When Summer Ends

Summer Hangover

The beach party was long over, everyone had already gone home to get ready for another party. One that wouldn't get shut down because it was a public beach, and because the person who was throwing it had enough money to keep their neighbors more than satisfied.

After I received the two most dreadful phone calls of my life in such a short amount of time, I decided that I wasn't going to allow myself to become one of those girls whose entire personality is the fact that their parents don't care about them.

I wasn't about to drown in self-pity, I wasn't going to become weak. I chose to stand my ground and blink the tears that threaten to escape away, I made a choice and I chose to be happy: To not give a crap about the world for just one day, and fell into something I shouldn't have.

I know I said I hate drinking- I very much do- but in that moment... the moment where I realized that my father was trying to completely shut me out of his life... I'm not going to lie, that hurt and that was the reason I decided I wanted to take a big gulp of booze, I wanted to forget everything he said through the phone.

Unfortunately for me, Rowan was still there with me and you can guess how that went. He started telling me that drinking wasn't going to solve whatever problems I was going through to which I responded with something like; "I don't have anything going on! I just want to have fun."

To which he replied with; "Oh, really? Is that why your eyes are bloodshot red? Because you are so ready to have fun?"

I ignored that statement and rolled my eyes in annoyance. "I am old enough to know what I want, Rowan, and if you don't like it, you are more than welcome to leave because no one is holding you back."

Rowan stared down at me with an expression I couldn't read, he began shaking his head and he muttered something under his breath. Something I wasn't able to grasp in time and went away.

"Really? Then why did you invite me? If you are such a big girl then what am I doing here?"

I frowned. "You think I invited you here to look after me?"

"No, I think you invited me here because you like me."

Something tightened in my stomach. "Well, I think you're wrong."

"Am I?" He tilted his head with a small frown on his forehead. "You could've asked me out on a date, but instead you invited me to a beach party and included your friends to make it less obvious, oh, and let's not forget to mention the numerous times that I have caught you checking me out."

"Fine, I think you're an attractive guy, is that a crime? Because if so then Gosh, I am fucking guilty. But don't twist my thoughts for you as something more than that; just thoughts." I argued back.

"I'm not twisting anything," Rowan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for coming on too strong about this, it just doesn't seem fair to me that you let your mom worry like that. I just don't want you to get caught up in something bad."

I swear, I was just so ready to punch him in the face. "Why do you care so much? You don't even know me, and I don't even know you."

"I care because... because I wished I had a parent that cared about me the way your mom does for you," Rowan confessed.

This is life playing loudly on somebody's speaker.

"I don't want to talk about this," I whispered looking down. "I'm going to go join the others and if you want to stick around go for it, but I don't need you bursting my bubble. Go it?"

I pulled my blonde hair as I started to walk away, putting it up in a ponytail and running towards my best friend Amara.

The sun was long gone and all that we had left was the darkness of the night, our only source of light was the big, full moon that reflected on the water beautifully.