Her Name Was Summer

Poppin' Champagne

The only reason I was still at the party was Elena and Zack. I felt uneasy looking at Jack after knowing what he did. But even as I look away from him I feel nauseated catching images of Lisa trying to enjoy the party. And every few seconds, just for a moment, I make eye contact with Alex and my stomach sinks. This is one of the most important days of Elena's life, and I can't tell her what's happened, not without poisoning her moment. I turn to Jack, not able to make eye contact I quickly say I'm grabbing some air, and bolt away. Outside the restaurant I sit on a decorative rock and look up at the night sky. The restaurant was at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. With every breath I took I felt at peace with that saltwater air. I heard the door open but kept focus on the small amount of constellations that I could make out.

"I should have told you, I just couldn't bare to see you... well,"

I interrupted him. "Devastated? I think we both knew no matter how long it took for me to find out, that I would be devastated." I said, feeling my throat start to close on me. I didn't want him to see me cry, my tears were vulnerable and in that moment I felt like I couldn't trust myself with him.

"So what are you going to do? You can't stay out here all night, Elena will want to celebrate with you, you're her best friend and one of mine as well."

"Why didn't you tell me? I look so stupid Zack." I say as I turned to him, the tears escaping my eyes.

He immediately engulfed me in a hug. "You do not look stupid. There are a lot of stupid looking people in there, but you are not one of them. Jack lied to you. Mel told you about the lie because she's still chasing him after all these years. Lisa chose to befriend Mel out of spite, and Alex grovelled for Lisa to take him back because you rejected him yet again. I'm stupid for keeping these things from you, and I'm sorry."

I hugged him back and chuckled, "You should be in there right now." I stated.

"I don't mind taking a moment to get my fiancée's best friend back into our engagement party." He said and handed me his pocket square.

"I'll be back in there in just a minute." I said, he nodded and headed back inside.

I used Jack's car window as a mirror to try to clean myself up. I guess that my presence couldn't be seen from the entrance as I was able to overhear a conversation I wasn't meant to.

"Can we just go home?" Alex asked.

"This is your best friend's engagement party. Are you really that obsessed with her that you can't stay for him?" Lisa asked and I just about fell in between the cars. Luckily neither of them noticed.

"Summer and Jack are together, I can't just approach Jack for conversation and completely ignore her. It would be rude. And Elena and Summer are best friends, it's not as if I can just escape interacting with her." Alex stated and I heard Lisa scoff.

"I already told you, I'm not budging on this. If you want to be with me then you can't talk to her." Lisa said.

I saw Alex try to take her hand, but she brushed him off. "Lisa, I want you. I came here with you. I'm not leaving your side, but if you want me to stay at this party then I have to be able to talk to my friends, and I'm not going to hurt Summer just to please you. I know you're still hurting, you feel betrayed and I don't blame you, but you should be upset with me. Punish me."

"Maybe coming to this party together was too much for right now. I'll head out, we'll talk about this later." She said and she rushed away to her car.

Alex sat down on the rock I was just seated on, and looked up at the stars just as I had. I finished cleaning up my face and decided to stop hiding between the cars. I didn't want him to know I heard everything but I knew Jack would come out looking for me if I spent any more time out here. I began to walk towards the door and found myself unable to look away from him. I caught his eyes and he immediately stood up.

I stopped him before he could say anything, "I know you can't talk to me and I'm going to respect that. So don't worry about me, and I'll see you back in there." I stated and began to walk towards the door.

"What if that's not what I want?" He asked.

I stopped in my tracks, "But you want her, she made her wishes very clear."

I felt his hand take mine and I turned around. "Summer, I don't think you've been honest with me. I think you love me and that scares you so you're choosing the safe path. You feel guilty about hurting Lisa and Jack, and so you're burying your feelings because you want to be redeemed. What I don't think you've realized is that your friends aren't going to abandon you just because you're not the girl they knew from high school anymore."

"You're making a lot of assumptions." I said. I found myself unable to leave his gaze.

"And I've been ignoring the biggest assumption I've made because I didn't want it to be true. After my wedding, Jack and Mel hooked up. I would have told you sooner but I only found out this morning after overhearing Lisa on the phone."

I pulled him into a hug, "Thank you." I brushed his hair out of his eyes as I pulled away. "Mel already dropped the bomb."

"Can you honestly say you still want him after finding out?" He asked and I sighed.

"Come back inside with me, we should be celebrating our friends, everything else is irrelevant tonight." He nodded and we headed back inside.

I immediately rushed over to Elena and engulfed her in a hug. We drank until 3am and danced until we dropped. Being in the moment with my best friend made me forget everything that happened before I walked back into the party. Zack and Elena left after Elena began to lose balance, and I have been sitting outside on the rock for 20 minutes until Jack came out.

"You ready to go home?" He asked and I chuckled.

"You're not taking me home." I said, handing him my empty champagne glass.

He bent down next to me to look into my eyes. "I know you're mad at me, but you're too drunk right now. Let me get you home. You can be mad at me in the morning." He said and I shook my head.

"I'll take her home." Alex interjected.

Jack turned to Alex, "I think I can take my own girlfriend home Alex, but thanks buddy." He said.

"I don't think she wants to be around you right now, buddy." Alex said. I looked at both their expressions and could see tension that I've never seen between them before.

"Would you just back off Alex?" Jack asked. His tone made my stomach turn, I began to feel nauseated by the situation. Before I knew it I was throwing up behind my beloved decorative rock. Jack rushed to my aid, trying to soothe me by lightly rubbing circles into my back and holding back my hair.

I wiped the puke off my lips with my arm and uttered, "Don't touch me." And Jack backed away.

Alex grabbed me some water and a napkin from inside the restaurant. He helped me sit up. "Jack, please just let me get her home, she doesn't want to go with you right now, and you know it's the right thing to do." Alex said, and Jack's expression saddened.

"Okay," he said and sighed, "but I'll be there in the morning and we are going to talk about this Summer." He said to me and headed to his car.

"Thank you, Alex." I said softly.

He helped me to my feet and walked me to his car. After helping me into the passenger seat, he grabbed, he took off his jacket and placed it over me like a blanket, before getting into the drivers seat. I felt my eyelids grow heavier as we drove back to my apartment, and before I knew it I had passed out.