Summer Loving

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have..

•••

"So, what was all that about?" Beverly smirked and nudged Beth playfully as they walked along the busy streets. "That one kid looked like he was going to faint."

"You mean Eddie?" Beth laughed and shook her head. "Eddie Kaspbrak is my beau," she theatrically clutched her hands to her chest. "My one and only! Now he just needs to see it too. I gave him my number and you saw the aftermath."

"The jittery short one?" Skepticism colored her tone and Beth smiled brightly.

"The cute jittery short one." She reiterated. Beverly laughed at her spaced out grin, thinking that Beth must have been thinking about Eddie.

"I can't tell if he's lucky or doomed." Beth looked at her, confused. "There's one thing I can say for sure.. He definitely is going to have his hands full with you."

Beth gasped in mock offense. "I'll be the perfect girlfriend! Probably.. Not.. Maybe he doesn't even like me! Bev, what am I going to do?" The bubbly girl visibly deflated.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're Beth Valentine. Every boy likes you." She raised an eyebrow in amusement at her lamenting companion.

"But Eddie's different." She tugged at Beverly's arm insistently. "He's definitely special. I could tell that he was different from anyone I'd ever met when he first spoke to me. Every time we interacted after that just solidified my first impression. The way he held himself was so strange."

Beth had began to motion with her hands, unable to explain what she meant. "It was- confident but somehow repressed? Like, he knows what he's talking about but he doesn't want to.. he's hesitant to use his own opinion or experience in his explanations?" She blinked up at Beverly, willing her to understand what she meant.

"I know what you mean." Beverly  barely understood a word her little sidekick was saying, but she patted Beth's head and smiled as if she did.

"Thanks red." She slyly grinned at Beverly who just snorted and pulled the shorter girl along.

By this point they had reached main street and Beth noticed that Beverley had started to get a little fidgety.

"Are you okay? You seem on edge." She asked quietly, as if Beverly was an easily scared animal.

"Yes I'm fine. I just don't really feel like going home right now." Beth would have believed her if she hadn't been avoiding eye contact. Ultimately she decided not to pry. Everyone deserved privacy after all.

"How about you come hang out at my apartment for a while? My sister won't be home until late so it'll be just the two of us. You can even stay for dinner!" Beth smiled brightly, Beverly's white lie already forgotten.

Beverly looked up at her, surprised. "Really? Gosh, Beth that's really sweet of you."

"You live right above me so it's no trouble at all. You'll be doing me a favor. Heaven knows if I'm left alone I'll just stare at the phone and will Eddie to call me. It'll be sad and I'll look totally pathetic." She laughed nervously as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

Beverly groaned and playfully ruffled Beth's hair. "I see your point. But seriously Beth, you can have any boy you want. Why Eddie? No offense but you're- you and he's kind of a dork. I don't really understand your reasoning behind this one."

"I wouldn't even be speaking to you right now if it wasn't for him," she said slowly. "I wouldn't have spoken to anyone. When I got here I was angry- angry at everyone, everything. I just wanted to go back to California."

It was difficult for her to explain, but she would try for Beverly. "Then last summer I met Eddie and he could barely speak to me," she giggled, remembering the look on Eddie's face. "He was stumbling over his words and called me pretty. It was so cute. I had been in the worst mood and he made it go away with not even a minute of him speaking to me. I thought that he must've been special, ya know?" Beverly nodded in encouragement.

"So I kept my word and I kept on smiling, even though I hated it here and wanted to go home. It made my life a lot easier too. It would've sucked if all I did was sulk and cry all the time. Acting like I'm happy does make me feel better. I've almost forgot how it felt to be so bitter all the time."

Beverly slowly nodded as she processed all that Beth had said. "So, he's the reason you are who you are right now?"

"Seems silly that one little encounter did all that, doesn't it?"

"No! I can see what you got from that first meeting. Really, I can. It's just really funny to me. It's just," Beverly giggled behind her hand. "Eddie looks like the sort to scream if you even touched him."

"No way! I was just hugging him earlier before you-" Beverly burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Man, Beth you're going to give him a heart attack. He probably didn't know what to do with himself." She wiped at her eyes as she tried to calm down.

Beth pouted and pulled Beverly up the stairs and to a stop in front of her apartment. The girl was still laughing as she unlocked the door and pushed her inside.

Beverly took a breath and grinned at Beth. "It's- I just pictured the face he must've been making and it's priceless!" Beth laughed and shook her head at her friends' silliness.

"Hey, it made you laugh didn't it? That's all I wanted. This evening is going to be great so you can't mope over your boy toy the whole time."

"Fine but you have to help me cook. Deal?" Beth asked, still snickering.

"Deal." Beverly agreed with little reluctance.

"It'll be fun! Now come on, I'll show you around." Beth gave the girl a tour of the apartment and tried to make her feel at home.

"Your apartment is a lot different from mine," she said later, as they cut up vegetables for a salad. The girls had decided that Beverly's first meal in the apartment should be something Italian with lots of bread and salad. So far they were having a lot of fun with the radio playing in the background as they cooked and danced around the kitchen.

"How so?" Beth queried after executing a particularly terrible Pop N' Lock move that had them both falling into fits of laughter.

"I don't know how to explain it." Beverly wiped a stray tear and held her stomach, sore from laughing. "It's like, your place is brighter or something. It just seems a lot more open and warm than my own apartment."

Beth was silent for a few moments before saying, "You're welcome here anytime. Even if I'm not home. I always keep my bedroom window unlocked. You can just climb down the fire escape and into my room through the window."

"Beth.. Why are you being so nice to me? I've known you for not even a whole day at this point. I could be an ax murderer for all you know." She made chopping motions with her hands.

"I can see it. Your eyes are clear and bright. You are a good person, Beverly Marsh. We are going to be the best of friends and you will just have to be okay with being stuck with me forever."

"That sounds like a plan."