Blue Letter Night

2. Mason is pouting

I wanted to be anywhere that wasn't in the hot, sweaty car taking me to my summer destination which, believe it or not, was worse than the seven hour car ride it took to get there.

I wasn't proud, but I was pouting in the back seat that was crammed with boxes. I tried to make my pout as ridiculous as possible so my parents, who were in the front seat, would notice and maybe let me stay at our other house until all our stuff was in Stanmore. I got not even a glance from my parents. They were too busy talking about moving plans, and what would be the best way to pack up the house.

"I don't know Robert, maybe we should bring some furniture next," Mom suggested.

"Hmmm," Dad said, obviously not really listening sense his brain was fried from driving for six hours. We didn't exactly trust mom to drive because her driving got us pulled over, making our trip even longer so, dad took over. I sunk down further in my seat with my arms crossed at my chest and made an attempt to sigh louder than the blasting AC.

"And what's wrong with you?" Mom asked, fully knowing what was wrong.

"Whats wrong," I grumbled, "is that my parents, who I thought loved me, are making me spend the summer with Beth Rogers,"

"Oh come on son," Dad interjected, "Beth was a smart kid. If she was able to keep an intelligent conversation about enterprise when she was four, I'm sure she'll be interesting now," I huffed and rolled my eyes. That was just like Beth, a know it all who thought she was so mature. Yeah, right.

"You'll have fun. Get to explore Stanmore, see what's changed!" Mom proposed cheerily. That was the other thing; I was leaving yet another place we had to move to for dads work. We had just gotten settled and then we were up and leaving again. I tried not to be bitter about that part and focus all my bitterness on my summer arrangements.

"Mom, you really think a place like Stanmore would've changed?" I slouched back down into my seat and raised a sarcastic eyebrow at her through the mirror. We both knew that a town like Stanmore was too stubborn to change.

"Well, that doesn't matter," Mom backtracked, "What does matter is that both you and Beth have changed. Maybe you'll even find yourself enjoying each others company," I chuckled sarcastically.

"Funny joke mom,"

"You know Beth has grown up into quite the beautiful girl, she's come very far with her art and-," I groaned interrupting her. If I had to hear how amazing Beth Rogers was one more time, I was going to throw myself out the car window and into a ditch. A dusty ditch with the summer heat in the middle of no where was better than a summer with Beth.

"Beth Rogers could never be beautiful, she's too ugly on the inside," I mumbled. Dad barked a laugh.

"Well at least theres Max, and you didn't mind Anne, and what about your old friend, what was his name...?"

"Eddie? I haven't seen him in years," I answered. Max was two years younger than Anne, Beth, and I. Even when he was five the kid was a genius, but he was always like a dorky little brother to me, which I appreciated sense I was an only child.

Eddie was my best friend when I went to school in Stanmore. He was the tallest kid in class and that— and the asian food he always brought for lunch that the rest of us kids hadn't seen before— made him cool, by a kindergarteners standards at least. He was a nice kid and we got along great.

"You'll find something to do," Mom assured me. She was right, I always did. I was bitter sure, but I wasn't going to mope around the whole summer.

The rest of the car ride I zoned out, trying to regroup my mind in prep for what was going to happen when we got to Machelle's house. I tried to remember as many details as I could about Stanmore; where the grocery store was, the theatre, and that pond full of the angry ducks. Stanmore even had a specific smell to remember, it was something like the smell of wet wood, even when we hadn't had rain for an entire summer, and freshly mowed grass, even when it was winter and all the grass was buried under an even sheet of snow.