That Summer (Completed)

Chapter 2

"Storms don't last forever."

******

We were at our pond when Jake told us.

I remember it like it was yesterday, we were sitting with our feet in the water, trying to enjoy the last few days of summer. It was a beautiful day, the sun was bright, the water was cool. It was picture-perfect.

We had spent the day playing soccer with a group of our friends from the neighbourhood until we had exhausted ourselves. I was sweaty, tired, and lazy under the sun rays. Everything was just the way it was supposed to be.

Jake suddenly got up and started pacing and that's when I knew something was definitely up with him. Jake always started getting fidgety and antsy when he was trying to hide something. He'd been like this all day.

I turned around and looked at him curiously.

"Oh spit it out already," Miranda said, picking at the grass. And he did just that.

"We're moving," he blurted out.

I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe that he was grounded, or he'd lost his bike again, or that he'd failed the math test, or anything but that.

I was shocked.

I waited for him to say something like "haha just kidding" but it never came. And then it dawned on me that he was being completely serious about this.

Miranda was the first to react. She jumped to her feet and walked up to where he was standing.

"You're joking right?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Please just let this be a dumb joke.

"No I'm serious, my mom just got a really good job confirmed in Chicago and my dad left us a house there. We're moving there by the end of next month," he said, looking down.

She didn't say anything for a while. I was still frozen on the ground. There were so many things running through my mind and I was feeling a million things at once.

"So you guys are just gonna pick up and leave?" Miranda asked slowly.

Jake looked dejected. "My mom's really excited, this job means a lot to her. You know, this is the first time I've seen her looking forward to something since my Dad got diagnosed."

I got up and stiffly walked over to them. This could not be happening right now.

"I know she was talking about a new job, but in Chicago?" I asked, feeling a lump form in my throat.

Jake nodded sadly.

Miranda suddenly threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Jake hugged her back and motioned for me to join them. We just stood like that for a few minutes.

When we were walking home that evening, the mood was depressing and gloomy. And for the first time, none of us had anything to say. My heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. I didn't even get a chance, not one chance. I was loosing him.

Just yesterday I felt so much of everything and now...nothing. I felt hollow. A part of me was gone before Jake had even left.

Over the course of the next month I considered telling him about how I felt so many times I lost track. I kept going back and forth driving myself crazy.

I loved him, he should know. I came close a couple of the times too but one thing always stopped me in my tracks. Miranda. I couldn't ruin this for her. How could I? He was her first kiss, the first guy she ever really liked. She really did care about him and this would create so many unnecessary issues. She was my sister, my best friend. I couldn't lose her too.

And another one of my concerns was...what if he didn't feel the same way? He'd never really made a move to let me know otherwise so was I really willing to risk our friendship for something that might've been?

No. It was a chance I just couldn't take.

Love wasn't always good anyway, just look at what it did to my parents. Look at what it did to Jake's mother. The crap I read about in novels was simply unrealistic. They never focused on the side affects.

The weeks went by quickly and before we knew it, Jake was leaving.

The day of, I faked a stomach ache because I knew I couldn't handle saying goodbye to him. I hated goodbyes.

Before leaving, he came into my room to see me and I turned towards the wall, pretending to be asleep. I shut my eyes tightly and bit my lip, trying to hold back the tears that were coming. He stood there for a bit and then I heard him slowly walk away.

That was something I regretted every single day. I didn't say goodbye to him and I missed the chance of seeing him one last time. I was miserable the next few weeks and I felt even worse when we talked on the phone.

Then I started avoiding the phone calls and stopped answering his emails. I thought that maybe if I pretended like he didn't exist, I would feel better.

And you know what? I did. I buried myself in school and work and I took up running. The year he came to visit, I went to Florida with my grandmother. What good would it do to rehash everything I had worked so hard to put behind me? I gave myself no chance to look back.

Time didn't heal me but it helped bury my feelings. I became numb to them.

Miranda continued to talk to him regularly until they just stopped two years later. Miranda got busy with other guys and I heard that Jake had a girlfriend. We all grew up and life went on.

That's the crazy thing about life, no matter what you're going through, what hardships are being thrown your way, the day has to come to an end at some point. For some people, that point can take months, and for others, years.

Life doesn't care; it moves on.

If there was anything I learned from that year, it was that. It waited for no one. It was your choice to either fall and get left behind or get up and move along with it.