A Summer to Remember

chapter 4





“Ava! Over here!” Lily yelled across the still crowded lawn. Adrian and I made our way over.

“Guys, this is Adrian.” I moved out of the way so they could get a good look at the hot guy standing behind me.

“Hey! Weren’t you just on the team who’s asses got kicked by my girl Ava here?” Lily came over and put her arm around my shoulders. I could tell by the slurring in her words and failure to balance on her own that she’d had a little too much to drink. Not to mention she was smiling a little more then usual.

“Yes, as much as I hate to admit it.” He looked down and ran his fingers through his hair. “That would be me. It’s okay, though, because next time I’ll be winning. She just got lucky this time.” He winked at me.

“Next time, huh? That sounds like a challenge.” I couldn’t help but admire his smile, and of course those dimples.

“Okay, guys. What house are we going to next?” Jesse sounded a little irritated. He couldn’t really be jealous of a little flirting…could he?

“Well, we can go to the house next door. They have Jell-O shots,” Adrian suggested.

“We love Jell-O shots! Don’t we, Ava?” Lily yelled in my ear.

“Yes, we do, Lily. Next door we go.” Steven came over and took Lily’s hand. ‘Thank you’ I lipped to him. He just smiled and kept talking to her in an attempt to keep her distracted. Adrian and I followed them to the next house, staying a few feet behind.

“Sorry about that. She’s had a little too much to drink tonight.” I looked at Adrian apologetically.

“No need to apologize. She seems like a lot more fun than some of my friends when they’ve had too much to drink.” He laughed.

As we walked up the sidewalk to the white house next door, someone ran right into me, almost knocking me over. Adrian grabbed me just as I was about to hit the ground. Next thing I knew, we were standing chest to chest and I was staring directly into those beautiful green eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry.” I pulled away and attempted to brush the beer off my hand and arm.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t mind.”

I looked up. Jason was standing on the front porch of the house, staring at us. By the look on his face, he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. Cally came around the corner and handed him a Jell-O shot. He took it from her and put on a show, laughing and acting like he’d never been happier. Did he really think I was going to buy that? Not a chance!

“You know that guy?” Adrian asked, nodding in Jason’s direction.

“Yeah, actually. We used to date, but it was a long time ago.” Okay it wasn’t really a long time ago, but after all that had happened today, it felt like a long time ago. “Anyway, how about those shots?” I grabbed his hand and led him inside, right past Jason and Cally, who were staring at us as we went by.

Maybe I’d had too much to drink, but I felt really comfortable with Adrian. How could I feel like this with someone I just met?

“I’m going to find the bathroom. You wanna grab us some shots?” he asked.

“Sure. I’ll go find Lily and Steven. They’re probably in the backyard. You just want to meet me back there?” I looked around the room to see if I could spot where the drink station was set up.

“Sure.” He let go of my hand and headed up the stairs in front of us. I felt a little sad when he had to let go of my hand, which made me feel a little weird, because I hardly even knew the guy. Okay, I needed to find Lily.

“You sure have moved on pretty fast,” a familiar voice said from behind me. I didn’t want to turn around and face him, but at the same time, I did.

“Even if I have, why do you care?” And there I was, standing face to face with Jason.

“I don’t, but geez you sure haven’t wasted any time.” I heard the irritation in his voice.

“Well if I have or haven’t, it sure isn’t any of your business, now, is it?” I turned to walk away and Adrian was there, standing right behind me.

“Everything okay?” he asked, as he gave Jason the eye.

“Everything’s fine. Can we go find Lily now?” I grabbed Adrian’s arm and walked him towards the backyard.

“Are you sure you guys are broken up? For being broken up for a while, that conversation seemed a little more heated then it should’ve been.” I came to a stop in front of the back door.

“Okay, maybe we haven’t been broken up for a while. Maybe it’s more like a few hours.” I looked down at the floor, ashamed I had lied to him.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?” He put his hand under my chin and raised my head up so I was looking into his eyes.

“You just seemed like such a nice guy and talking to you is the only thing that made me not think about him. I shouldn’t have just said that. Now I’ve just made you sound like a rebound or something.” I needed to stop talking. “We dated off and on throughout high school and he just broke up with me today, right before graduation. I didn’t see any of it coming and that’s the truth. I’m sorry.” I looked out the back door at the people sitting outside. I was too humiliated to look him in the eyes.

“Ava, don’t worry about it.” I looked at him as he laughed. “I was just asking you a simple question. You don’t owe me any kind of explanation.” This guy was the hottest, funniest, sweetest guy I’d ever met. I didn’t even know what to say to that. I heard Lily and Steven bickering as they came in the door behind me.

“Ava! I’m tired. Can we go home?” She laid her head on my shoulder.

“Well, she made it through two houses.” I laughed.

“Yeah. Barely.” Steven was clearly irritated.

“I’m too tired for this…” Lily whined.

“I’ll call a cab to take you guys home. You want to meet us outside?” Steven asked me as he wrapped his arm around Lily to help steady her. Steven was usually more patient with her, but tonight was clearly different.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a sec.”

“Nice meeting you.” He nodded at Adrian before he and Lily walked away.

“You too,” Adrian replied. “Well, I guess I’ll walk you out, then.” This time, he grabbed my hand and led me toward the front of the house.

“You don’t have to walk me out, you know.” I was a little giddy inside, flattered he was actually taking the time to do so.

“Do you really want to run into that Jason character by yourself again?” He looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

“Okay, you’re right.” I laughed and followed his lead out the front door. We saw Steven and Lily standing down by the curb waiting for a cab, so we made our way toward them.

“So, me and some friends are going up to the lake tomorrow. We’re staying at my buddy’s cabin if you guys want to come up. It’s always a good time.” I could tell he was hesitant about asking me in the first place, so I figured what was the worst that could happen if I gave this guy a chance?

“That might be fun.” I felt a smirk spread across my face. “You have your phone on you?” I held out my hand.

“Yeah.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. I punched in my number and saved it as ‘Amazing Ava.’

“Call or text me in the morning with the details.” I handed his phone back.

“Will do.” A yellow cab came to a stop in front of us.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” I stood up on my tippy toes and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” He looked down at me with a smile on his face.

I helped Lily into the cab and gave the driver her address. I turned around and looked out the back window to sneak one last look at Adrian before we drove away. This couldn’t be real, all these feelings, they were too good to be true.