Dramatic Summer Love Story

Reunion

The taxi driver I sit in the car with drives up a street and parks in front of the home I've lived in since my parents got divorced, about ten years now.
I give the driver his money and tell him I can get my bags out of the trunk myself, he nods and so I do what I said I'd do.
Once I have my bags on the ground my dad comes out of the house and runs over to me in the shoes he uses when he has to jump out quickly, I smile at the sight of him and he picks up the one bag I couldn't carry and is left on the ground.
"Hi!" My dad says happily hopping back inside with me on his heels.
Once we're inside and we've put the bags on the floor I greet my dad and hug him, he hugs me back tightly and I breathe in the familiar smell of him I love.
When we let go I hang up my jacket and then Sarah comes out of the kitchen along with the lovely smell of the food she and dad were cooking. I open my arms to her and she gladly does the same and we meet in the middle glad to see each other again.
We walk into the kitchen and I immediately open a cabinet that holds the dishes and take out three plates.
"So how was your graduation?" Dad asks me.
I turn around and smile. "How do you think it went?" I kind of snort and walk to the dining room that is in the same room as the living room. It has changed slightly, Sarah has once more decorated a little more by buying and hanging up some paintings.
I return to the kitchen.
"So it was horrible?" Dad inquires.
"Not exactly but I wish I could have graduated here," I tell him and Sarah they know my old classmates were horrible, not to me but their behavior was disgusting and annoying.
"Well, life is what it is," Dad says, kind of a classic line from him, I nod.
"Taylor can you hand me the glass that's beside the sink," Sarah asks me as she shakes the pan, holding it a little over the stove.
I give her the glass and then when we sit down to eat dinner I'm asked about Stevenson college, the school I'm going to be enrolling in this autumn.
"It's a little over twenty minutes or so from here and Penny and Soph are also going there." I put a fork filled with Sarah's delicious food into my mouth and look at the television that shows a football live game, I smile at the familiarity.
We chat a little more while eating but my phone, which sits on the table beside me notifies me of a message and disrupts the conversation.
I check it while chewing and see that it's my bestie, Chloe. I smile and open the phone to check and respond to whatever she has sent.
The text reads; I know you're back in town! Please tell me you aren't doing anything and can come over.
I smile and respond; Of course, I can, I'm eating right now so I'll be there in twenty minutes at most.
Chloe quickly sends back a big smiley face and some emoji that tells me she is celebrating that I'm going to go to her house.
"Who was that?" Dad asks me.
"Chloe," I state and smile while scooping up some more food off of my plate.
After a bit of chit-chat, I help them take the things off the table and clean up as much as I could. I then go out and walk over to Chloe's.
The short walk there is nostalgic and beautiful, the sun is about to set and lights the sky pink, yellow and purple. I walk on the sidewalk when a car drives by me. Thomas Harley owns the car and I know it by the plate on his car. I also just know it because it's Thomas, everyone knows Thomas, not just because he is fun and has a good personality but because he is the hottest boy in Maryland.
I turn down Chloe's street and walk the few meters to her house and then her door. I knock and Chloe yells come in like she usually does.
I open the door and the smell of the Garcia's flood my senses. I take my shoes and coat off and walk inside, Valentina and Arnel Garcia sit in the living room and I greet them before going into Chloe's bedroom.
I get startled when five people jump out and yell welcome back! They laugh and I then recognize them as my friend group, all except my sister who is over in Westminster with our mom, which is pretty fine right now.
They gather up and hug me hello. I hug them back and ask what the hell is going on.
"It's a small welcome back party!" Penny throws her hands in the air.
"Well you know how I like my parties but this one can be fine." I joke and smile widely.
"You know we have been waiting for you to come so we can bake the cookies we always make together," Chloe says.
"Well let's go then!" I shove the air out the door and the girls go first and I last.
We try not to be loud when passing Chloe's parent's but we honestly can't help it.
"Who's got the recipe?" I ask.
"Me!" Soph yells and pulls out her phone to read out loud what we need, it's amazing that we haven't learned the recipe by heart as we make these cookies so often but we are kind of messing around the whole time so maybe not so amazing.
"As always we need bowls," Millie states and gets the bowls from one of the cabinets.
"Yeah and then we need butter, sugar, brown sugar, two eggs, vanilla drops, baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour, and chocolate chips." Soph quickly reads.
"Babes you need to slow down a bit." I laugh, and so Soph tells us again what we need. We get all the things out on the counter and then begin measuring and mixing the batter.
"And into the oven, it goes," Penny exclaims as she, the baker of the group, slides the last pan of cookies into the oven.
"How crazy is it that we are literally going to college after summer!" I say, laying back in the chair.
"So crazy." Soph answers.
"Kind of wish we were the same age." Chloe frowns. I, Penny, and Soph are all the same age, Chloe and Millie, that is Penny's sister, are the same age, a year younger than us, and then comes Brook my younger sister who is three years younger than me.
