Short Story 1: Bonfire Fear
This is the first installment of a short story for the Margo series! I hope y'all enjoy!
Bonfire Fear
Dylan Sprouse reached out, ever so lightly touching Margos cheek. “I love you, Margo. I’ve been waiting so long to BARK BARK BARK”.
Margo’s eyes crept open as Koa continued to bark inches away from her face, disturbing her dream. She pulled her comforter over her face, dreading the thought of being back at the bar, plastering on a fake smile while sharing a wink with a man that was clearly twice her age just to increase her tips. She was disgusted with the thought. The comforter floating above her face didn’t block out the sunlight that was cascading through the attack window. Tossing back the orange comforter with a grunt, Margo stretched her legs off the side of her bed, planting her feet on the purple slatted flooring. Koa and Millie followed her to the dresser as she dug through the piles of clothes, hoping to find her god awful ugly t-shirt that she is required to call her uniform.
Noon rolled around faster than Margo anticipated. She eased off the break as her 1998 Honda Civic, gradually making it to the end of the slanted gravel driveway of her family's Oahu home. Ten minutes later, Margo pulled into the backlot of The Yellow Dolphin Bar and Grill. The heat swarmed the car when Margo shoved open the car door, dreading the next five hours to come. She threw her shoulder into the employee entrance, wedging it out of place which gave the smoke billowing out of the kitchen a chance to escape. Fifty years of salty air made most of the metal exterior rust, making it difficult for everything to open.
“Whoever that is, leave the door open!”, a man’s voice bellowed through the hallway. Margo plopped a brick in between the door and the frame, giving the smoke a few inches to exit the small building.
“What's going on here?” She tossed her Billabong backpack onto the counter and wrapped an apron around her waist, shoving a notepad and multiple pens into one of the many pockets.
Mario, the chef and manager at The Yellow Dolphin was a large, tall man with a buzz cut and arms full of tattoos. Anyone that wasn’t aware of Mario’s kind demeanor would be terrified the instant they laid their eyes on him.
“Trying a new burger recipe. How do you think it’s going?” Mario huffed as he straightened his back, wiping the grease from the old oven onto his 1969 Woodstock t-shirt. Margo giggled and threw her hair up into a bun, peeking her head outside of the door to check on her tables.
“Looks like you’ve got a few customers,” Mario trudged over and lightly nudged Margo in the side with his elbow. Leaning up against the door frame opposite of her, he let out a low laugh.
“That’s the Jasper kid, right? He’s been here with those same guys at the same time all week. They sure know how to make a mess”.
Mario tossed a wet rag, splatting against Margo’s tan arm. Margo rolled her eyes and left the kitchen, feeling the temperature drop drastically.
“What can I get you guys?” Without looking up, Margo slipped her pen and paper out of her apron. When she looked up, four out of the five boys were intently looking at their menu, making it very clear that they didn’t prepare for her arrival. All except for one. Jasper Smith had a smile plastered on his face while he stared at Margo.
“I’ll take the California burger with fries, a coke, and your number”.
The four other baseball players, all in uniform, began to laugh. Unlike the boys, Margo didn’t find this as funny. Ignoring the not so subtle pass, she took the rest of the orders without a word and made her way back to the kitchen. Before she was able to enter the kitchen, Jasper let out a whistle in her direction, making Margo’s stomach drop to the floor. The low whistle caused a flood of painful memories from the abyss of Margo’s brain to submerge to the surface. The thought of Jasper's hands on her hips, the taste of tequila on her lips, and the fear she felt that night. Suppressing the memory down, she swung open the kitchen door.
“Don’t make me go back,” she pleaded, slamming the five tickets in front of Mario.
“They’re pigs!” The cook held her pleading gaze before looking around and shouting, “Gus, go take care of table 19! Margos switching sections with you”.
The tires of her Honda rolled up the driveway to the two story white house, complete with a matching turquoise front door and garage door. Tye-Dye beach towels lightly flapped in the wind as they rested on the railing that wrapped around the front patio of the house. In the back, Margo could see her mom, Reva, picking oranges off one of their many fruit trees.
“Hey mom!” Margo shouted, making her way to the back. The noise got Koa and Mille’s attention, sending them into a frenzy of barks.
“How was work?” Reva gave Margo a side hug while balancing the basket of oranges on her other hip.
“It was fine. Where's the boys?” she replied, looking around the yard to see a sign of her dad, Jack, and two brothers, Ross and Holt.
