My Summer Romance

Chapter 24 Nice Night

After football on Thursday, Adam comes over with his bike. He tells me we are going for a ride on my bike trail.

I get out my bike and check the tires. Of course they both need air. So I go find the pump, and Adam pumps up my tires for me. After all is said and done, we're on our way.

We turn right out of my driveway; the same way we went to drive that hilly back road.

We peddle past my neighbors and to the stop sign at the end of my road. There, we make a right. We push on over the bridge and make the first available left.

"This is different," Adam says. "We've never gone this way before."

"Soak it all in buddy, we're not coming back this way."

On our right lies a pond, spread between several neighbors. There's the two houses on the road we're on, but the pond spreads backwards to the houses that sit on a road in the distance.

At the stop we make a right. This road is no longer a country road, but it's still not heavily traveled on.

We make the first available right, behind a line of trees. Once we turn, we're surrounded with trees on either side of the road. They cast a dark shadow, with a little light peeking through.

"Wow. These are gorgeous," Adam looks around. "Picture perfect."

"You should see this place when the leaves change color. It's even more special then. It would be a fantastic place to take fall pictures in."

"I'll bet."

To our right behind the houses, you can see the lake from earlier. It's a spectacular view from this angle, especially since the sun's setting. We stop for a bit to take it all in before pressing on.

We follow the road a ways before making a right in front of the hill. Soon after, we make yet another right. But before we go up the hill, Adam stops, causing me to stop.

"Wait a minute. I recognize this place. We went straight to go that one road!"

"Yep," I smile. "Someday, I'm going to bring you back here, and take you to the ice cream place down the hill."

"Sounds good," he agrees.

We bike up and over the hills, and we come full circle. We ride back over the highway, stopping only to take a few pictures of the setting sun, and back home. There, we sit on the trunk of my car and lean back.

"Where do you want to live when you get older?" Adam wonders.

"I don't know. The states ultimately, but I want to study abroad in Paris for a year."

"I like Ohio. It's nice."

"Yeah. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I want a year long honeymoon. You know, travel all 50 states before deciding where to settle down," I admit.

"That sounds cool. You would need a lot of money."

"That's why Imma marry me a rich man."

"Hey!" Adam snaps. "I'm not sure how to take that."

"As a compliment. I could see myself marrying you."

"Me too. Okay, you ask."

"How many kids do you want? I want four," I tell him.

"Why four?"

"It's not too few, not too many, and it's an even number. I don't want anyone feeling left out. And I want two girls and two boys. Everything perfectly even."

"That sounds pretty good to me. I don't care how many kids I have. I want a big family, and four sounds just fine. But how many pets?"

"I don't care as long as there isn't more than the number of family members. Each kid can have one pet as long as they take care of it," I make clear.

"Also sounds good," Adam nods.

"I also want a tree house with an obstacle course to get the kids active. And a pool. And Netflix. And cable tv. With beachy decor, annnd this is too much to handle all at once isn't it?"

"No, you're good. It's painting a picture."

"Well, I'll stop for now. What is your favorite dog breed?" I ponder.

"German shepard, or a husky."

"Those are adorable. Mine's a golden retriever."

"Those are beautiful. What's your biggest secret?" Adam asks.

"My biggest secret.... well I have memory boxes," I admit.

"Memory boxes?"

"Yeah, little things I've collected over the years like cards and tickets."

"I will have to see these memory boxes someday," Adam says.

"I go through them sometimes just to look at 'em. But anyways. What about you, what's your biggest secret?"

"My biggest secret is.... um." He sits up and stares straight ahead, looking at me when he says my name. "Well Chloe, do you remember when I told you my girlfriend story?" He turns to see me nod. "And you remember what I said of how I became mean?" Once again he turns to look at me. Once he gets confirmation from me, he doesn't look back at me. "Well, I became sooo mean, that I killed someone."

"WHAT?" Now I sit up straight searching his face to find him kidding. But he's not. I know this for he won't look at me. In fact he's looking away from me.

"Look its not that I wanted to. It just, happened. This guy wanted to be friends with me so bad, but he was annoying. Not only did he annoy me, but he annoyed Zoe."

"Please tell me she didn't order you to kill him."

"No, nothing like that," he says. "It's just that, this kid wouldn't give up. And he was a freshman, I get it. They're stupid and everyone hates them, but they don't realize it. But I-I-" For the first time, I see Adam cry. Not bawl like what I usually do, but tears roll down his cheeks.

"Hey, it's okay," I console. I put my arm around him.

He looks me in the eyes and says, "I told him to go kill himself, Chloe. On Monday at school, we found out that he had killed himself over the weekend. He was found hanging in his closest. His parents had to find him dead because of something I said. How could I say something like that? I'm such a monster. That's when I realized what I was becoming. Another reason why my parents wanted to come back here.... I totally understand if you don't want to date me anymore. I don't deserve you anyway," he puts his head in his hands.

"Adam. Of course I still want to date you. You didn't know he would take it seriously. Sure he was probably upset, but I'm sure he forgives you after seeing how upset this has made you. Honey, it's okay. It's going to be alright. You made a mistake, but that was in the past. You have to accept your mistake and move on. And if you want to, we can visit his grave together."

"I went to his funeral."

"That's good," I tell him.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are," I wipe his cheeks and kiss him. "I'm here for you always," I assure him.

"Good. Cause you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." I kiss him again for that was the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me.

We lay back on my car and look up at the stars. It's a perfectly clear night, not a cloud in the sky. The moon is full and bright, casting a shadow in front of my house. Together, we look for all the star constellations we know of; pointing to the sky when we find one.