"Stop sulking, enjoy your last year of high school and then you can come over and join us at Stevenson College." I tease.
"I will." She smiles back and the clock rings telling us about the cookies that are ready to come out before being eaten.
Penny jumps up and runs to the oven but I turn my attention to Soph.
"Can you believe that we are going to college!" I say and she shakes her head smiling.
"It's incredible! We are so old." Soph and I have known each other since we were born, our families are friends and so we've been through a lot together and now comes college.
Penny brings us some cookies that have cooled on a small plate, right now we each get two cookies and I take my share immediately. Along with a glass of water, because I hate milk, the taste is just so disgusting, and also the little smell it has, it all makes me kind of nauseous to just think about. I shudder and Chloe asks me what, I tell her nothing and suggest we play something like truth or dare, a classic teenager party game.
"I'll start," Millie says surprisingly but she does that often. "Penny truth or dare."
"Dare, truth isn't fun enough." She says and tosses her hair over her shoulder in a joking manner.
"Okay, I dare you toooooo.... lick the ceiling!" Millie comes up with.
Penny's eyes go wide but she stands up while saying okay. She gets on top of the chair then the table and now she has to get on her toes to reach the ceiling and when she's close enough Penny sticks her young out and lightly swipes the ceiling with it.
Penny twitches a bit but then climbs back down and asks Millie what she wants, truth or dare?
"Truth."
"Boring!" Penny exclaims but Millie gives the excuse that she is too lazy for a dare. "Okay. So I want you to kiss Chloe."
Millie shrugs and Chloe says okay. Millie leans over the table and gives Chloe a peck.
"I should have said it had to last some amount of time but that's fine," Penny says.
"Chloe, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Is it true your boyfriend's name is Aaron?"
Chloe smiles then compresses her lips. "Yeah." She plainly says.
"You have a boyfriend!" I yell.
"Yeah." She says.
"And you didn't tell me!" I yell, not in a mad tone but a tone saying it was unbelievable and I was happy for her.
"Because I wanted to tell you in person, and we also just started dating so I thought I'd just wait until you came." Chloe smiles a bit, probably a little scared that I was mad.
"No, it's fine!" I hurry to say. "I'm happy for you, just shocked, congratulations!"
"Thank you, but truth or dare." She returned to the game.
"Dare," I smirk.
"You have to call the number I give you and make some kind of story that you spin up on the spot," Chloe says and takes my phone putting in a number, and calls it I quickly take the phone and put it on speaker laying it in front of me and the girls quickly tell each other to shut up.
"Hello?" I immediately recognize the voice as Thomas Harley's.
"Yes, hello is this Thomas Harley?" I say to give me time to think a bit.
"Yes, who's this?" He asks. And I'm out of time.
"Yeah this is Hampstead Police, we're calling you to know about your whereabouts on the third of May." I shrug at the girls and make a face of confusion, they smile all confused as well.
"Uhhh." Comes from him. "God, I'm not sure, I was probably at home."
"We need you to be more specific than that," I tell him throwing out everything I've seen from police shows.
"I'm not sure how I can do that," Thomas says.
"Mister Harley I have to ask you to be more specific than that because we have found a body of a young woman, we have confirmed she was killed on the third of May and we are exploring all our options, so let me ask you this again, where were you on the third of May?"
The line goes blank but then he comes back. "I'm sorry I was checking my texts and I was at a friend's house."
"Okay, I'm going to need you to send us unedited photos of the text and also the name of your friend." I don't know what I'm doing but Goddamn I would be a good cop!
"Yeah his name is Gabe Garcia and I'll send some screenshots of the text by mail?" He says unsure.
"That sounds very good, I would like to thank you for your cooperation and we will be in touch," I say and he says bye.
"Holy shit!" I laugh. The girls explode and we all laugh together for a good five minutes.
"We need to tell him that was a prank though!" I say and Chloe nods and says she will text him later and tell him it was a dare.
We continue the game for a bit longer before all heading home. We leave, Chloe stays at her house, Penny and Millie go right and I and Soph go left. We walk down to the main street together as we are neighbors. Our hands are linked as we talk and walk on the road.
We hear a car behind us and slow down, I don't get too worried but my heart does beat harder and for some reason, I hold my breath, I'm not sure how Soph is feeling but she doesn't show any reaction. The car is beside us and rolls down the window, because I was distracted I realise it's Thomas just then.
"Is this Taylor Blake?" He asks and we see Gabe beside him in the passenger seat, there is music coming from inside the car and I hear people talking in the back seats.
"It is." I finally answer him.
Thomas smirks and looks me up and down. "Welcome back." He winks and then drives off.
Confused me and Soph continue walking home and then bid each other goodbye, I go inside, downstairs, and then into bed and ponder what the hell just happened.