while I could. It would only take an hour or two for the crowds of people to show up with their big umbrellas to infiltrate the place.

I pulled out a my buttered everything bagel from my beach bag and began indulging in my weekly carbohydrate loaded treat. I lied earlier in this post. My favorite thing about Long Island is not the beach. It is bagels. I will really never be able to move.

"So, how's Justin?" Darlene turned to me and asked. It suddenly dawned on me that none of them knew about our new arrangement.

"He's good," I began as a smile crept along my face. "He's going out of town next weekend with his family, but we're really, very good actually." I started playing with my hair and looking away from Darlene. Why couldn't I say the words?

"You're 'really, very good actually?'" Anna asked me as she shielded her eyes from the sun and stuck her tongue out at me. I was glad she did because it gave me an opening to tell them what I actually had to tell them.

"Well, we had 'the talk' the other night," I began as I circled my feet in the sand. "We, um, you know, decided to be exclusive."

"Caroline, that's great!" Jessica exclaimed with such enthusiasm that she almost jumped out of her beach chair.

"Thanks," I responded with a smile. Jessica seemed genuinely excited for me, which was awesome to see. I mean, I knew my friends liked Justin, but you never know how people are going to respond when relationship steps are actually taken.

My happiness was premature. Darlene and Anna provided polite smiles and weak, one worded positive responses.

"Thanks, guys," I said with sarcasm. "Tell me what you really think," I insisted with some forced laughter. Come on, gals, I can take it!

"No, it's really awesome, Caroline," Darlene began without looking up at me. "But isn't this the guy you were just complaining to us about, like, a month ago?" She looked up at me and continued. "He totally freaked out on you for no reason and what, some good behavior for a couple weeks makes you forget it all?" She paused for a second and looked down at her feet again. "Not to be harsh or anything."

"No, I appreciate it," I responded, not knowing what else to say. I contemplated what to say next for a couple seconds before Jessica saved me.

"Hey, when you know you know, right? We all really liked him at Josh's house." Wow, who would've thought Jessica remembered anything from that night?

Darlene let out a soft laugh and muttered something under her breath. Anna leaned over and whispered to her. "Be nice," she said as she nudged her on the arm.

"What was that?" I asked, waiting for some sort of explanation. Did they not like Justin? If they were pretending this whole time, I would recommend they both move to Los Angeles to pursue acting careers right away. They could win Oscars.

Darlene let out a heavy sigh. "It's just, of course you're all for this, Jess." Oh, so this wasn't about me. "You want to defend any guy so that it seems like all guys suck and Josh isn't so bad." Okay, now Darlene was being harsh.

"You have got to be kidding me," Jessica said, rolling her eyes and lifting herself up from her beach chair. "You know, I haven't made up my mind about Josh yet, but if I choose to date him again, I'd hope, as my best friends, you guys would support me." She grabbed her wallet out of her beach bag. "I'm going to get a pretzel." She shook her head as she walked toward the boardwalk.

"Do you really think that was the best way to handle that?" Anna asked Darlene once Jessica was out of earshot.

"It had to be said," Darlene insisted as she rolled her neck multiple times. "Are we really going to allow her to date him?"

"She said she hasn't decided yet," I quietly responded. I couldn't help but feel a little down that Darlene and Anna weren't more supportive of my relationship. I understood that they were trying to make a point with Jessica, but Justin was not Josh. Couldn't they have some optimism.

"Yeah, but she has decided," Darlene began. "It's the same story every time. Josh screws up and Jessica swears him off for several months, but once he demonstrates one shred of human decency, Jessica goes running back to him!"

Jessica returned a few minutes later, still huffing and puffing like the big, bad wolf. The rest of our beach trip was a bit tense, but nobody brought up the incident for the rest of the time we sat on the beach.

"I'm going to jump in the water for a few minutes," I said as I got up and stretched my limbs. The water was cold, but felt good. As I treaded ocean water, I began to think. I really hoped that these men, Justin and Josh, could prove these nay sayers wrong.