“They went out surfing but Brooklyn’s going to help me make orange juice if you…”. Before her mom could finish her sentence, Margo bust out, “Without me?!” and ran into the backdoor of the house, the screen quickly slamming behind her. Margo bounded up the stairs two at a time to the attic and threw her backpack onto her bed. In less than two minutes, she was able to put on her yellow bikini, spray herself up and down with sunscreen, attach her board to the roof of her car, and peel down the street.
When Margo arrived at a secluded beach on the North Shore, she spotted Holt catching a perfect wave when suddenly, Ross drops in, cutting off Holt and causing him to lose balance as he teeters off his board. Holt broke through the surface of the water, yelling out at Ross as he continued through the barrel of the wave. “What the hell was that for?” throwing his hands up in the air. Margo laughed, fixing her leash to her ankle. When she looked up, Ross, Holt, and her dad were emerging from the water, laughing at the event that just occured. “Isn’t that your guy over there?” Ross snickered, nodding his head to the left. And there he was. Reef McCarthy. Margo wasn’t one to have many crushes. She primarily focused on surfing and school but there was just something about Reef that she couldn’t resist. She watched as he shook the salt water from his curly blonde hair, smiling at his friends as they circled around their pile of towels and bags, sipping on their cans of beer that Margo knew was cleverly hidden in a reusable water bottle. Margo felt her stomach drop, hoping he wouldn’t look over because if he dared to, she knew her brothers would make a complete fool of her. “No”, Margo snapped as she brought herself to her feet, dusting the sand off of her legs. Instead of acknowledging the gorgeous human to her left, Margo jogged out towards the water, ignoring the comments that Ross and Holt continued to make. She paddled out, eventually sitting upright on her board, waiting for the next wave to come in. Closing her eyes, Margo skimmed her hand across the surface of the water, feeling the pull of the current throughout her entire body. A splash of water on her back disturbed her from her zen state. “Atwater, right?”, a deep voice came from behind her. Margo twisted around, her hair wrapping around her neck as she did so. “That’s me. And you…”. A dimpled smile appeared behind her. “Oh! Hi!”, Margo’s cheeks began to burn with embarrassment. Reef smiled, “You come to this beach often? I feel like I haven’t seen you here before”.
“Um, yeah. My family comes to this beach almost daily”.
“Sweet. Anyways, my friends and I are having a bonfire at Waimea Bay at 10. You should come”. Reef pushed his hair out of his face, showing his deep blue eyes.
“That sounds great but-- ”. Before Margo could finish her sentence, Reef was already ten feet in front of her, paddling towards the next wave as it rolled beneath her.
“Green dress is a no,” Charlie Van Clamin said as she looked up from her phone, just long enough to judge Margo’s fifth outfit.
“What am I supposed to wear?” Margo flopped down face first onto her bed. “Iaegh cangr magjh adf fjdsaoid ougthdsafjdsa infdsahg ofds fead”.
Bethany and Charlie looked at eachother, puzzled looks on their faces. “Repeat,” laughed Bethany Lopez, rolling over Margo onto her side. She pushed herself up onto her elbow. “I said I can’t make a fool of myself in front of Reef. I didn’t even know he knew who I was. Will you guys please come?” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me? This is your night, and in my opinion, wear the white dress. Light makeup. Just mascara and lip gloss. His jaw will drop”.
Ten o’clock arrived sooner than expected and Margo felt her stomach turn in knots as she made her way out towards the car.
“Waimea Bay Beach… breathe”. Sliding her keys into the ignition, a warm breeze kissed her cheek through the window, slightly easing the tension in her shoulders.
Pulling up on the sand dusted tarmat, sweat dripped down Margo’s forehead, unsure of whether it was from the Hawaiian heat or the nerves. Shoving the door open with her tan forearm, Margo could hear a loud ‘hoot’ come from the west side of the beach with a flood of cheers followed. As Margo made her way to the beginning of the beach that stretched out into the pacific, she could see a small flicker of a fire. Trudging through the sand towards the light, faces began to lighten up revealing numbers of Margo’s classmates, those she knew well, and some that she's only seen in passing. Lolita, a cousin of Margo’s friend, Bethany, handed her a red solo cup that was full to the brim with beer. Unfond of the taste, Margo took a teeny sip as she and Lolita exchanged plans for the weekend.
“Margo?” shouted a cheerful voice a few feet behind her. Hoping it was Reef, Margo quickly ran her hand down the front of her dress, hoping to get rid of the wrinkles that appeared during the drive, and twirled around.
