When Summer makes a bet with his best friend to remain romance free for the summer it seems easy to him. He has rarely dated or had much interest in dating and it's the last thing on his mind right now as he recovers from a bad depressive episode.
S...
Also, these are three of the songs I listened to the most while writing this chapter. There is a link to my Summer Sunshine Spotify playlist in my bio
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Falling for Caleb...In hindsight he should have realized it sooner. None of his other friendships made him feel the way he feels about Caleb.
Summer wanders around his room absently straightening things and picking up clothes to fold them and then immediately setting them back down still unfolded. He feels breathless like he was knocked over by a giant wave and only just regained his footing.
He can accept that he likes Caleb but where does that leave him? He is almost certain Caleb likes him back and probably has for a long time. That still doesn't answer his question.
Just because we like each other doesn't mean we'd work if we dated. Do I even want to date him?
He thinks about this for several minutes but comes to the conclusion that he has no idea. He hasn't dated since college. He has thought before that he'd like to be in a relationship but it's a thought that hasn't come up in the past year. Dating has been the very last thing on his mind. That's why he'd made the bet with Vee in the first place. It seemed an easy win. Now he's not so sure.
"Summer," Ivy knocks on the door startling him so much he almost drops the seashell he's holding. "Aurora and Hailey are here."
"I'll be down in a minute." Summer sets down the seashell which he doesn't even remember picking up and takes several slow breaths to completely calm himself. I'll freak out about this later.
He goes to the bathroom to wash away all traces of his tears and then goes downstairs. The whole family is in the kitchen. Hailey rushes to hug him as soon as she sees him.
"Hey, baby," Summer kisses the top of her head. "How was your flight?"
"It was good. I slept through most of it."
"You aren't going to be able to sleep at all tonight."
"Probably not. I'll just play video games."
"I'll play with you," Summer says letting go of Hailey to hug Aurora. He's terrible at video games but he's not going to let that stop him.
Patrick is already moving around the kitchen preparing an early supper. Summer offers to help and unsurprisingly is gently turned down. Patrick also likes his kitchen without scorch marks.
Summer retreats to sit on a high stool by the open window and pet one of the cats while he watches his grandparents and mom work on supper. Aurora and Hailey go upstairs to shower and unpack.
His thoughts drift back to Caleb. He's still no closer to answering his own question but he decides to put it on hold and just get through this visit first. Then maybe he can figure out his feelings for Caleb.
