The Last Summer

Chapter 26

I wait until he's out of sight until I go back inside. I lock the door and go to the bathroom for a towel to dry off.

I'm drying my back when Hannah dashes, almost falls, down the stairs.

"Oh thank God!" she says, catching her breath. "I thought you were a burglar and he took you!"

I dry off my legs. "Nope, just me."

Hannah nods. "So why are you up right now? Why are you wet? What happened?"

I wrap my hair in the towel. "I'll answer those questions once you get me new clothes."

She nods and goes back upstairs. I walk to the mirror and put my hands on the counter. I look up at my face. It's all blotchy from the rain and I have bags under my eyes, but there's something that stands out.

I look happy.

Hannah comes back down with clean clothes for me to wear. I close the door and change, feeling refreshed when dressed. I lay my wet clothes in the bathtub and go back out. Hannah's in the kitchen making coffee.

She hands me a mug. "So, will you tell me what happened?"

I sigh and nod. "I was sitting on the windowsill and something moved, so I waited for it to get closer, and as it did, I realized it was Jason-"

Hannah choked on her coffee. "At one one thirty am?! What kind of an idiot is he?!" I give her a you-just-interrupted-me look. "Oh, right. Continue."

"Okay, so I went outside to ask him why he was here this late while it's raining and he explained everything and..." I trailed off.

"Did he kiss you?" Hannah asks. I give a slight nod. "Awe, that's so romantic! And cliché, but cliché isn't bad."

It's quiet for a moment as we drink our coffee. "Is that all that happened?"

I swallow and shake my head. "What else happened?"

I can feel my face redden. "He said he loves me," I tell her barely audible, but clearly, loud enough for her to hear.

Hannah squeals and claps her hands. "That's amazing! Did you say it back?"

My face gets darker as I nod.

Hannah squeals even louder. "Yay! You two are like my only realistic OTP so this is amazing!"

I smile. "Yeah, but thunder boomed before he could hear me say it, so I don't think he knows. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't turn around."

Hannah's eyes widen. "You need to tell him. He needs to know."

"I know, but I don't know when he'll come back," I say.

"Well, when he does, which I expect will be very soon, you need to tell him."

"I know." I sip my coffee. "Is this decaf?"

"What's it to you?" Hannah responds.

I shrug and laugh. "Fair."

We finish our coffee and head back upstairs. Hannah practically flies onto her bed, face-planting once making contact with the mattress. I go back to my spot and sit there.

"Can you please sleep tonight?" Hannah asks, more like pleads. "You need it."

I sigh. "I'll try, but I'm not moving. Toss me a pillow."

She does as I asked and I put it behind my head. Within minutes, Hannah's breathing steadied as I still have my eyes on the world outside the window. I try to wrap my mind around what happened no less than an hour ago. It all seems too good to be realistic. Kind of like a fairy tale.