Ross

Sessile. Adjective. [ses-il]. Permanently attached; not free to move about.

One of my favorite things about summer is the beach bonfires. Almost every night, a group of lifeguards and islanders gather on the beach for a roaring bonfire, accompanied by hot dogs and s'mores. It seems kind of ridiculous that after spending the entire day on the beach we would want to come back here at night, but no matter how tired I am of the island, I will always love the ocean. In the evening, the temperature drops and the reflection of the moon glitters across the dark waters. If we're lucky, we can even catch a glimpse of the stars.

"Rossy, is Javier gonna be at the bonfire tonight?" Ivy asks from beside me, tugging on my hand as the four of us make our way to the beach.

I raise my eyebrows and laugh. "Javier? Yeah, probably. Why?"

"Oh, no reason."

I laugh as we make our way to the edge of the dunes, the bonfire glowing against the black night. My muscles are sore from rescuing that girl in the ocean yesterday and from hours spent in the lifeguard chair, but I feel all of my stress fade away when my feet touch the sand. As soon as Mason sees the fire, he sprints toward it, yelling like a banshee. I should probably be concerned that he'll try to run through the fire or go for a swim, but I know someone will stop him. The islanders and lifeguards are a family, and we watch out for each other. Plus, everyone knows my family's story and they try to look out for the Montgomery kids when they can.

Ivy stays beside me and starts to chatter about something related to her American Girl doll, and Sammy bends down to look in the sand for a "complex organism he desires to examine." Some days I feel like I live with Bill Nye the Science Guy.

A dark shadow turns in front of the fire. "Montgomery! It's about time."

Javier lopes toward us, his white smile the only thing visible in the dark. Even though Javier, Earnest, and I all work as lifeguards, since we've been here for a while, our boss spreads us out along the beach. We don't see each other very often during the days except for brief conversations during ATV patrols of the beach.

"Hey, Javi," I say, clasping hands with him.

He kneels down in front of Ivy and gives her a smile. "Hey, my favorite girl's finally here! How are you, Ivy?"

She ducks her head and grins at him, tugging on a blond wave. "Hi, Javi."

He clutches his chest. "What, no hug for me?"

That brings the end of Ivy's momentary lapse of timidity; she jumps towards him and nearly knocks him back into the sand. Javier laughs, picking her up and carrying her to the fire as I follow him, hollering for Sammy to come with us.

Javier carries Ivy to where Earnest sits in the sand, his cellphone in hand. "Hey, Ernie," I say as Javier, Ivy, Sammy and I have a seat. Mason is running around the beach terrorizing seagulls; I let him be. At least he's not terrorizing babies and toddlers like last year. "Who you texting?"
"Who do you think?" Javier interjects.

"Lucy's not here yet?" I ask, scanning the crowd for Lucy's shoulder length black hair and constant smile.

"Nah, she's on her way. Had to work late at the pizza shop."

My stomach grumbles when I think about the Covingtons' pizza. It's by far the best pizza on the island, and the Covingtons are some of my favorite islanders. I'm going to have to drop by soon.

"So Ross, I hear you have a story for us," Javier taunts in a singsong voice.

"Oh yeah, didn't you have to rescue some girl yesterday?" Earnest says, setting down his phone.

As if I want to relive that. "Yeah, it was no big deal."

"Of course it was!" Javier says, slugging me in the arm as I sit in the sand, leaning back on my hands.

I touch Ivy's shoulder. "Ivy, why don't you go play with Jemma?"

Jemma, one of the Islander girls, has a few Barbies out on the sand and Ivy happily runs over to join her. Sammy has whipped a science magazine out of nowhere and is completely immersed in it, and Mrs. Sanchez gives Mason a s'more. That'll make for a fun sugar high here in a few minutes.

"So? What happened?"

"There's not much to tell. I was running on the beach around six or six thirty and I saw something out in the water, past the breakers. I thought it was a piece of trash, a plastic bag or something, but it was a girl."

Javier leans forward, resting his arms on his knees. "By girl, do you mean she was our age or Ivy's age?"

I close my eyes briefly, picturing the girl's round green eyes and slender figure. "Our age."

"Was she hot?"

Earnest glares at Javier. "Go on, Ross."

"She was trying to swim straight toward the shore through a riptide and it was pulling her under. There wasn't anyone else on the beach, so I had to go after her myself."

"Zero to hero," Earnest comments.

"It sucked, actually," I say with a low laugh. "She kept fighting me and I had to haul her back to shore. I thought we were both going to pass out by the time we finally made it to the beach."

"Let me guess. After you gave her mouth to mouth, she thanked you profusely for being her knight in shining armor and pledged to love you till the day she dies."

I roll my eyes. I picture her batting her sea glass eyes at me and saying those exact words. My knight in shining armor. Except the words were dripping with sarcasm.

"Not quite. She got mad at me and stormed away."

Ernie glances up from his cell phone. "She got mad? Why? You saved her life?"

I sigh. This girl is still under my skin, and I don't even know her name. "I have no idea. I would have left her there if I'd realized she would be so much trouble."

Javier lays back on the sand, staring up at the sky. "You still didn't answer the most important question. Was she hot?"

An image of the girl comes to my mind, standing in front of me with her round, flashing eyes, angry scowl, long legs. "Yeah," I answer. "She was hot."

