The Reality of Growing Up//Wattys 2k16

☠Parker☠

published: 3.11.16

chapter 5: ☠Parker ☠

 I swear to you, the plan was to just lay low for the summer and relax. I promise.

Maeryn was not in the plan. Despite my inner monologue telling myself that she was just a summer fling, I couldn't help but hope that she wouldn't be.

I wasn't usually such a sucker for girls. Sure, I had girlfriends. Sure, I thought I loved even a few of them. Sure, they might've loved me back. But this girl? Maeryn was different.

How did I know? For one, I usually don't notice the way they laugh. I mean a laugh is just a laugh, right?

Hers isn't. It's a thousand bells chiming. It's the sound of waves crashing, flowers blooming, and a bunch of other beautiful things.

Maeryn's eyes aren't just plain brown ones. They're forests trapped inside. They're magical trees and fairies aching to get out.

Anyways, I can assure you, by the end of the summer I will not fall in love with Maeryn Riviera. Well, I'll fall out of love by the end of the summer. I have to.

But a few nights later when my phone rang, being the only noise in the big house I was staying in, my heart leaped and I felt like such a girl.

"Hello?" I answered.

First there was just silence, but then she spoke. "Hi, Parker. It's Maeryn, you know, from earlier today?"

Part of me wanted to play it off cool and pretend I hadn't just spent the last few days thinking about her and the small, quirky things she did that drove me crazy. But then I realized that this girl was different. I wasn't going to play games with her. I was just going to be me, Parker Cole. "Yeah, I know. How could I forget?"

She let out a small laugh. "Yeah," she sighed. She cleared her throat and continued speaking. "Anyways, the Kendall initiation plan phase one starts tonight. You in?"

Without even a second thought, I said, "yes."

The bonfire was unlike anything I had ever been to. Well, I had never even been to a bonfire in my lifetime so I didn't really have anything else to compare it to.

Sure, I had gone to parties before. But those were parties thrown my sons and daughters of millionaires, pop stars, and big business owners.

There was one large fire in the middle of the beach and practically in the middle of the party. It was like one, giant, beating heart. The fire was the only source of light during the night, but damn, it made everything bright.

"Hi!" Maeryn greeted me, holding a red solo cup that was bigger than her face. She stumbled towards me and I shot an arm out to steady her.

My eyes raked down her body. She wore mega short shorts that made her tan legs look miles long, no shoes, a plain white shirt that showed her midriff, and a drapey black sweater. "Hi, there," I said back.

She lets out a high pitched giggle and would've collapsed on the ground if it wasn't for me holding her up.

Right then, the rest of her friends come over. Blake was shaking his head, sipping from his own cup. "Some things never change," he murmurs, obviously to himself.

"Does this happen often?" I ask as she leaned so far back I thought she was going to break her back.

Cora snatches the cup away from her friend. "At bonfires? Yes. But not this bad," she says, giving Maeryna look of pure concern.