“Oh. Hey, Jasper”.
“I didn’t realize you were going to be here!” He struggled to keep his words from slurring together and he wobbled from one foot to the other.
“Yeah, Reef invited me. Have you seen him?” Margo scanned the crowd, attempting to avoid looking at Jasper. The scent of liquor wafted from his breath as Margo noticed the can of beer in his hand. Her heart began to race faster and Jasper took another step closer.
“I’ll just go look for him,” Margo blurted out louder than intended, her voice echoing across the ocean. As she turned to go, Jasper reached out, grabbing her wrist.
“Please let go of me,” Margo pleaded, trying to remain calm.
“I just want to talk to you.”
“I need to leave. Let go,” attempting to pull her arm back, beer sloshed out of her cup and covering the front of her sundress but Margo failed to notice. In between Margo’s tugs, Jasper pulled her in close, her body slamming against his.
“Stop!” Margo shouted. And with that, she heard the crowd of students quiet down and murmurs began to flood the silence. As if the beach had become quick sand at the sound of her scream, Margo was unable to move. The blood rushed from her face, causing movement to come back to her and with that, she ripped her arm from Jasper’s grasp and sprinted down the beach, tears flooding down her sunburned cheeks.
Once the sound of the party became a distant memory, Margo began to slow her pace. As an instinct, she began to step towards the water, hearing the break of the waves thunder towards her. The salt on her cheeks began to dry as the ocean lapped upon her toes, continuing to step farther into the water. The pounding of gravity taking the waves back to earth flooded her ears, causing Margo to not hear the beseeching voice calling from the sand. Once the cold Pacfic reached her waist, Margo dove into the water, letting the sea take all her embarrassment and fear from the previous events and washing it out to sea.
Before breaking the surface, a tug grabbed at Margo’s ankle, causing her to let out a round of bubbles as she flung her legs ferociously. Gasping for air, Margo paddled in place frantically while looking around for the ankle grabbing culprit. Splitting through the ocean, Reef gulped for oxygen
“What happened?” Reef shouted over the breaking waves.
“Did you follow me?”
“Just tell me what happened. I didn’t even know you were there till I heard you yell,” Reef questioned, lessening the space in between them as he continued to tread water.
Salt water dripped from Margo’s lips as she sputtered out the words. “It was Jasper. He wouldn’t let me go of me. I don’t want him to hunt me again.” The words lingered in the air. Reef looked down towards the water, slowly shaking his head. “I’ve never heard great things about him. How about I get you home? I got a feeling you don't want to go back to the bonfire?”
Margo let out a low laugh, feeling the tension lessen. “Yeah, not really”. The two began to paddle towards the shore, making sure she kept her distance from Reef’s consistent and strong paddles. Once their feet made connection with the sand, they trudged out of the water, which was a struggle because of their water soaked cloth. Putting his hand on her back, Reef directed Margo to the right, leading her to a parking lot outside of a local vegan restaurant.
Once in the old, rusted pickup truck, Reef reached over Margo to the backseat, grabbing a towel for her. Although he lacked the scent of cologne, Margo couldn’t help but inhale the smell of salt water and sunscreen drifting from his tan arms that passed near her face.
“Your house is on Clearwater Drive, right?” Reef questioned as he pulled out of the lot and onto the main road. Margo felt her heart skip a beat as she realized that he knew where she lived.
“Yeah,” the air was stuck in her throat, “how did you know that?”
Reef laughed at the question. “I’ve surfed with Holt and Ross before and brought them home. I did see you picking avocados in your front yard though when I dropped them off”. Margo felt her palms begin to sweat and embarrassment flooded her body. Why would she have assumed that it was for her?
The rest of the ride was silent, the only sound in the car was Jack Johnson’s voice singing Love Song #16.
Pulling the truck up the gravel driveway, Margo could see that the entire family was asleep. Peaking a look at the truck clock, it read 1:34 am.
“Thank you, Reef,” she quietly said, folding the damp beach towel as she did so. When looking up, Reef’s gorgeous white smile was facing her.
“Any time Awater. Maybe I’ll see you again soon?”
“Maybe”. And with that, Margo hopped out of the truck, slamming the door behind her. Butterflies flooded her stomach. Once in her bedroom, she jumped face first onto the bed, feeling all the emotions from the night melt into the sheets. Does she confront Jasper? How does Reef feel about her? Sleep overwhelmed her body and she fell into a land of dreams.