bittersweet ➺ benny rodriguez

8. Sunscreen

C H A P T E R 8
— Sunscreen
•°. *࿐

June 17, 1964

E l a r a

The sun was fresh and burning on this particular day. It was a hot morning at Vincent's, we were too tired, too hot to even stand so we were all scattered around.

Some sat on the pavement, others pressed up against the cool glass of the store and waving at people whenever they'd look at them funny.

I sat in between Bertram and Yeah-Yeah on the curb, Ethan and Scotty on their other sides.

"It's so hot.." Bertram sighs tiredly, nearly drooping his head onto my shoulder.

"Yeah, even my ass is sweating" Ethan wipes at his forehead.

"What a lovely thing to hear in my last moments of life" I fan myself.

Ham came rushing over suddenly, scrambling to get a seat, "I can't.. do this!"

He didn't even ask to make space, just then squeezes himself in between Ethan and Bertram, squishing us all on the small curb.

As we wiggled around on the concrete, Kenny came out of Vincent's, thankfully carrying a case of chilled sodas.

Immediately the boys scurried to get one, chugging theirs bottles down helplessly.

"You guys remember when Wendy Peffercorn threw Squints out of the pool?" Bertram speaks out loud as he lowers his soda.

That sends the boys into a laughter while I raise my eyebrows curiously.

"What'd he just say?" Ethan gasps as he finishes drinking his soda, "I'm hearing ringing in my ears, it's so hot!"

"Who's Wendy Peffercorn?" I ask.

"No one" Squints grumbles, crossing his arms.

"His girlfriend" Kenny teases, leaning against a street pole.

"He wishes!" Bertram laughs.

I can't help my smile at the thought of Squints actually liking a girl.

"The summer I first moved here we went to the local pool on a day like today" Scotty looks to me,  beginning to explain, "Squints has the biggest crush on the lifeguard there and he got so fed up he pretended to drown so he could kiss her"

I gasp while Ethan almost spits his soda out from laughing.

"That's hilarious!" He slaps his knee.

"Hey that's it!" I sit up swiftly at the idea that popped into my head, "We could go to the pool!"

"No, we can't" Ham shakes his head at me.

"Yeah yeah, the lifeguard Barbie banned us from that place" Yeah-Yeah rolls his eyes.

"So?" Ethan snorts, motioning to both him and I, "That's never stopped us?"