Angie

By R. A. Rios

2019 Re-Release

Robert after suffering a week of regrets after spring break walks along a long and secluded beach where he meets an elderly women named Angie. Seeing Roberts personal distress Angie begins to tell him a story! This is a story of young love and personal prejudices during the 1950's and 1960's. this is an interactive book giving the reader a whole new perspective when reading short stories.
When Angie the daughter of a Latin family meets Frank a young man from China sparks begin to fly as family conflict forces Angie to lie and go behind her parents back in order to cultivate their romance. As you join us on this real life experience you will find yourself rooting for Angie and Frank.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. A. Rios
• Release date: Sep 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301585861

R. A. Rios

R. A. Rios was born in the state of Colorado. His ancestral roots vary from Spain and France to Early America. R. A. Rios grew up in and around Colorado and California from the hustle of the big city in Denver to the farming community in Pueblo then to various cities in and around California.A prolific story teller from early on, his characters have blossomed as they now leap off the pages through written words.While testing the waters of different trades his zeal has always been and always will be the characters in his dreams.Through his travels from The Bronx of New York City to Colorado then to the West Coast and the experience's he encountered only adds to the enjoyment to his stories.Growing up across America Robert was strongly influenced as a story teller by what he saw and experienced. He often has made up elaborate stories and characters from life's experience's.As a boy he was moved around a lot from the City life in New York City to living on the farms in Colorado.All this helped him to develop his ability as a story teller.After a near death experience in 2010 Robert started to write down some of his stories.It has been said regarding his work, that his style is unique but then again we are all unique in our own way.

Book preview

ANGIE

By

R.A. Rios

Copyright © 2012 by R.A. Rios

All Rights Reserved.

2021 Revision

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Are You Alone

Chapter 2 Our Story Begins

Chapter 3 I would Love to Work there

Chapter 4 Life in a Whole Different Direction

Chapter 5 A Celebration

Chapter 6 Are You Crazy

Chapter 7 Tropicana Club

Chapter 8 Falling In Love

Chapter 9 What Are You Becoming

Chapter 10 Lake Side Park

Chapter 11 Break It Off

Chapter 12 We Formulate a Plan

Chapter 13 The Dance Contest

Chapter 14 I Was Wrong About You

Synopsis

Chapter 1

Are You Alone

So you figure, that you’re finally ready to leave the nest! You tell yourself, that you’re finally all grown up and want to be your own human being! Well I too had formulated hopes such as this about college life, long before leaving home. It is funny how we all want to go to college expecting too become someone new. Too be transformed as it is, to start over and make new friends. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?

I, for myself, had really high expectation maybe even unrealistic expectations, this was due impart to all the stories that I had heard. As the days draw closer I grew more anxious, the anticipation of living far away from home for the very first time in my life was killing me! Yes I choose to go to school as far away from home as anyone would take me.

All the Movies and TV shows falsely lead me to believe that college life would be one huge Toga party after another, just about every single day of the week, like that classic movie ‘Animal House!’ And I dreamt that all my classes would be conducted by professors that were really down to earth like the one in ‘Legally Blonde.’ You know what I mean? I’m talking about the kind of instructors who really understands you and gets what you’re all about. Yeah and to top it all off, were we not lead to believe that the classes would be real easy and let’s not forget about all the instant lifelong friends as in ‘Pitch Perfect!’

Unfortunately to my dismay, college life was not all what it was cracked up to be. Don’t get me wrong some of the things that you expect to do, actually do come true but most of the stuff you experience your first year, you’ll never see coming.

It's supposed to be a festival of fun, filled with new friends and parties, where you can sit and enjoy a cappella on the quad. Or join a multitude of interesting and worthwhile clubs. But between battling everything from homesickness to anxiety and depression it is anything but a party.

My Dad warned me not to get my hopes up to high, but to take it as it came. Looking back I had just started college in the fall and with each passing day my stress levels grew more and more, I found myself thinking…that this was nothing like high school. Unrealistic or unrealized expectations and perceptions, that’s how I would have to sum up my first six months of college!

The fear of falling behind or even failing was oh too real. This was a real test of my adulthood, my ability to stand on my own two feet. So why was I constantly being kicked to my knees? It was soon after getting here that I began to get homesick and then there were those many restless nights that I was unable to sleep.

On top of that, my new roomy and I did not always see eye to eye and forget privacy. And the classes were not entertaining or even somewhat mind-shattering as I had imagined. The fact of the matter was…most of my class room lectures by my professors were really boring and perfunctory with lots and lots of homework. And on top of all that, many of my so called professors were all but friendly.

Yes nothing was as I had dreamt it would be. All too often there was many a day that I asked myself, what am I doing here? Soon after returning from winter break it was almost like starting all over again, spending most of my time, day and night in the library…all alone.

Where were all of the good memories that I was so sure that I would acquire, I asked myself? Instead I found it harder to fit in and the classes seemed much more stressful. Because of this I was really looking forward to Spring Break. My Dad encouraged me to go with my friends and relax; he said to enjoy myself before getting back to the grind!

