Endless Summers

Chapter 15

A week goes by with our guests, Mom visits once and then goes back to the hospital. Hayden occasionally hangs out with us and we spend the majority of the time at the beach.
"Let's all go out. Like.. a double date," Alana states on the way back from the beach one day. I look at Landon and we all look around to each other.
"I'm up for it," Landon states, flashing a smile at me and nudging me with his shoulder.
"Yeah sounds okay," Hayden shrugs.
"Okay. So today?" Alana suggests, and we all nod in reply.
"Oh! There's a huge bonfire at the beach tonight I heard. It's for that Allison girls birthday party and basically everyone is united so we could totally go!?" I say excitedly, Landon turns to me and smiles again, I feel the butterflies in my stomach start to flutter.
"Yeah!" Alana yells, even more excited then I do as he pulls in front of my house.
~~~~~
3 hours later we are walking out the door and we all laugh our way to the car. When we arrive to the beach, the fire has already been started and there is more than 40 people there, all dancing and laughing and, of course, drinking. We get out of the car and walk our way through the dark to the fire, and I feel Landon's fingers brush my hand as if he wants to hold it. Alana and I take our shoes off, convincing the boys to too, considering no one here has shoes on. We aren't standing for even a minute before Alana grabs my hand and pulls Hayden and I to the group of people. I laugh and yell at Landon is is falling behind.
"Come on Landon!" He shakes his head at me but starts running to us.
"Nah, me and Landon are gonna go get some drinks, so you girls want anything?" We shake our heads at Hayden's question and turn to each other.
"Let's daaaaaance!!" Alana yells grabbing my hand and spinning me. We are swallowed quickly into the crowd of dancing people and although we are dancing with each other, other guys try to dance with us and since technically we aren't dating anyone, and there's no way Hayden or Landon would see us, we dance with them, laughing and bouncing to the upbeat music.
After dancing for a good hour, we break from the crowd to find Landon and Hayden sitting on a towel with beers in their hands laughing. And when they see us they start getting up. Landon swoops me into a big hug. I can smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Hey, gorgeous. Having fun?" He slurs to me. I hate when guys get like this. It's disgusting.
"I'd have more fun if I could dance with you," I smile at him. Even in a drunken stage, he smiles his famous smile and all four of us are back into the crowd dancing away.
To my surprise, Landon doesn't hesitate to start dancing with me, and I wrap my arms around his neck, even though there haven't been any slow songs since we got there. Mid-song in the heat of the moment, I realize he is leaning in and his lips press against mine heavily and sloppily. I can smell the alcohol on his breath. As we pull apart I realize that I can't count that as our first kiss together, not only because it wasn't as great as I imagined it, but also because Landon more than likely won't even remember it. Everyone in the crowd is bouncing up and down and laughing and having a good time, and for the first time, I realize how content I am.

Another hour or so we are heading back to my house and knowing that Ellie would be furious to find out that Landon had been drinking, we take him into my room and let him sleep there. Alana decides to stay at Hayden's for the night and Landon immediately falls asleep. I lay down away from Landon on the same bed and fall asleep to the small snore he has.

When I wake up, it isn't pleasant. It's the sound of screaming that wakes me, Landon's screaming. I sit up and grab him, feeling how sweaty and hot he is.
"Landon, shhhhh! Landon it's okay, it's okay," I yell at him. He starts to wake up slowly and the screaming stops. He sits up quickly and looks at me.
"I'm so sorry, Em. I didn't mean to..." His voice cracks like he is sad.
"What were you dreaming about?" I grab his arm.
"... His death. I dream about it a lot. And the same dream every time. Liam getting brutally killed," His voice cracks and he begins to sob. My heart immediately hurts for him and I wrap him in a hug tightly. He continues to sob into my shoulder and I don't know what to say.
"Go back to sleep, it's okay. Everything's okay, Lan. You're gonna be fine," And he responds by laying back down. I lay where I was laying before and we are silent for a second, him staring at my back. After about 10 minutes I think he is asleep so I turn back around and look at him, only to meet his eyes. Slowly he reaches out and wraps his arm over my torso and pulls me to him. I let it happen because I understand his mourning. I cuddle him and reach up to wipe the sweaty hair from his face, and he puts his chin above my head and holds me. Slowly we both start falling asleep, and I hear Landon's small snore again before I let my eyes rest too.

When I wake in the morning, Landon is nowhere to be found. At first I start to worry but as I sit up I hear a crumple. I look down to see a piece of paper with writing on it.
