Remembering Summer

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

Summer hobbles in front of me and tries to show that she's "tough and can handle herself", but ends up almost tripping on the curb. I shake my head and roll my eyes, jogging up to her and supporting half her body weight. She tries to pull away but winces and leans into my shoulder. I laugh and she shoots me a glare.

"It's not funny. I can support myself," she jabs.

"Is that why you just about smacked face first into the pavement back there?" She glares again but I see the smile on the edges of her lips, and I smile my brightest smirk. We're just about to her house and my tee shirt bandage is stained red. I cringe at how much it must hurt.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why don't you just ask for help when you need it?" She turns to me, looking a bit shocked.

"I-I had no idea..." I smirk at her loss for words at first, but then she continues. "I had no idea you could be so shallow and judgmental." I'm the one who's shocked. She smiles her biggest smile and hobbles up to her front door. I stand stunned at the curb of her driveway. My slack jaw turns into a scowl. I can hear her keys jangling as she tries to unlock the door.

"I WANT MY TEE SHIRT BACK!" She walks back to me, unwraps the bandage and hand it to me, smiling her biggest smile.

"Why the hell do you want the scrap of an old, bloody tee shirt?" I don't know why I asked her for it. To get the last word probably. I don't usually have this problem with girls. I usually just get what I want and go. They're never this...stubborn.

"Whatever. Have fun explaining a bloody tee shirt scrap to your parents." She limps away and some more fresh blood comes out of the cut. I feel a bit bad until she turns from her porch and yells to me.

"Oh and by the way, if the best you can do to get into a girl's pants is a corny cliche question, the only thing you're gonna be getting anything from for a while is your hand." Then she slams the door and turns off the porch light.

Luckily my parents aren't downstairs so I sneak up to my room and bury the tee shirt in the bottom of my trash can. It's already almost ten. I hadn't realized how long it had taken to walk to the park, hang out with Summer, help Summer, walk home, then get in a fight with Summer. It had felt like it was 5 just a few hours ago.

I look out my window at the house next to us. For the past three years nobody has lived in it. Some people say it's cause it's haunted. And in a way it is. Not by ghosts but more by other peoples memories. Memories of Emily. The girl who had taken her own life just a few years ago. Everyone had thought she was so happy. I thought she was happy.

I used to talk to her through this window. After she died...I just say there at my window for hours at a time. Some crazy part of me must have thought that if I stared long enough, she'd walk up and start chatting away like she always used to. Some crazy part of me. I stare out that window now, lost in my own thoughts about Emily. The light in the room flickers on and that crazy part of me jumps. But it's not Emily. It's Summer. I sigh and almost close my curtains. Then she turns on her music. And starts to get undressed.

I am not going to say I look away, or that I close the window. I'm a teenage guy who will stare at a girl. She takes her shirt off and then her shorts. I admit to myself she's hot. Denial is not going to do me any good here. She's tan, probably from wherever she said she was from before now. She slides on an oversized tee-shirt and let's her hair down. Then she turns around. I can tell her makeup is gone and I'm shocked at the difference. She looks...pretty. Not hot or sexy or anything. Genuinely pretty. Her leg is bandaged and she seems to feel better. She walks over to a box and rummages through it, looking for something specific. The pulls out a book and recognize the cover. With "The Great Gatsby" tucked under her arm, she climbs into her bed. Music starts to flow out of her window as she sets her iPhone on its dock. I don't recognize the song, but I take note of a few lines to look up for later. I like the beat and the tune. It's obvious that it's a love song, which I'm not usually into, but it sounds nice.

"Nothing prepared me for what the privelege of being yours would do. If I had only felt the warmth within your touch. If I had only seen how you smile when you blush. Or how you curl your lip when you concentrate enough. Then I would have known what I was living for. What I've been living for."

I take a deep breath and look up the lyrics. Turning Page by Sleep At Last appears and I pull it up on my phone. I plug it into my own speakers and pull out my copy of the Great Gatsby. My bed is soft, I'm tired too. So soon enough I fall asleep to Daisy Buchannan's sadness and a man's confessional vows in the form of a song.

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A/N

Hey guys! I'm sorry about the long wait, I've just been SO busy lately. I'll try to upload more soon(: and if you haven't hear the song mentioned in this chapter you really should look it up. It's amazing! It'll set you in a really happy mood, I guarantee it. Or you might cry. Or both. Oh well! Please don't forget to vote too if you enjoy the chapters guys! Thanks(: