Blue Letter Night

9. Beth makes a list

A week had gone by and in that time, Anne and I figured sense this was bound to be a summer full of disasters, we would keep a list of the events of the summer, appropriately titled "a comprehensive list of summer happenings". It accounted for the number of times Masons parents visited, how many times Eddie had come over to eat all our food with Mason, and of course, the number of arguments Mason and I had.

A comperhensive list of summer happenings

(Last updated: nine days after Masons arrival)

Carter parents visits
1

Eddie consuming the entirety of our food supply with Masons help
10

Max talking about his mice at inappropriate times
13

Parents making Beth and Mason interact
5

Anne/ Max/ Eddie making Beth and Mason interact
6

Heat waves
2

Machelle cusses then covers it up with an overtly fake cough
4

Arguments between Anne and Max
3 (all about his creatures)

Arguments between Beth and Mason
27

It's was written on blue construction paper, as were all my important documents. Because this was Anne and I's project, I placed the list in the left drawer of the white painted, wood desk sitting in front on the window. The drawer on the right didn't lock. The one on the left however, locked with a key I kept in a place no snoop— and by snoop I meant Max and Mason— would dare enter: my bra drawer. The only thing that would've been more clever was a box of tampons.

This left drawer contained stacks and stacks of documents and letters, all written on blue paper that I would only share with Anne, and even then, she knew some of the things in the drawer I would keep to myself. I couldn't even count the amount of times I cried over the contents of the left drawer.

Over the week Macy and Robert had visited and dropped off another load of boxes in our attic. I made a decision that I wouldn't snoop on Mason. Just because he decided to be snoopy didn't mean I had to retaliate.

During the day that Macy and Robert visited us for their weekly visits, I could tell they were disappointed Mason and I hadn't made amends but, even sense Sebastian incident our arguments had gotten less frequent and when they happened, they were subdued to bickering. I wasn't sure if it was something to do with pity or maybe he was just trying to be more mature about the matter. Despite all this, it didn't stop our parents from trying to make us friends though, and the more they tried to make us get along, the more Mason and I argued. I was surprised they hadn't seen the correlation and given up.

The sweltering heat invading Stanmore was definitely not helping this however. I was never suited for warm weather and copious amounts of bright sun shine, because with those things comes sweaty discomfort and high UV rays. Anne, Eddie, Mason, and Max didn't understand. All of them had skin that didn't need a large dose of SFP 100 every half hour. The second heat wave Stanmore recived though, was too much for all of us to handle. Machelle was gone most of the time, treating burnt paws of dogs because their owners tried to take them for a walk, despite the sidewalk being hot enough to fry an egg. Her office was also air conditioned which may have influenced her to pick up a couple extra shifts.

All of us, including Eddie who was attached at the hip with Mason, laid on the hardwood floor of the kitchen with as little clothing and we could manage. Out of context it must've looked pretty strange; five teenagers laying starfish style, all in bathing suits, on the kitchen floor. Anne was holding her phone above her face, giving me periodic updates on summer break ups (I figured I'd add that to the comprehensive list of summer happenings) heat reports, and showing pictures of dogs that Machelle had sent her. Max and I read books; his on spiders, mine on a murder mystery. Eddie was talking to Mason as if he had gone delusional from the heat.

"Beth, is this how you feel all the time during summer?" Max asked weakly.

"Every. Single. Day," I replied.

"And I thought you were just being a baby, Rogers," Mason remarked.

"I could never top your dramatics Carter," I short back with the least effort I could managed. He only made a grunt in response.

"Why don't you guys have AC again?" Eddie asked miserably. All of us would've gone to his house except for the fact his dad refused to pay for AC, and every window in his house had sun pouring through the windows.

"This house is ancient," Anne answered, "we couldn't install AC without weeks of construction through the vents,"

We all groaned.

Ironically, because of the extreme heat, Mason and I had been getting along far better, purely because nether of us had any energy to annoy each other. His lack of energy, I found, made him much more tolerable.

My back sticking to the floor, I crunched to sit up and stretch. My back made a loud cracking sound as I lengthened myself.

"Where are you going?" Anne asked.

"I have to go work on my gallery piece," I explained, stretching my arms.

"Gallery piece?" Eddie asked. I could tell Masons interest had peaked because he was actually looking at me as I talked.

"Yeah. I was asked to present a couple paintings in the art gallery on the edge of town. I have two done, and still need to finish the last,"

"Exciting," Eddie said half heartedly. I new if he could, he would've sprung up and hugged me excitedly. I made a noise in response before leaving to my room which I knew was going to be unbearable.

Under my desk, propped up right against the wall, was a number of canvases. Some were blank, others had paintings that I deemed not good enough to hang or show, others were there until I decided what I wanted to do with them.

I pulled out a specific painting I had been working on for weeks, and it wasn't close to being finished. I had decided on the concept weeks before I began painting; a pair of hands holding glasses in front of a brightly coloured landscape. Only through the lenses of the glasses is the landscape clear. It was difficult to paint, mainly because of the hands. Hands are truly the worst thing anyone could ever decide to paint, I guess I was feeling ambitious.

I brought out all the supplies I could need, brushes, paints, an easel, a palette and so on. The basic outline, the base colours, and a little bit of detail of the landscape through the lenses had been done. I had two and a half weeks to get this done, and I was ready to tackle the project.