Summer and May

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Summer

Brewster's Coffee tasted better to me knowing that it was the last time I'd drink it for a while. I refused to let these little things sting my heart. Shimmer Lake has been my home for eighteen years, but it was time to move on, now. I learned so much about myself this summer, and I feel more ready than ever to take on the world.

But for today, just for today, I would let myself be just a girl from a lake town.

May and I paddled through our usual route down the lake, giggling softly when the infamous rope swing came into view. May held onto my kayak, anchoring her own. Her eyes danced as a wide smile appeared.

"How is it that in three months, in the exact same spot... we're somehow completely different people?" she wondered. She must have read my mind, I was thinking the exact same thing.

I scrunched my face, a bittersweet grin on my lips. "Who knew a rope swing could do so much?" I breathed out a laugh, enjoying the slight breeze moving across my chest. "It brought us Jeremy, to our biggest fight ever, and now we're back together again, but better. I never thought I'd look at a decrepit rope with so much gratitude."

Laughter consumed us like we were little girls again. In an odd way, that's exactly how it felt. May and I grew up together, chasing each other down docks and kayaking the same route for years. This summer came along and something shifted in us, for the better. We were completely different from who we used to be, and yet we're fully the same. Just two girls, splashing each other in the lake.

"Why didn't we take the boat out?" I quizzed. "It would've been easier to push you in!" I played, using my paddle to drench May.

Her mouth opened wide, a squeal escaping her throat. "You wouldn't dare. Plus..." within a fraction of a second, May grabbed a hold of the side of my kayak, jerking it upwards, flipping me out of the kayak. The water was refreshing, but I would keep that to myself. May didn't need any reason to do this shit again. I was having a great hair day until right now. I shot out of the water, slicking back my hair, blinking water out of my eyes. "You are known for falling out of kayaks." May finished her act with a devilish smirk, something that resembled me.

How could I be pissed off at that? All my lessons with her were finally beginning to pay off. She'd be just fine without me. I pointed a manicured finger at her, trying to hide my laughter. "Next time you do that, I'm playing dead, so you'll feel super bad about it." I maneuvered myself to gracefully return to my kayak seat, dabbing my face off with a beach towel.

"You're bad!"

My makeup was ruined, but walking to Dockside with a fresh face and my natural hair made me feel like a kid again, before appearances even mattered, and all we cared about was having fun. My old coworkers hugged me tight and wished me good luck as I wolfed down a basket of crab bites and a gigantic shrimp po boy.

May kept calling this my "Yes Day," where we could do anything I wanted for my last day in Shimmer Lake. After tossing around several ideas, the brightest idea came to mind.

"Call Alec. We're having a party."

My parents would kill me for having a party the night before leaving for college, but I'd flash them my bright smile, bat my lashes, and use May as a buffer. It worked every time. May put in all the leg work to contact our friends, send Luke on a beer trip, and carefully grab a party dress from what I'd already packed. All I had to do was get myself ready.

"You don't want to borrow anything?" I asked as she zipped my busting suitcase closed.

She then reached into her own bag, pulling out a bodycon dress that was a brilliant shade of blue, with only a few straps covering the back. "I was actually thinking of wearing this. What do you think?"