Endless Summer/ ✔️

Hard

Dad gripped my shoulders as I wiped away the sweat that dripped from my head. "In all of my years of being away from my wife, I never stopped loving her. She was the type of person that would appreciate a lady bug if it landed on her nose. She never hated one person in her life and most importantly, she took care of my daughter and I until it was time to have the roles reversed."

"There was nothing she couldn't do. She made things work for us as a family who had much thrown at us and now, she is the one who will lead us for the rest of our lives. I appreciate you all coming out today. She wanted to be celebrated in life not mourned," dad finished. The room erupted into small applause as he walked away.

Today, a new chapter was supposed to begin. Three weeks ago, we buried my mother next to her own and now we were celebrating her life and the life she gave.

Three weeks ago, I also met my dead sister who isn't really dead. For the last four years or so, she had been living on the same base camp dad did and never even knew who he was. Madison never stopped and thought that anyone in that camp could be her dad. She never had the thoughts to come to America and see her mother until she was on her death bed.

Slowly, I stood and walked back over to Daniel. The other boys had arrived here, this time with their own girlfriends. According to Jack, however, his date was the ultimate definition of hot. "Hey Maya," Jonah laughed. "You look a little happy."

"I'm not exactly happy, I just want to move on for my mother. She would have told me to get over it as soon as possible and even thought I'm not going to even try to move on from her," I rambled. "I still think we should take this life celebration and make it the one we were meant to be at today. Christ has a plan for us all, and this is the beginning of it."

***

When I was six, my mother and I used to go to hotels to eat the food and jump on beds. We would order pizza and movies and stuff ourselves full until we passed out. For my eighth birthday, my parents took Lauren and I to Hawaii. The entire time, I never saw the smile leave her face. She was a positive person who believed you weren't all the way dressed without a smile.

"Are you okay?" Madison asked. I looked up, still finding it hard to believe that she actually alive.

"Do you mind telling me why you showed up all of a sudden?" I snapped. Daniel tensed up next to me, strengthening his grip on my hand. "You never even bothered to come and see dad or any of us except for mom. Who is now dead, so does that mean you're going to drop dead too? Does that mean you're just going to forget about your father and I?"

I was inches from Madison's face when Daniel put a hand on my shoulder. "Back away," Daniel whispered. My heart lurched as if it wanted to reach out for Madison's face and drag it across the front lawn.

"Maya I d-"

"Get out," I whispered. Just then, I realized that everyone had gotten silent and stared at the both of us. Sniffling, I pulled down my dress and grabbed my things. "I'm going to go out for a little bit. Don't wait up tonight, okay?" I said, kissing Daniel's cheek.

Minutes later, I walked down the sidewalk, shoes in hand, when another hand grabbed my own. "Lauren? What are you doing here?" I asked. Lauren ran a hand over her eighth month belly.

"Isn't crazy how fast time flies?" Lauren said, smiling. "First, I was announcing that I was pregnant, then I was five months, shit happened and then boom. Here I am, eight months pregnant. I honestly didn't even know what day it was till about ten minutes ago."

"One minute your sister is dead and then she isn't, then your mom dies and your sister goes back with her. You're having a baby, we live with five boys, we dropped our Florida life," I scoffed. "And we did it all in under eight months. How stupid are we?"

"Let me answer with stupid. We are very stupid, Maya. But hey, at least we have our life half way figured out."

"You have your life figured out. I just lost my mom, my dad is going back to base camp and I have no idea what I'm going to do. Can I tell you something?" Lauren opened her mouth to speak as a car slowly passed by, music pouring from the speakers. "I don't even know what Daniel and I are doing."

Lauren smiled and kicked a rock. We found ourselves at a small playground that we always used to come to when we were little. Sitting on the swing, Lauren sighed. "I don't get it. You two are happy, what could you possibly be doing wrong?"

"We don't thrive as much as we used to. With him being so busy with Eben and Jon, me figuring things out with my own life and making sure you are always okay. I see him for maybe five minutes before I go to sleep."

"You know what I think?" Lauren winked. The sound of crickets filled the silence around us as we swung back and forth on the little swings. "I think you two need a little time away from everyone else before the careers get started. You have been working non stop on college, you don't think about anything else. I say take a break and go on a vacation."

A vacation was not the worst idea in the world. But it seemed hard to just let everything rest for a while and take off. Lauren was going to be close to giving birth especially with a little baby like Jen. She was expected to be an early baby and have few complications and I wanted to be here through that the entire way.

Hard work was hard when it came to the life I led and sometimes I felt as if I was the only one who ever saw it. I juggled school, friendships with Lauren and the boys, Daniel and his music career, my family here, keeping the lifestyle at home spic and span. But everyone always sees the hard work we each put into our lives. The hard part? Was accepting that it was going to be hard, no matter how deep you get into it.