The Summer of Us

Italy

"Blair?" I called as I walked in her front door. Before I even had a chance to take five steps into her house, she was running toward me at full speed and practically knocked me over with the force of her hug.
"Oh my god Aspen I missed you so much, don't ever skip another Summer again." Blair begged with her arms still wrapped around my neck. "Or if you're gonna leave again at least take me with you to the next country you go to."
I laughed at her enthusiasm to see me, mostly because I was glad she felt the same way that I did. I have been waiting for this moment for an entire year. "I missed you too Blair, and if it helps, Italy would have been ten times more fun if you were there."
"Speaking of you have to tell me everything about it do not leave out a single detail." She demanded as she pulled me further into her house and up the stairs to her bedroom. She jumped onto her bed and I joined her as she looked at me expectantly. "So tell me everything."
"Wait wait first I wanna hear about whats been happening here." I insisted.
Blair groaned but agreed to do it my way. "Fine. If i'm being honest... it feels like a lot changed last Summer. Theodore is 18 now, that's crazy. Remember when he was like 5?" Blair laughed.
"Wow that just made me feel old." I shivered at the thought of our friend, who we always tease about being two years younger than us, becoming an adult.
"Right? Anyway, Austin got a girlfriend last Summer and so did Kingston, which means Theo and I mostly hung out all Summer while the other two were following their girlfriends around like lost puppies." Blair went on. "My parents finally divorced thank God I was getting so tired of the fighting. Okay we did that now please tell me about Italy." She begged
"Well I was there for school so I still had classes and schoolwork to do-"
"Booorrriiinngg" Blair rolled her eyes and looked at me. "I mean tell me about everything else. Was it beautiful? Did you see the Coliseum? Or the leaning tower of Piza" How was the pizza?"
"Yes, yes, yes and amazing." I stopped her before she could keep going. I paused as I thought about what the most interesting part of my time in Italy was. "I met a guy." I said looking at her prepared for a freak out, and sure enough it came.
"YOU MET A GUY???" Blair screamed in excitement. "What's his name, how'd you meet, were you dating? Are you still dating?" She rambled off until I had to stop her again.
"Okay okay." I waved my hands to signal her to calm down. "Yes I met a guy. His name is Matteo he was a local that I met at a café. We sort of dated, we never really put a label on it but we still keep in touch and talk all the time."
Blair sat there with wide eyes waiting to hear the rest of the story.