Summer and May

Chapter One: May

Bubbly, blush, and Barbie. That is the theme of this summer, according to Summer. I could no longer remember a time in my life that wasn't covered in something pink, when our casual sleepovers didn't include something that fizzed, and when I wasn't stealing something out of Summer's closet. Summer has been my best friend for all seventeen years of my life, and yet we couldn't be more different.

Our mothers were lifelong friends, so we were slated to be soul mates before we even entered the world. It always seemed that way; meant to be. Our paths were bound to cross in our little town of Shimmer Lake, but that's not what made us best friends. The force that brought us together was the perfect contrast between my calm and her crazy, my sugar and her spice, my brunette and her blonde. We were two opposites, yet we couldn't be more in sync. This summer was supposed to be everything we'd ever dreamed it to be, because it was our last one before leaving for college.

Summer and I shared a lifelong dream of attending Brown University, which couldn't be further away from our lake town in Washington. Summer's well-off parents were proud alumnus, allowing Summer and her older brother very little breathing room to pick any other school. When Summer asked me in the fifth grade if I'd like to join her there while playing a game of Clue, I said yes. When your best friend asks you something like that at the ripe age of ten, of course you say yes. Saying yes to Summer was the thing I was best at.

When she drew up a pact to make this our most adventurous summer yet, I said yes to that, too.

"What exactly am I agreeing to?" I probed. Summer Hathaway always had something up her sleeve.

She grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "Three things." She slammed her whiteboard down on the floor, nearly spilling her glass of sparkling rosé. If she had spilled mine, I wouldn't mind. I'd pretended to like it for almost a year now.

"First, I think we should spend every day together. Even though we'll be roommates soon."

"Easy enough."

"Second," the marker squeaked as it moved across the whiteboard, "we say yes to everything. Parties, spontaneous trips, you name it."

"Yes to everything." I smiled.

"And third..." her blue eyes lit, writing her proposition before speaking it. She flipped the board around, and next to a little number three, I read, "May loses her virginity."

I took a sip, a much better fate than what Summer had planned out for me. "Really? Ugh, I'm so tired of that one!"

"You can't go to Brown a virgin, May. Luke has told me about the party scene. The ivy kids go hard." I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me attitude. I just want to help you prepare."

My glasses were thick-rimmed, but my side-eye cut right through them. "Appreciated, but no." I said in a sour tone.

"Why not? Are you scared?" She popped up to her knees. "I've already told you everything I know. What's left to be scared over?"

I groaned. It wasn't fear. When your mother suddenly passes, fear doesn't faze you the same way loss does. This was something else entirely; something Summer wouldn't understand.
"I want it to mean something, Sum. I don't care if that happens now or in six years."

Her eyes widened as she smoothed out her LuluLemon skirt. "You should." She muttered under her breath. I picked up the nearest pillow and playfully smacked her with it. "I'm kidding! I know... you want it to be meaningful. With someone you love."

"Exactly." I breathed. Maybe she does understand.

"I get it. If I could change things about my first time... I would." The air between us loomed for a moment. Summer was a smart girl, but boys was her favorite game to play. They all loved her, and she knew it. That was always her upper-hand, and she tried teaching me everything she knew, like a big sister. Neither of us had sisters, and since it was just me and my dad, I didn't always mind the advice. "But the least you could do is actually talk to the guys. They all have crushes on you anyways."

I nearly choked on my drink. Sweet, sweet Summer. 

"Summer, do you know what the guys from school say to me?" I quizzed, narrowing my hazel eyes.

She nodded eagerly, finishing off her drink. "I know what they tell me. Every last one of them talks about your beauty, and that it's hot you know your way around a car engine."

I groaned. That was much different than what they were saying to me. "No, it's... It's always, 'I want to marry a girl like you, May.' 'I hope my future daughter is just like you, May.'"

She pulled her brows together, topping off our stemless wine glasses. "What's wrong with that? You're like the girl next door. You're beautiful, smart, and sexy all in one package."

My lips curved into the slightest grin. "Because it's never me they want. I'm the girl they want ten years down the road, when they've gotten everything out of their system. You can deny it all you want, but it's the truth."

I watched as her shoulders visibly sagged, her cue that she was stumped, and was thinking up something encouraging to say. Although what I said what true, I hadn't meant to turn our first sleepover of the summer into a pity party.

"What about this," I suggest. "I'll make a pact to be adventurous... but unless I fall in love in the next three months, I'm not having sex with anyone." I winked.

She shrugged, finally flashing a smile. She crossed out her pact and wrote adventure next to the number three. "Sounds good. There's no point of falling for someone anyways. We'll be East Coasters in a few short months!"

I smiled, clinking my glass to hers. "To our best summer yet." She squealed in excitement. It tugged at my heart to see her so cheery. This summer meant two completely different things to both of us. To her, it was the start of Summer and May's adult lives together. To me, it was our last.

It was something I could never explain to her, and she'd hate me when I finally do. But I couldn't lose her, she made everything better. Who was I without her? While I wasn't the "pink" kind of girl, being around Summer made everything rose-colored.