The Trap

As soon as the back doors opened, Veronica, Lilly, and Courtney raced out to the rocky sand and quickly pulled off their shorts, tossing them on the ground, running into the cold water. I laughed at their freedom and excitement. I made my way onto the lakeside dodging other people lounging on beach towels and young children building sand castles.There was a familiar little redhead but I couldn’t put a name to her face. “Margaret!” someone called, and I looked around the crowded beach and saw yet another familiar redhead. I grinned.

I made my way over to her as quick as I could. She smiled back from under a large hat. “Shelly! It’s so good to see you! We haven’t seen each other in ages!” My mother had worked with Shelly for as long as we had lived in Massachusetts. Shelley and her kids used to come over all of the time to hang out when she got divorced to her husband. She stood up to greet me, pulling me into a squeezing hug. I laughed, but it sounded like a cough.

“So is your mother here?” Shelly asked with a thick Boston accent. I shook my head. Shelly smiled even more. “Is she with Jeff somewhere?” I nodded. “That’s wonderful. So, what brings you here?”

“I brought Veronica and her friends here to have fun.” Shelly nodded knowingly. “I was thinking about doing some reading. Do you think you–”

“Of course I’ll keep an eye on them! Those dolls! They are too adorable!” Shelly pulled her long red locks behind her ear. “Why don’t you lay your towel out here? We need to catch up a bit.” I nodded, not dropping my smile at all.

I laid my towel out on the rocky sand, feeling some of the bigger rocks push into my back. Shelly asked the first question. “So, are you and Blake together?” The question surprised me and I was shocked into silence, but my blush gave Shelly the wrong idea. “I thought so. You were so cute together.” I felt my cheeks heat up even more. Shelley just kept looking at her tabloid magazine. I started to read my book, not even noticing how tired I was. Soon, I fell asleep.

It felt as if seconds passed and Shelly was shaking me awake. “Huh? What?” I asked fully awake now.

“It’s the girls. You told them they could go with their other friend on her boat but they just came back and are gone!” I tried to remember when I gave them permission to do anything, but I couldn’t. It probably happened when I was just drifting off into sleep. Crap.