summer bucket list // l.h

01.

// ☼ marina

There was seventy-five days of summer vacation. From the eighteenth of June to August thirty-first, I wasn't tied down by any of my usual responsibilities - school, homework, the constant pressure that I wasn't good enough. But now I was free, for nearly two months and if that wasn't good enough, I was being sent across the country to live with my Aunt Deb in California because my parents were going to Paris for the summer and didn't want to waste money on bringing me or leave me at home to get up to no good.

So that was probably how the idea to write down all the things I wanted to do this summer started. The fact that the only supervision I would be held under is Aunt Deb and her exuberant personality and that she would be way too busy making sure her nails were dry and her hair was perfect than bothered with whatever I was doing.

I had always been the popular girl in Florida because my parents famousness in the town, I had always been held under pressure with everything in my life, to be the perfect daughter, to be the perfect friend, to be the perfect girlfriend. But this summer I was going to be released from all the strings holding me down on Earth and I was going to thrive, I was going to be somebody I wanted to be - instead of somebody I had to be.

"Marina, you up?" There was a timid knock on my bedroom door and I haughtily rolled over, running a hand through my dark hair as I blinked at the sudden intrusion of light in my darkened room as the door opened to reveal my jubilant aunt. She was looking alive and cheerful, like usual. Her blonde hair pulled back in an elegant twist and her high heels making her look twice the height she actually was.

"I am now," I said, my voice thick with sleep as I coughed twice to try and make it sound normal. It was the first morning I was waking up in California, in the room my aunt had done up for me, and even though I was as tired as anything, in the back of my mind all I wanted to do was get up and get started on my summer bucket list that I had wirtten out a week before.

"Well," Aunt Deb's lips pursed, "I'm headed off to work now and I just wanted to let you know," Deb worked as a wedding planner, and so her job was stressful and demanding and she often worked long hours, I didn't understand how she was always so energized and enthusiastic all the time.

I barely nodded at her before my head collapsed back on the feather pillows and I pulled the duvet back over my head, resuming my previous position, but Aunt Deb was convinced that she wanted to talk to me this morning and so I heard her laugh before the loud sound of her high heels nipped over towards my bed.

Part of the bed lowered and then Deb was pulling the covers off of my face, an incandescent smile on her face as she did so, "Before I left, I just wanted to let you know that the boy next door, his name is Luke, will be coming over shortly to do some gardening and cleaning and things before he goes grocery shopping for me, I'd like you to go with him," I blinked up at my aunt's face.

"What? You want me to garden with him?" I didn't know what time it was, but I figured it was long before my usual rise and shine time, that being said, I was still half asleep and I wasn't in the mood to be having a semi-important conversation with my Aunt.

"No!" She snickered, "I want you to go grocery shopping with him! Luke has the list for me, but I'm not sure what food you eat, so I want you to go with him and get whatever you want, he has my card," I gazed up at my Aunt Deb, wondering why she got the next door neighbour to go shopping for her, I got that she was busy a lot of the time, but didn't everyone else in California get their food delivered straight to their doorstep? I thought that was a perk of being rich out here.

"Oh, uh, sure," I didn't know what else to say other than to just agree with her. I didn't bother telling her that I would most likely feel awkward and uncomfortable going grocery shopping with some random guy named Luke, I had no idea how old he was, he could be fifty years old and just helping out my Aunt to get in her pants like some pedophile, or he could be a twelvie looking to get into my pants like some hormonal pre-teen.

"Okay! He should be over by about ten to start on the gardening, be a doll and get the door for him when he gets here!" My aunt smiled a million dollar smile before she raised from my bed and disappeared from my room with the sound of her clicking high heels the only sound.

The only problem with her departure was that she had left my door wide open, and the light from the hallway was streaming in, right on my face. I groaned before I decided to just get up, if Aunt Deb wanted me to answer the door for her little helper Luke, I should get dressed. Seeing as all I had worn to bed the night before was an over-sized In Hearts Wake band t-shirt that I had bought online last year, thinking it would come in a smaller size but was horribly disappointed to find that mediums where I had bought it from was more like a 3x Large in Florida.

I walked towards my two suitcases that were still sprawled open on the ground, the contents neatly folded except for the once place I had taken my t-shirt from last night and replaced with my clothes from yesterday, no worries, I would hang them all up sometime today, when I wasn't being bothered by my Aunt's little helper.

I pulled out a flowing white shirt and a pair of acid washed jean shorts, paring it with my favourite pair of white converse. I changed quickly, forgetting about a shower until this evening, I had never been one to shower in the morning. I was getting ready to pull the book Paper Towns by John Green out of my fringed purse and head down and outside to the pool and get a half hour of reading in on the decking chairs, seeing as it was only 9:30 and Aunt Deb's little helper wasn't due till ten when I heard the doorbell ring.

Groaning, I headed down the hallway and then down the stairs, noting that this house was way too big for one person to live in,even for two, until I found myself standing in front of the front door, peering through the peep hole to get a look at my Aunt's helper before letting him into the house.

I was greeted with a face I hadn't expecting to see, he was around my age with blonde hair styled up in a quiff, blue eyes framed by to die for dark lashes. He was wearing black skinny jeans with a whole in the knee that looked way too small for him but somehow he pulled it off, which he had paired with a Nirvana singlet that showed off the muscle definition in his biceps.

I swallowed hard and shook my head to clear it as I opened the door, looking him up and down now that I wasn't looking at him through the peep hole, he was gorgeous, that much was obvious. It was also obvious that he knew it, by the looks of the conceited smirk on his face and the way he stood leaning against one of the porch frames.

"You must be Marina, Deb's niece," Luke said, his conceited smirk turning into more of a conceited smile as he stepped forward, into the door frame, awaiting me to move out of the way so he could enter the house and get going with the jobs he was supposed to do while here.

But I stood there, in the middle of the doorway, my arms crossed over my chest and my shoulders pushed backwards, he seemed way too cocky and contemptuous for me to even want to get to know him, even if he was incredibly attractive, "You're early," Was all I said as I finally let him in.

Hope this was an alright first chapter, I rewrote this a gazillion times, so I'm hoping its at least okay! (Outfit in the external link)