'Sorry I left you, didn't want to upset my mom, but I am making breakfast for everyone if you want to invite Hayden and Alana. -Landon'
I throw my hair up into a messy bun, make my bed and open my window. Then I walk down the stairs into the kitchen. I light a candle and open all the windows and doors to let the heat and mild breeze in. I look at Landon, who is making breakfast and he slides me a plate of eggs, bacon and pancakes.
"Wow, I didn't know you could cook," I say, smiling at him impressively.
"Oh yeah. I'm a real chef," He winks at me, "Do you want some coffee?" He pulls two coffee cups out of the cupboard.
"Yes please," I smile, and before he can ask I say, "A little milk and a spoonful of sugar."
He does just that and sits down next to me, taking a big bite of eggs.
As we eat, Ellie comes in and gets a plate for herself, and sits down in the third seat. Not long after, Alana comes through the front door, loudly opening and closing the screen.
"Morning! It smells amazing in here!!" She yells, immediately going to the pans and getting herself some food. She stands next to me and drinks from my coffee cup.
"Who made the breakfast?" She asks.
"Landon," I reply, looking at him through the corner of my eye. He grins at me and I can't help but smile back. Landon is so incredibly hot. I quickly skim over his arms and soft face and hair. I quickly turn my head away and feel my cheeks get hot. I really need to control myself.
Today we decide to not have any double dates or anything, to just stay at the house. We run out of milk after breakfast and Landon and I decide to go to the store.
"So, is there anything I've missed in the past several years that you should catch me up on?" Landon asks, as we drive to the nearest Wal-Mart.
"I mean, other than school, birthdays, accidents, accomplishments etc., nah, you haven't missed a thing," I say sarcastically and a grin spreads across his face.
"True," He claims, as we pull into the parking lot. It takes about five minutes before we finally find an empty slot.
We get out and begin walking and I feel his warm fingers touch the palm of my hand. Before we are inside, we are holding hands. I try my best to withhold my childish grin that's trying to show.
We walk through the first isle, grabbing other things we might need for the week on our way to the milk.
"Hey, you grab some fruit and I'll just run over there and grab some milk," I say looking at him, he nods and I turn that way. I make my way to the milk and search for what I'm looking for. I don't like 1% but it's healthier for me than 2%. I decide that health is better so I grab the 1% on my tip toes and turn around, slamming into something. Someone.
I quickly back away, my face burning red and repeated apologies flowing out of my mouth like vomit. I look up to get a response and my heart skips a beat.
"Emmaline," He says, "We meet again". I can't help but think about how close he is to me.
"Sebastian," I gasp. His arms were on my shoulders to steady me and they slide down to my elbows, caressing me.
"I-uh... how are you?" I ask gently, hoping this isn't the last time I see him because I have no idea what to say.
"I'm fine, how are you?" He asks with concern, just as Landon comes around the corner looking at me, and then back at Bash.
"Em?" He is obviously curious as to why I'm so close to this stranger and why he is holding me.
"Hey, Landon, sorry. Is 1% okay do you think?" I walk away from Bash who reluctantly lets go of me. I wish I could explain.
Bash walks around the corner and quickly disappears.
"Uh... who was that?" Landon sounds a bit upset which is completely understandable considering the situation.
"It was an old friend, I uh- I ran into him on accident when I turned around and he was just making sure I was okay," and although I can tell he doesn't believe me, he nods and we head to the check out.
"Alrighty," He says as he closes the trunk. We get back in the car and I check my phone. I start scrolling thorough Twitter while Landon returns the cart and I look up as he closes the car door.
"You have a bug in your hair, Em," He says chuckling at my sudden panic. He reaches to my head, and his face is so close to mine.
"There wasn't a bug, it was just lint," He says under his breath. He brings his lips closer to mine and I am eager to kiss him so I press my lips to his, as I wrap my arms around his neck.
We pull apart after a couple seconds and I smile at him.
"Thank you," I bite my lip, "for getting the lint out of my hair," I smile.
He kinda snorts in a gloating way, "You're welcome," he replies, revving the engine and pulling out of the parking lot.
We head home and when we pull up, it begins to rain.
That night after dinner I go lie down with Alana and tell her about my day. Finally I turn the lights out and turn to my side, thinking about how Landon and I shared our first kiss. I couldn't fall asleep and eventually I realized why. Over and over I replay my run in with Bash. And over and over I see the hurt look on his face as I walked away with Landon.
I end up softly crying myself to sleep.