Mark stepped hard on the accelerator and the Accord moved up until it was neck and neck with the Mazda. Sure enough, the driver and two passengers were all teenage girls. Bill waved, and the girl in the rear driver’s-side seat waved back with a smile. She had long brown hair and judging from the waving arm was on the skinny side.
The driver was blonde and gorgeous in profile. She kept her eyes firmly on the road in a way that said “Yes, I know there are boys to my left, so I’m going to ignore them. So there.” The front passenger was hidden from view.
“My friends,” said Mark, “These girls are headed to the same place as us.”
“Mark,” said Ryan, “We still have a couple more exits and even then we are heading to an island of three different towns and a city. What makes you so sure we’ll ever see them again?”
Mark sat back and smirked. “When you know, you know. Those ladies are ours.”
“Works for me,” said Bill. Theo doubted Mark’s prophecy, but thought it would be interesting to see how far they travelled the same route as the girls.
The green sign for Exit 2 (Atlantic City via Black Horse Pike) approached and Mark turned on his signal to shift lanes. Theo was not surprised to see the Mazda, now a few car lengths ahead of them, do the same. After rounding the exit ramp, the car came out on Route 322. From there, it was just a mile or so to West End Avenue. West End was a brief trip past the wetlands and bay of Ventnor Heights. As a child, Theo had passed these sights many times. His mother used to encourage the kids to sing “Down by the Bay” each time they drove by. Theo and his two older sisters had always obliged.
Ventnor Heights was home to a small shopping center that stood three quarters abandoned. The economy had taken its toll, but things had rarely ever been good here. Businesses couldn’t survive when most of the action only happened three months out of the year. Atlantic City and its suburbs were supposed to have been rejuvenated years ago by the Casino industry, but instead the big corporations got richer and the city became more depressed.
The Accord crossed the bridge to the Ventnor mainland and soon pulled up next to the Sea Sons Motel. Theo thought the play-on-words was ridiculous. The motel took its blue and white color scheme to an extreme, though some of the blue was wearing away and in need of a fresh paint job. The town’s battle with the infamous Hurricane Sandy probably hadn’t helped maintain the buildings.
The guys took their bags from the car and entered the small lobby. The manager, an older Hispanic man with greying hair and a small scar on his cheek fixed his gaze on them and frowned. He continued to stare as they approached as if to say, “Oh yes, I’ve seen your kind before. I know what kind of mischief teenage boys are all about.”
Mark stepped forward. “Top of the morning, good sir! My colleagues and I request your finest room.”
The manager scowled but said nothing, shifting his glance to the computer monitor on the desk. He found a room and took Bill’s credit card. The others would split the charge at the end of the trip. And so, Theo thought, the ritual of the motel check-in is complete. He wondered how many strangers the manager had seen pass through the lobby doors. Families seeking easy access to the beach, co-ed groups of teens seeking easy access to each other. This made him think of the girls in the Mazda. They should have been here by now, if they were actually staying at the Sea Sons. Clearly Mark’s intuition was off, not that that came as a surprise.
Their room was on the second floor on the far side of the building. It faced the street but the ocean wasn’t far away. The second floor walkway wrapped around the whole building. Theo had once been visiting his grandparents and had seen kids jumping off the top of the motel into the pool. Someone called the police and the nonsense was resolved. Theo always enjoyed seeing obnoxious people get their comeuppance.
Bill slipped the key card into the scanner, saw the light turn green and opened the door. They entered a small living room with a sofa bed along one wall. A small television sat on a shelf, and a comfy red chair (just a shade darker than the red of the sofa) nestled in the opposite corner. A small hallway led to a back bedroom with two twin beds.
The group quarreled briefly over sleeping arrangements before agreeing on a rotation that forced each boy to have to share the sofa bed at least once. Ryan grabbed the remote from on top of the television and pressed the power button while he walked backwards toward the chair. The television, a thick, old-fashioned model, came on and he flipped through the channels.
Ryan paused on CNN, which at the moment featured Anderson Cooper interviewing a seismologist about some suspicious tremors somewhere in Iowa. “So you’re saying the American people don’t have any reason to be concerned?” Cooper asked.
The scientist, wearing thick spectacles beneath his greasy hair, stared into the camera. “I’m saying that we have no evidence to suggest that anything significant is happening. What we have seen are a few minor incidences that barely register on the scale.”
Bill reached over and grabbed the remote from Ryan. He turned the television off. “Enough of that crap. Let’s get changed and hit the beach while the sun is still good.”
The four teenagers, now dressed in swim trunks and flip-flops, walked down to ground level and crossed over the boardwalk onto the sand. The beach was crowded and Theo had to carefully avoid a minefield of sand castles and kid toys as he ran to the ocean’s edge.
Theo sat down on the wet, hard-packed sand and allowed the waves to lap around him. He looked out into the great expanse in front of him. Off to the side, the Pier Mall was visible even here, miles away from Atlantic City. Beyond that, nothing. Theo loved that about the ocean. Sure, he knew that Europe or Africa or whatever was somewhere on the other end of that vastness, but for all intents and purposes, this was the edge of all things. There was a strange peace in that thought.
“You know, you might want to look around you and check out the girls instead of the fish.” Bill spoke from behind Theo. He wore a sleeveless shirt, though he was the only one of the four with a defined six-pack.
“Hey man,” Theo said, “If you want to go and be a creeper that’s fine but I’m good right where I am.”
“Alright bro. You and Ry can do your thing. More for Mark and me.”
They stayed on the beach for three hours. Bill and Mark spoke to every girl they could find and Theo eventually joined them in tossing a Frisbee. Exhausted, they made their way back to the motel to shower and change for the night.
At 6 PM, they piled back into Mark’s car for the half hour drive to Ocean City. They settled on one of the numerous pizza parlors for dinner, choosing one by the entrance to the boardwalk. Walking up the wooden ramp, Theo was swept up in the atmosphere. The boards were packed with people, mainly teens of both genders. Theo felt his eyes drawn from one girl to the next. The bright lights of the signs above the shops hypnotized him.
The pizza parlor was different from the usual hangout at home. With its doors wide open, the oceanfront shop filled with the scents and sounds of the boardwalk. The guys ordered a giant pepperoni. Mark wanted to discuss the plans for the evening. Bill had his heart set on going to the Surf Mall, a collection of shops selling t-shirts, collectibles and other, unusual items. Ryan and Mark insisted on hitting up at least one arcade. Theo didn’t really care where they went. He was enjoying himself and drinking in the experience.