The Summer We Believed (Denim Days #1)

Day 3 -- Duncan

I told Mel if we were going to have to spend the day inside, her house was friendlier than mine right now, and she agreed. After my shower, I quickly combed my hair and dug through the chest of drawers for my gray hoodie. Cody was sprawled on the bottom bunk, on his iPhone. He laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"I put a picture of us cleaning the shed on Instagram."

"Thanks. That'll work wonders for my rep."

"Kelly Watteau said Good to see this. I thought your brother had been kidnapped. He's kinda been missing. Tell him I said hey. "

"Kelly Watteau, huh?"

"The one and only."

I pulled on a pair of Levi's and nudged Cody's knees out of the way so I could sit on the bottom bunk to lace my shoes. "Tell her I'm fine."

"Tell her yourself."

I picked up my phone, then stopped. Did I need to chat with Kelly Watteau right now? Before the news about move the answer would've been yes. How else could I keep my rep intact? Did I want to? Not really. I slipped my phone into the hoodie pocket. "You want to come with?"

"What are we going to do all day?"

"I dunno. The weather is shitty. TV, movies, board games?"

"Thrills."

"Do whatever you want. I just thought it was better than hanging in this room all day."

"It is." Cody dragged himself off the bottom bunk, ran his fingers through his hair, and slipped his feet into a pair of rubber Crocs. He grabbed my U sweatshirt off the back of the chair and we headed for the door. "Going to Mel's," I called to Mom.

"Have fun," echoed from the kitchen.

At Mel's back porch I knocked on the screen door. "Can we come in to play?" I yelled.

Mel was on the couch, already wrapped in her wubbie. She shook her head like, that was stupid, which it was, but I liked to say it. I'd said it practically my whole life, and had no intention of stopping just because we turned eighteen.

"Cody wants to know what our plans are for today," I said as I stepped through the door.

"Yahtzee?" she asked hopefully. The box was already on the sofa near her feet. She picked it up.

"If you insist."

"Oh, I do."

"Seriously? Do we have to play that first? How about Carmen San Diego? You love that game with all your wanderlust."

The Yahtzee box positioned in front of her chest, Mel stood her ground, unmovable. Like one of the mountains in the Iron Range. "I love the dream of travel better than the game. I kick ass at Yahtzee."

"Never mind. Let's play."

Mel won the first two games, but I was having better throws in this one. The rain showed no signs of letting up. In fact, it was raining harder now than when we went for our run. I tried not to think about the move, but it kept pestering me, like a Northwood's mosquito that lands and drifts away before you can swat it.

Thinking about the move was depressing.

Thinking about only four and half more days at the lake was depressing.

Thinking about life without Mel was depressing.

"Depression bites," I said.

"It does," Mel agreed, and then completed a Yahtzee on her second roll.

"How do you do that?"

Mel gave me an I dunno shrug, and asked, "What made you think of that?"

"Because you always get Yahtzees on your second roll, and if I get them at all, it takes three."

"Not that. You said depression bites. Is it the rain?"

I looked at Mel's flawless skin, pinked up from the sun she got during yesterday's sail. She cocked her head while waiting for me to answer. "Yeah, it's probably just the rain," I said. "Either that or the way you always beat me at Yahtzee."

We switched to Scrabble, then Uno, and then watched two movies on Netflix—one picked by Cody, one by Mel. I wasn't really into either of them, so I spent the time on Instagram, and chatting with Jackson, Mandy, Brigitte, Michael and Piper.

Not to mention the one and only Kelly Watteau.

The movie ended and Mel asked, "Is it really that interesting?"

"Why don't you ever go on Instagram?"

Mel shrugged. "Not into it."

"Why?"

"Leave Mel alone, you moron." Cody always had a unique way of deflecting my questions. "Put your phone down; let's play another game."

I looked at my timeline once more, liking and commenting on a few more followers before we dove into another marathon game session.