The Sun Shines Brightest in June (Completed) gxg

Saturday, June 2, 2007

I think my parents were happy when summer rolled around again. This meant Klara and I could see each other in person, and therefore my phone bill would drop drastically.

We arrived a little later than normal that year. Timothy and Mr. Jacobs where out in the back yard playing with Ringo, Mrs. Jacobs was lounging in front of the TV in the air-conditioned living room, and Klara was already up in our room. I ran up the stairs, skipping every other one, and barged through the door with a smile on my face. Klara sprang up off her bed. I dropped my bags onto the floor.

"I've missed you so much," she said as she pulled me into a hug.

She lifted me up off the ground so that my feet were dangling. When she put me back down I realized she had grown at least another three inches. She looked down at me and smiled. I nudged her arm.

"You're getting pretty tall," I pointed out.

"Yeah. I know. And I couldn't resist picking you up. You're so tiny."

I rolled my eyes. It was true. I was only five feet tall. Klara had to be about five foot nine now. My head only came up to her collarbone. I hadn't grown over the past year, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to anymore. I was already just about as tall as my mother, and my father wasn't a very big guy.

I pushed her back until she was beside her bed again and then tackled her onto it. She laughed squirmed around, trying to break free as I tried to tickle her.

"This is your pay back!" I said. "Nobody gets away with picking me up!"

She began to laugh even harder until her eyes were watering and her stomach started to hurt. I crawled off of her and lay by her side as we both caught our breath. I was in tears too. I wiped at my eyes and rolled over to face her. She was scowling at me.

"That wasn't very nice of you," she said. "I should be allowed to pick you up."

I let out a short laugh.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?"

She rolled over to face me and pushed a strand of hair out of my face.

"Because I'm your girlfriend. I should get special privileges."

"Girlfriend?"

We had never used a label to describe our relationship before. We hadn't even talked this over. When had she decided that we were officially girlfriends now? I guess it didn't matter too much. I wasn't going to argue about it. I liked the idea of Klara being my girlfriend.

She shrugged.

"I thought it was time that we solidified it. I mean I haven't dated anyone else since, you know, last summer. It didn't feel right. It felt like it would be cheating. That's when I realized that it would be, because I already have you."

I could feel my face turning red.

"I have a confession to make."

Klara sat up on her bed and looked over at me with concern. I sat up too and fiddled with the string hanging off the bottom of my shirt.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I... uh... I went on a date with this guy at my school, Kale."

"Like the salad?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, but it wasn't my choice. My friends set me up and I didn't even know about. It wasn't even fun. He tried to have sex with me."

Her eyes widened.

"So you didn't do it?"

I shook my head abruptly.

"Ew. No way. I didn't want my first time to be with some guy I barely knew in my best friend's living room. I'm not even sure I'd want it to be with a guy. I mean... all I could think about was wanting to get back here to you."

She sighed and put an arm around my shoulder.

"I'm not mad that you went on a date, you know. I can't blame you when you're friends don't know you may not even like guys. Heck, my friends don't know either. I'm just lucky they aren't as pushy about me not having a boyfriend."

"I'm starting to think that maybe I should lie to them," I admitted, "just to shut them up."

"Lie to them?" she questioned.

I nodded.

"I'll make them think I have a long distance boyfriend. We can come with a name and a background story and everything. I'll tell them I met him over the summer when we took a trip into town to visit the library."

Klara smiled at this.

"Ooh! This does sound fun. And what a great way to meet a guy. Your friends would totally love hearing that you met your new love at a library over summer vacation. It sounds kind of romantic."

"I agree. We can even say we were looking for the same book or something."

"It's perfect!"