A Summer To Remember

Date

"You want to do your homework here?" I asked. She went in the opposite direction of our houses and to the park. It used to have a small playground but was demolished a few years back. Now, it was just trees and grass and a small pond. It was mainly used for older people now.

"It's a nice day."

I gripped the arm rest as she headed down a decline. As if that'd do anything. If she let go, the chair would probably flip and holding on would only hurt me worse.

She stopped under a tree and used the breaks on the wheelchair. I didn't even know it had breaks. She dropped our backpacks on the grass and walked in front of me.

"Do you need my help?"

"Do you know how embarrassing this is?" I mumbled, my face heating up.

"Not any more embarrassing than me dropping all my books this morning at school."

I grinned. "I'm sorry I missed it."

"I could just shove you down the hill, you know."

"Who pissed you off today?"

She put her foot on one of the breaks, threatening to let it go. "Don't make me do it."

I grabbed her arm in a vice grip, my heart racing. "Jeez, Jade. Are you trying to make me crap myself?"

She laughed. "That'd be pretty funny if I did."

"Definitely not."

She slid her arm around my shoulders. "I've never done this before so we're going to have to wing it."

The two of us forget that she only had one arm, not two arms and one hand. When she tried to help me out, my weight pushed her down and we fell to the ground. I managed to catch myself before I landed on her, my arm steadying both of us.

She laughed and let her head fall back in the grass. "That was a terrible idea."

"I guess I'm not the only idiot in this relationship."

"Relationship?"

"Don't change the subject." I rolled off of her and onto my back beside her.

She sat up on her elbow and looked at me. "Did you say relationship?"

"It's a figure of speech." She'd called us friends just the other night. I didn't want to make assumptions or put my foot in my mouth. I also didn't want to rush things between us.

"Oh." Her voice came out small and almost... sad? But why would she be sad? I was almost positive she wanted us to be friends.

I pushed myself up, all the while keeping my gaze locked on her. I wasn't going to let her just laugh it off and act like this was nothing. Not when she seemed so sad.

She glanced at me and her face heated up when she saw I was watching her. She tried to laugh it up, just as I knew she would, and sat up. Her hand brushed her hair, sending in between us and in my line of sight of her face. On purpose. To hide her disappointment, no doubt. "I guess we should do our homework."

I turned her face toward me, forcing her to look at me. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. Again, another move to put her hair over her face. "Don't worry about it, Dylan."

Dylan. Shit, I really did screw up. But I wasn't even sure what I was doing wrong. "Jade, talk to me."

She stared down at her hand in her lap, picking at a hole in her jeans. "Do you really like me?"

I laughed at how stupid her question was. But to her, it was serious. She was afraid I didn't like her. She really thought there was doubt. I had to take it serious, for her. "I thought it was obvious. I'm not very good at hiding my emotions."

She rubbed her nose, sniffling. "Me neither."

"I've noticed."

She exhaled and slowly, carefully, pushed back my sleeve, revealing my arm. And my stump.

"Does it bother you?" Her voice was soft when she spoke.

"Does what?"

"Not having a hand anymore."

"It'd be different if it was football season." I really liked playing sports. I liked being on any kind of field, doing any kind of drill or practicing some move. I felt lost without it but Jade filled that hole. She made it bearable.

"What position did you play?"

"Defense. I kind of rotated, depending on who we played."

"Is that with the quarterback or without?"

I smiled. "Without."

She nodded. Her fingers were warm on my skin but I felt goosebumps covering my arms. Her touch made me feel things I'd never felt before. She let my sleeve fall back down before she sighed. "I didn't feel like doing homework, by the way. I didn't have a good day today."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head.

I pushed myself back against the tree.

She followed but kept a bit of distance.

I reached out and took her hand. "Come here."

She blinked and her eyes were wet. She moved closer but still had a bit of nervousness about her.

I pulled her closer and into my lap. "Just relax, Jade."

She didn't fight me. She put her head against my chest and more sniffling followed.

I wrapped my arms around her and neither of us said anything. After a while, her breathing slowed and she relaxed into me. She had fallen asleep on me.

As the sun started to set, I texted Jake and asked him to pick us up. Then I looked Jade up on social media. She had hundreds of pictures from when she was younger, right when she hit puberty.

I was scrolling through the more embarrassing ones when she woke up. "Why are you looking through my pictures?"

"They're cute."

"You're so dumb." She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"My brother's coming to get us so we don't have to go home in the dark."

"Smartest thing you've said all day." A small smile spread on her face.

"Thanks."

She grabbed my wheelchair and awkwardly helped me into it. The wind whipped around us, sending her hair flying over her face. She put both backpacks on my chair, her teeth chattering as she did so.

"Do you want my sweatshirt?"

"I'm fine."

I rolled my eyes. I took my sweatshirt off and handed it back to her. "Just take it. I have plenty at home."

She hesitated before taking it and putting it on.

Jake showed up and I spotted Bria in the front seat. I had a feeling we were crashing their date and I knew he wouldn't be too happy with me.

"Bria's not too happy with Jake spending so much time with me so don't say anything to piss her off." I warned.

She gasped. "Do you really think I would do that?"

I gave her a pointed look.

She stood up and waved at the car. "Hey, Jakey."