If Summer Never Ends

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Music blared from my stereo as I finished French braiding Cecily's hair. My fingers swerved under and over the silky strands of her vibrant blonde hair, creating a long braid spiraling down her back.

Cecily had come over earlier that day with iced coffee in one hand and donuts in the other. She flashed me a smile and asked if I wanted to hang out with her. Of course, I said yes. We had loads of talking to do. Somewhere in the midst of chewing pink-frosted donuts and the blabbering, she mentioned she could never get a French braid right, so I offered to do it for her.

She had been flipping through magazines on my bed and jamming along to the music Pandora Radio had played.

"Okay, okay. Who is cuter: Harry from One Direction, or Channing Tatum?" she asked, pointing at several pictures in the magazine.

"Channing Tatum, duh! Look at those abs!" I replied with a little too much sass.

"What's wrong with Harry?" she asked.

"His hair. It looks like there's cat lying on top of his head," I answered, peering over her shoulder to get a better look.

"But he has such a cute baby face," Cecily sighed.

"Yeah, so did Leonardo DiCaprio when he was sixteen. Now look at him. All good things eventually wrinkle."

She rolled her shoulders back. "Well you have to admit, he's pretty good looking for a forty-year old man."

"Hm," I nodded in agreement.

"Remember the pool scene in Romeo and Juliet?" she asked, putting her hand to her chest.

"Yes! Ugh, I love that part."

Cecily jumped. "I think the movie theater's playing it for like a dollar this week. You know how they do that one dollar oldie movie thing. Wanna go see it?"

"Sure. Just let me finish my donut." After tying off the end of her hair, I told her I was done.

Cecily jumped off of the bed, ran to the mirror, and felt the back of her head. "Oh, this is so cute! I'm totally gonna wear this to the beach next time!" She admired herself in the mirror and I picked up the magazine she dropped on the floor and started flipping through the pages.

"Speaking of the beach, what are you going to wear to the summer's hottest beach party?"

I raised an eyebrow. "And what party would that be?"

"Right, I totally forgot you haven't been here for the past six years. Luke's birthday party! Well it's actually the end of the summer party that the island started throwing a couple of years back, but it's around his birthday so we just celebrate that too. Anyways, we all celebrate on the beach and then at night, we sneak down to Bowman's, start a bonfire, and get a little buzzed. It's pretty fun. And also a great time to start flirting it up with the guys."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I wondered out loud.

"I can look; I just can't touch."

I shook my head, wondering why on Earth I was friends with her.

Cecily turned around to face me. "What about you? Have any beach cuties caught your eye yet?"

"No," I murmured, desperately wanting her prying fingers out of my love life because as of that moment, it was pretty messed up.

"What about Luke?" she wondered.

I peered at her over the edge of the magazine and saw her with a smirk on her face and her eyebrows raised like she knew something.