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Making good on her promise to stay out of my way, I hadn’t run into Ellery and it was for the best. She had her life and I had mine, and that was the way it had to be. But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what happened between us the night of the party. I did, more than I should have.
It felt good to hold her again and whenever I thought about that kiss we shared, it brought back a ton of memories with it. But knowing how dangerous memories could be, I pushed them aside. I couldn’t live in the past. Not with the future I’d alwayswanted within reach. If the past few days had reminded me of anything, it was that I needed to focus on that. No more bullshit like throwing my fist into walls or kicking in doors.
“Well fuck,” Cal says as he scans the beach. “Looks like we picked the wrong day for this.”
After getting haircuts in town, we decided to spend the rest of the day on the beach. But judging by the sea of umbrellas and coolers, it appears everyone else had the same idea.
I knew it would be packed. Weekends usually are. But this was unbearable.
“Come on,” I jerk my head. “I know a place.”
“Alright brother.” Cal removes his shades from where they’re hanging on the neck of his T-shirt and slips them on. “You lead, we follow.”
He carries a cooler in one hand, and a chair in the other, while Jake carries his chair and mine, and Marcus his own. I have a backpack slung over my shoulder, filled with water, sun block, and snacks.
Thankfully, I didn’t damage my hand that morning when I punched the wall but the guys wouldn’t let me carry anything heavy. “Just in case,” Cal said earlier when we loaded up to leave. “Can’t risk a second championship because you want to be He-Man.”
I start my way down the beach, and when I see the foot trail that veers off the sand just past the old pier, I take it. “We’re going this way but watch your step.”
We weave our way through the grass and sand, and when the dunes disappear and large gray rock formations jut out of the ground, I come to a stop.
Jake looks around me and when he sees the mouth of a cave in front of us, pulls back and lifts his brow. “This better not be some Lost Boys shit, Cabron.”
“Man…” I roll my eyes and look over at Cal and Marcus. “Areyou two good?”
“Yup,” Marcus confirms. “We’re right behind you.”
I turn back around and start toward the mouth of the cave. After passing through, we find ourselves in a cavernous space. I stop so they can take it in.
“Oh man,” Jake pushes his glass up onto his head, “now this is cool.”
Light seeps in from a crack overhead, illuminating decades old graffiti scrawled across the rock walls, and fire pits with burnt logs pepper the space, along with bottles, cups, and bags, remnants of parties past.
“If this is where all the vampires hole up,” Cal grins, “does that mean Jami Gertz is around here somewhere?”
“In your dreams,” Marcus laughs
The two trade insults and I lift my chin toward the other side of the cave. “We’re headed that way.”
“We’re not staying here?” Jake asks, disappointed.
“No,” I shake my head. “This is a great spot at night, but where we’re headed is on the other side.”
I make my way across the cave, following the smooth path that had been worn over time, and when I see a crack in the wall on the other side, I make my way over to it.
Flattening my back against the rock, I shimmy through, and indicate for the guys to do the same. They do, holding the chairs and coolers out in front and back of them to squeeze through, and when we step out from the darkness and into the light, they see why I brought them here.
“Now this,” Jake nods in approval, “is righteous.”
Cherry Cove—the town’s real namesake, not the beach and boardwalk where we’d been spending most of our time—stretches out before us. A half crescent with calm water and white sand, with small tide pools off to one side, and a thick grove of gnarly oak trees on the other.
It was one of the last places in the area the locals still felt they owned, and the last stretch of land that hadn’t been bastardized by buildings and storefronts that catered to tourists.
Here, a line of sorts had been drawn. None of the Elmhurst folks came to this cove, and in turn, the locals stayed off the beach that belonged to the club close to the boardwalk.
My first summer here, one of the locals I’d partied with a few times had shown it to me and gave me an honorary pass. ‘You’re not one of them,’ he’d said, ‘so use it in good health.’ And I had.
That summer I partied with them here a lot and the summer before Highland, when Ellery and I were together, she and I came here often. In fact, it was here we had sex for the first time, and standing here again now, I couldn’t help but think back to that night.