My roommate had invited me to join him for spring break in Florida. He told me about all the partying until dawn every night with no one to hold you back. And his description of all the beautiful co-eds that would be fawning all over me…hand over foot really got my attention. The sky is the limit, he said with no remorse.

Well that’s all I could think about those last few weeks of school before Spring Break! As I poured myself over all the travel and motel brochures I began to imagine the awesome resort where I would stay.

Yes I imagined a beautiful exotic motel right on the beach surrounded by tropical gardens and an outstanding pool with gorgeous co-eds clad in skimpy bikinis’!"

I dreamt of making lifelong friends with new people from all over the country as I enjoyed totally new experiences such as water skiing and snorkeling.

Yes, this was to be my very first Spring Break as a freshman in college…and I looked forward to making lasting memories. My roommate and I, along with a few of his friends decided to rent the room together for the week so we could save money. But the reality fell way short as the brochure was really misleading, in fact…the off the wall motel shown on the brochure turned out to be a dive. It was actually situated way back on the eastside of town far, far away from the beach. The pool was bone dry as they black tarred the cracks, oh yes there were a few potted plastic plants in the lobby.

The beaches were definitely full of drop dead gorgeous co-eds, but I was too introverted to even approach one girl.

My only friend by this time was this bottomless bottle of liquor and the trouble it got me into was insane. I woke up one morning in jail for making a false report and disturbing the peace as well as public nudity. Sad to say I could not remember anything about that previous day or night.

And forget the new experiences, I put myself out there on my second night in town, in fact I even crashed a party and helped myself to a batch of brownies and a whole bottle of liquor. I woke up the next morning on the beach with a hideous tattoo sprawled across my back.

Then there were a couple of days and nights that I have no recollection of at all!

So after a week of making memories of what I would have to call unrestrained debauchery and mayhem, I really do have to admit…I was so ashamed of myself.

When I woke early on my last day in paradise, I cringed at the thought of what I will have to tell my parents. Sitting there in that motel room all alone, I could only hang my head in shame as I wished I had never come! I so wanted this last day to be different, I wanted it to be a day that I could tell my folks about with a straight face.

So it was as I passed through the lobby of that motel wanting to clear my head, wanting to forget everything I had done as I walked out toward the beach. While I took my walk of shame I would have to say that this day was like one of those typical summer mornings that you read about in one of those paperback novels from the dime store.

The sun rose early as it began to just break over the horizon with a plethora display of colors shooting forth as it mirrored off the soothing ripples stretching across the Atlantic Ocean. There was still a minuscule of crisp night air hanging low to the ground as I walked. The earth seemed to breathe a heavy sigh of relief from this week of screaming party seekers.

Yes the smell of the ocean was heavy this time of the morning but it was strangely silent except for the sound of the crashing waves as the rising sun laid out a long spectacular reflection across the ocean water. Taking it all in I listened intently and as I mentioned there was only the sound of the waves breaking as they worked their way up the beach as if trying to reclaim the land that the spring breakers had stolen.

While I stood there watching and admiring God’s unspoiled creation, I took in a long deep breath, this was a nice change from the smell of liquor and vomit that I had come to experience all this past week. As I walked out slowly toward the beach the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was, the noise from the large crowds of well tanned flesh of boisterous and most of the time…drunken spring breakers, along with that very intense loud music, was all but gone.

Now this time of morning was just perfect! This being the last day of my Spring Break vacation in Florida I was now determined to make it a day that I could proudly share with my parents. When I set out that morning I kept asking myself, what should I do…or maybe I was just hoping that something special would happen to really make my stay memorable.

I first wanted to take advantage of the early morning clean and untouched sand that has been smoothed over on the miles of white sandy beach by the rolling waves.

Yes, this was the beach that I had read so much about in those Travel Magazine Advertisements!

There I was on that warm sandy beach with white sand as far as the eye can see. The beach was clean and pristine, totally void of the masses of beach goers with their umbrellas that covered the beach like the annual Blue Land Crabs during migration!

Yes this truly was the best time of day for a walk. I watched the Sea Gulls, Turns, Herons and Egrets running back and forth to the water’s edge vying for their space on the beach pecking and pecking in their search for those elusive sand crabs. It’s funny how they would race to beat the incoming waves as if they were afraid to get their feet wet.

Scanning the beach as I slowly walked along the soft wet sand…I was lost in my thoughts as the warm sand squeezed between my toes, all the while that gentle sea breeze ruffled through my hair. I could not help but enjoy the sound of the thunderous crash and rolling white capped waves as it descended upon the beach wetting my feet with its engaging white foamy liquid! Oh and the smell that was whipped up by the ocean sea breeze was intoxicating, drawing my mind to wonder about exotic faraway places.

It was early morning and the crowds had not yet gathered, this solitude allowed me to reflect, as my moral conscience seemed to be having its way with me. I felt guilty for all the things that I could remember and the things I couldn’t bothered me even more.

I had walked for what seemed like hours before descending on to this secluded stretch of warm ocean beach…when I finally came across an amazing beach house set way back…toward the bottom of a cliff where the ocean meets the beach. Looking up toward the porch of this rustic well weathered beach house that time has seemed to have all but forgotten. I just couldn’t help myself, I felt drawn to it as it looked