Javier hoots and slaps me on the leg, but I just grin. There's not much else to say. The girl was annoying even if she was hot, and besides, she's probably a tourist who'll be gone in a few days anyways. At least it makes for a good story.

A shadow swoops in from behind us and wraps its arms around Earnest. "Hey, guys!" Lucy chirps, smiling at Javier and me as she sits next to Earnest, their legs entwining in the sand.

"Hey, Lucy Liu. It's about time you got here," Javier quips. "Ernie's barely looked up from his phone waiting for you."

She sighs and snuggles up to Earnest like they're an old married couple. "A Pizza the Action was crazy today, like it always is on Saturdays. I couldn't leave until now."

I glance down at my watch--it's already after ten. I'm going to need to take the kids back and put them to bed soon. So much for a fun night with friends.

"How was work?" Earnest asks, staring at her like she's an oasis in the desert.

"Oh, not bad," Lucy says, brushing her smooth hair behind her ear. "We have extra help this summer. This girl, I guess her parents knew mine way back before they adopted me, is staying with us for the summer. She dropped out of Cornell or something so her parents sent her here."

"To work at a pizza shop?" I question. I like pizza and all, but that doesn't sound like the ideal summer job for a girl who's smart enough to go to Cornell.

"She gets to live with us for free if she works at the shops."

Javier with his one track mind asks, "So is she hot?"

Lucy wrinkles her small nose. "Javi, come on. She's...nice, I guess."

I raise my eyebrows and laugh. Lucy never says a bad word about anyone. "She must be really awful."

"She's not so bad. She just...well, she doesn't want to be here. Last night I heard her trying to convince her parents to let her visit them. I guess they haven't seen each other since Christmas."

I should probably count my blessings. For better or worse, I have Dad to deal with every day. I wonder if I would miss him if I took the global internship, but I know better. I would feel free without him dragging me down with his carelessness and irresponsibility.

"Where are her parents from?" Earnest asks.

"Well, I'm not really sure. They lived here for a while, but now they're in Dubai."

Dubai. I search the map I've memorized from hours of imagining where I would go if I could. Dubai's in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, a beautiful country with stunning landscape and magnificent architecture. If I had the chance, I'd rather be in Dubai too.

Javier whistles. "They must have some money."

Again, Lucy shrugs. "I don't know. I guess her dad's some big shot in the Army or something. They've lived a bunch of places."

I feel a sting of jealousy for a girl I've never even met. This hunger inside me to travel and see the world is so ravenous that it's swallowing my enjoyment of the summer and time with friends and family entirely. These summer nights used to be vibrant and fun, but they've become lackluster in comparison to where I could be. In a couple months, if I choose to take the internship.

Mason wanders over to me, chocolate smeared across his freckled face and eyes half-closed. I sigh and stand, picking him up.

"I guess that's my cue." I wave goodbye to Javier, Earnest, and Lucy and find Ivy still playing with Barbies in the sand. "See you guys later."

I take Ivy's hand and call Sammy, and we trudge home in the dark of night. My mind is lost imagining what the girl at the Covingtons' has experienced. What countries has she visited? What landmarks and museums has she seen? What kind of people has she met? Does she know different languages?

"Rossy?" Ivy calls next to me and I subjugate my dreams of escape. The kids need me, and that's why I have to stay.

"What's up, Ivy?"

"I've reached a decision," she says. "I'm going to marry Javier."

Before I can stop myself, I break out laughing. "Oh, are you now?"

"Yes. I've decided. We're going to get married next summer and have three children."

She's way too young for the birds and the bees talk. "Well, you'll have to talk to Javier about that."

"He told me I was his favorite girl."

I laugh and tug Ivy to keep up with me. She's half asleep as she walks, sandaled feet dragging on the sidewalk. When we get home, Mason is asleep on my shoulder, drool dripping from his mouth onto my t-shirt, and Ivy is only half awake as well. When I find Dad asleep on the couch, I sigh and take the kids upstairs. Sammy puts himself to bed while I help Ivy and Mason change and tuck them in.

After they're asleep, I go downstairs and clean up after Dad. There are a handful of empty beer cans on the floor next to the couch and the TV still plays Wheel of Fortune. I throw the trash away, turn off the TV, and stare at Dad for a minute. How could I leave the kids here with him? He's barely capable of taking care of himself and it's a miracle he has a job. I'm going to be stuck here until Mason, the youngest of the three kids, is out of high school. Plus, how am I supposed to give them better lives than I had if I don't save up to help them pay for college?
My head starts to ache and I climb into bed, hoping sleep will take away this discontent that aches in my bones. As I lean back onto the same twin-sized bed I've slept in for the past 24 years, my feet dangling over the end, I stare up at the ceiling.

When I was eight, I glued a map of the entire world to the ceiling. I decided that every time I went somewhere, I would mark it with a pushpin so I could keep track of the thousands of places I visited. I'd read Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. I kept imagining all these adventures i would have and places I would see. But all my dreams were for nothing.

The map is still empty. 

~~~~~

Guys! "Washed Up" ranked in short story today! Thanks so much for the support :) If you're enjoying the story, please comment and let me know what you think. I'm pretty sure Riley and Ross are destined to cross paths again soon :)

~ Hannah