Page 23 of The Sun
“Come on, Elias. She’s hot,” Judah shouted. The girl giggled. I didn’t even turn to look at her. I couldn’t have cared less what she looked like. All I could think about was how close I was to Sunny and couldn’t see her.
“Yeah,Elias.” She grabbed my arm, and I snatched it away.
“It’s all right. My brothers’ll keep you company.” I hopped over one of the faded yellow parking blocks.
She mumbled, “Whatever,” beneath her breath.
I couldn’t stand girls like that—normal girls who were all giggly and fake and desperate for attention.
I walked a mile down Beach Front Road with no particular place to go, and somehow, I ended up standing in front of First Baptist of Fort Morgan’s sign, staring at the metal letters with that week’s message:Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10.
I was halfway through the parking lot when the door to the chapel opened, and a tall, slender man stepped out, followed by a rail-thin guy that looked to be about my age. Adults don’t age the way kids do, they just end up looking like an older, more tired version of themselves which is why I knew the man who had just walked out the door was Pastor Fulmer, and I was able to figure out that the kid was Daisy’s brother Bobby.
The pastor glanced in my direction and smiled. “Hi there.”
“Hey.”
He slowed his pace as he approached the lone Buick in the parking lot. I noticed the way his gaze swept over me, assessing what kind of person I was.
Jeans. Band T-shirt. My first tattoo of a tribal sun—in honor of Sunny— on my forearm, the ink only a month old. I bet he was banking on me being a possible vandal.
“Can I help you?” he asked, stopping halfway between the church and his car.
“Nah, just cutting through.” I headed across the lawn and overhead him ask Bobby if he wanted a ride down to the waterfront carnival to meet Daisy.
Maybe, I thought, just maybe that’s where Sunny was.
It tookme half an hour to walk to that damn carnival, creatively named, Carnival Beach. There were only about ten rides—the Tilt-A-Whirl, the swings, The Scrambler, and some kiddie crap—but it had been there for as long as I could remember. By the time I had slipped through the gate, my shirt stuck to my sweaty back, and the sky had gone from a bright orange to a purplish-blue as the last remnants of the sunset dipped below the horizon.
Britney Spears “Oops, I Did It Again” blared from The Scrambler, the screams of the thrill-seekers fading in and out as the ride spun in a wide circle; and Kids with cotton candy-covered mouths ran wild around the merry-go-round.
I shouldered my way through the crowd, inhaling the fried, sugary smell of funnel cakes as I walked toward the picnic tables. Bobby sat on one of the wooden benches with his arm around a redhead wearing a midriff that would have given Pastor Fulmer a coronary. When Bobby leaned down to wrap his arms around her waist, I caught sight of Sunny sitting alone on a bench. She stared down at her lap, looking just as sad as I felt.
A girl with brown hair pulled into a ponytail came bouncing over to her who I assumed was Daisy, and I started toward them, my pulse going haywire. If Sunny’s dad was hell-bent on keeping us apart, that was fine, but I was going to kiss her lips and tell her I loved her in person one more time before I let her go. Part of me believed that was all it would take to convince her we were worth waiting on, and that in a few years’ time, it would be worth having pissed off her dad.
After all, love was the noblest of causes.
A group of touchy-feely couples walked in front of me, blocking my view and stopping me dead in my tracks. When they finally moved out of my way, a blond guy had sat next to Sunny on the bench, his arm draped around her shoulders, and he snuggled way too close. My heart faltered. I gritted my teeth. And then the asshole leaned over and pressed his mouth to the lips of the girl who owned my heart. More people shuffled in front of me, obstructing my view. They laughed, completely unaware of the arrow that had just been shot through my chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
That’s all I heard, my vision pulsing right along with my heart. I wanted to walk right over to Sunny, let her know she hadn’t gotten one over on me, but then. . . I didn’t see the point. Take the higher road, I thought and turned around, my chest aching while I told myself I should have known better, that I wasn’t good enough.
The colorful carnival lights strung overhead blurred together, and each stride I took grew more determined, harder, angrier until I elbowed my way through the fairgrounds, not caring when I nearly knocked some guy to the ground.
Sunny broke up with me because she wanted to. Because she had found someone else. And while I should have expected that—because that’s what people do, let you down and leave you—I never expected it from her.
Just like that, I gave up.
On her.
On me.
On ever being someone that would matter to anyone, and I made a promise to myself. From then on, it was, to hell with everyone else.
7
Sunny
