"Hey are you ready Quinn?" Melanie asked calling down from the staircase. I finished curling my last piece of pin straight hair and added a quick spritz of hairspray before darting downstairs to meet my sister in our shared 2013 Ford Fusion. She was wearing jean shorts with a red crop top and her favorite pair of black sandals, while I had a very flowing white tank, and blue jean shorts paired with gold sandals. I guess you can say we are the complete opposite when it comes to our taste in style.
After about a 12 minute drive to the party, we parked our car and walked towards the pier where a huge crowd of teenagers were scattered all over the dock and beach. There were kiosks of food and beverages stationed all over and there were two bonfires set up in the sand with ten people surrounding each one.
From across the pier Melanie spotted one of our close childhood friends giving us an enthusiastic wave. We scurried over to the edge of the pier before each offering a hug.
"Hey Savannah," Melanie exclaimed, "How are you?"
"I'm doing really well! How are you two?"
Savannah gave a wide smile. The last time I saw her was three days before my doctor's appointment. At this point, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not she was going to talk about my diagnosis. She was the only friend I had told, and I had asked her to keep it to herself. I had only texted what was going on, but had told her that we could talk about it in person when I was ready to leave the house.
"It's good to see you are out tonight Quinn! Let's have some fun!" Savannah exclaimed. I shyly smiled. It was good to be out of the house, to be away from the green walls in my bedroom that had swallowed me into, what seemed like, an endless pit of depression.
Savannah suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me out onto the sand near a bonfire. Melanie had waved from the pier as some of her old high school buddies gathered from behind her.
As we reached the shore, she pulled a towel from her charcoal colored satchel and laid it down, "So," she said, "I don't know if you are ready to talk. but," she paused sitting on the towel next to me, "If you want to, I am ready to listen." She pushed her light curly brown hair behind her shoulders and looked out at the dark water. She turned to me, "Before we go mingle and have some fun, I do want to talk about everything and---,"
"Here's the thing," I interrupted, "I don't want to talk about it. And I don't mean that in a rude way," I stood up, "What I am saying is, that it's not that I don't want to talk to you about it, I just want to forget about it in general."
I began to pace back and forth in the sand, "I want this summer to be different, Savannah. I want to fit all the summers of a lifetime into one." I paused and stopped in place, "I want a good ending to my story, you know?" I kneeled down in the damp and mushy sand as it hugged my knees, "Savannah, this has to be the best last chapter I am going to write."
