That one summer

Orion

The kitchen was very busy and I was unable to move from there until evening, I was not even sure if Rory and her friends had already left after their lunch. Rhys was nowhere to be seen for me to ask.

After winding up the kitchen we closed the off the restaurant. During bank holidays we keep it open only until four in the evening so that we can enjoy the night on the terrace with a few other friends. Ev had gone to pick up our moms from home and Dad had asked Dec & I to bring all the seating inside from the front.

Once finished we moved upstairs to the terrace, there was already light music going on. As I entered, I saw the face I missed the most today. Rory was smiling back at me, her hair was in a knot on top of her head exposing her neck and she had worn some sort of skirt that covered her legs to her calf and a T-shirt with a blue heart on the left side; It was not until she stood up and started walking towards me that I noticed similar to yesterday, the skirt had a slit up till her thigh which made my fingers ache not to slide her skirt higher.

I was pretty sure she was buzzed when she stopped in front of me. I moved her hair behind her ear, "You stayed."

"Yeah well, the free alcohol was quite convincing but it was Ev who made promises of a really fun evening. Lina wanted to see Declan and Juniper wanted to have fun, so we stayed."

There was a whole party going on in the back but all of my attention was on the girl in front of me "And what about you, why did you stay?"

"Simply, it seemed like it was going to be a good evening, also your mom started doubting about us since we tried getting out of the party."

"Well, good for me then. I am glad you stayed."

"Wish I could say the same." Rory winked and walked back to her friends, and all I could do was smile.

There was already a large gathering of around fifty-odd people, we usually do potluck on these occasions on the terrace locking off the rest of the restaurant so that nobody wanders off. I had already said hello to everyone. There was music going on, people dancing, some playing games and everybody was drunk as the sunset in the background.

I walked to where Rory was standing with the girls, "Evening ladies!"

Lina placed a hand on my shoulder "Hello to the man of the hour"

"Were you talking about me?" I fake gasped at them as Dec came next to me

Juniper snorted "He is full of himself."

That made Rory laugh, and I wanted that laugh for myself for a bit. "If you ladies don't mind, can I steal Rory for a bit?"

Lina gave me a stern look "If you make her cry, I know a guy who has a cousin who knows a hitman."

Juniper added "And I will cover your house, car, and even your clothes in glitter."

Ev also stepped in "And I will upload all of your teenage photos on the internet."

Dec also added "And I will make your life hell in office."

Wow, I had no intention of making Rory cry but I am terrified if I accidentally do something they might chop my balls off. I cleared my throat as I carefully took Rory's hand in mine, "I am just taking her out for a walk, I promise not to make her and you two are my childhood friends, you were supposed to be on my side."

Rhys suddenly came in from back "Naah, we like Rory more than you." And he winked at Rory and she gushed. We had to get out of here.

Rory gave her glass to Ev "See you guys" as I tugged her away from the crowd.

I removed the barricade and moved her toward the restaurant without letting go of her hand. "I thought I could show you the restaurant."

"That sounds like a nice plan."