What I did for Love

Chapter 1: The First Summer I Can Remember

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[Todd's P.O.V.] 

Ever since I can remember the summer has been a routine for our family. We never went anywhere exciting but we did always go away. 

A few years before I was born my father purchased a beach house in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Each summer we would drive 3 hours to a fairy boat and it would then take us to Nantucket. 

In Nantucket all of the houses are very similar. They all are also pretty close together. Everyone who visits Nantucket basically owns a home there. There's not really any tourists and it's like a community. The home my family purchased was not all too close to the others, it was sort of distanced except for one home owned by another family of 3. 

This family had a daughter named Quinn and they lived in Long Island, New York. Each summer they would come up to Nantucket and would spend the majority of their summer there just like my family. 

Quinn's parents purchased their home the same year as my parents purchased ours. 

Before we were born our parents became very close friends, they would always spend the summers together by the beach, sailing, having barbecues and more. One summer both of our parents found out they were pregnant and 9 months later, January 8th, I was born. 12 days later, so was Quinn. 

8 Years Earlier; August 20th, 2008.

"TODD! CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" Quinn yelled at me from across the beach. 

"I'm tired." I called back, collapsing on the sand.

"Finee." She skipped over and lay next to me.

I sighed and looked up at the sky. I loved cloud watching, it always made me so calm. 

"Hey, Todd?" Quinn poked me.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"What do you want to be when you're older?" She asks me. 

"Dunno, maybe a bank robber." I reply.

"I want to be a Mermaid. Imagine if I could dive into the water and a tail magically appears?" She sighs. 

"Cool." I don't get girls, why do they always want to be weird things like Princesses, Mermaids.. 

"Yeah! My Dad said that he's going to order me this tail-" She's cut off by Mom calling us for dinner. 

"What were you two up to?" My Mom asks as we bolt towards the back of our beach house. 

"Nothing!" Quinn chirps. 

My Mom just laughs. "Well ok, go on inside and wash your hands, they're probably all disgusting from being in the dirt all day."

"Mommm, we weren't in the dirt! We were in the sand." I correct her.

She holds up her hands to plead innocence. "Ok, ok." She laughs some more.

"Hamburgers! My favourite." Quinn says, stuffing her tiny mouth with a huge burger. 

"Quinn, honey, don't choke." Her mother puts her hand on her shoulder as if to tell her, slow down. 

I grab a hot dog, I never really liked hamburgers. 

Once we all finished eating, Quinn and I climb out from the picnic bench and dash back to the beach.

"KIDS! 30 MINUTES TILL MOVIE NIGHT!" I hear my Dad call. 

"OK!" Quinn and I yell back in unison. 

"We should have a sand fight!" I suggest.

"Hmm.. I don't know.." Quinn turns her back from me and starts walking away. I'm kind of confused until she all of a sudden turns and kicks a pile of sand into my face. 

"QUINN!" I yell and start running after her. 

"I'm gunna miss you." Quinn says the next afternoon, hugging me goodbye as her parents finish packing up their 2005 Honda pilot. 

"We can Skype everyday." I reply, hugging her back, and yes, I know most kids would be all 'eww cooties' but I'm not most kids. 

We step back and lean again my family's Jeep watching the scene unfold. Both our father's shake hands and our mother's hug each other with tears welling in their eyes. 

"I have to go now." Quinn says as her mother waves her over. She runs to her home's driveway and climbs into the car.

Her Dad climbs into the car as well and turns it on. The last image I see of her in summer 2006, she rolls her window down and sticks her head out waving goodbye to me.  

The first moment I realize I'm falling for her.