Hadley
My fingers clench around the curtains, even though I know Will is gone from his room. Ranch life had been fantastic to Will’s body, making it harder for me not to act like a stupid sixteen year old girl. Why was I a bumbling mess around him? And that accent? If it didn’t mean him disappearing from my life without another word I wouldn’t regret that extra detail that made my insides twist every time he spoke.
A knock on the door broke the spell. My hip bumps against the desk and my pen jar clatters to the wood surface. I scramble to pick it up and the door opens. Mom’s bleary eyes meet mine. Her dirty blonde hair sticks up at all angles and she’s in her robe that has more holes than fabric. Her favorite.
“Good morning,” she says. “I heard you talking.”
I point to the window as I put the last strewn pen back in its place. “Will.”
Mom’s eyebrows shoot up. “I see you’ve fallen back into your routine.”
I focus on the corner of my desk as heat rushes up my neck.
“Well,” she says breathily. “I’m going to start breakfast. Dad has to leave in a few.”
“Okay,” I say, thinking of snow and glacial frost, anything to release the heat from my cheeks.
Calm down you idiot.
She leaves the door cracked open and I let out a breath as I hear her pad down the hallway. She’d given me the third degree about Will at dinner, Dad apparently keeping that gem from the entire family. But he dutifully shifted the conversation to the cruise and Mom had a lot to say about that.
I didn’t want to make a big deal of Will being home, but she was my mom. I told her everything. Sometimes Lily got a bit too interested in detail, even on the hard topics, so Mom was a happy medium. She was there when I made an embarrassing mess of myself crying over Will those years ago. Only after months of her listening to me snuggled up in my bed did I start to feel silly. Turning off all thoughts of Will was my idea but she never pushed for anything I didn’t want. That’s what I’d have to do again, at least for the next two months. It would be easier for everyone if I was able to just be friends with him like I chose to do with Carter. At the end of the summer we will all go our separate ways and move on with our lives. I inhale deeply and let it go slowly, my body relaxing with each passing second.
I grab my phone from the charger and turn it on. Dad has a strict “phone off” rule at night. He knew Lily’s habits of staying out late and calling or texting me in the early hours of the morning. I hadn’t protested at all, I liked sleep as much as he did.
I tuck the phone into my pocket and grab my purse on the way out of the room. Halfway down the hall the phone explodes with nearly a dozen texts. I scroll through them as I descend the stairs. Lily had gone out the night before with the new kid at her non-summer job at a coffee shop on the local campus. Apparently a college guy who stayed on campus over the summer. I knew more about him from those texts than I wanted to that early in the morning. Or ever. But the one that makes me pause in the kitchen doorway is from Carter. Just three words.
I miss you.
My heart squeezes. The timestamp was 1:48 AM.
“Is something wrong?” Mom asks.
I look up at her. She’s leaning against the counter blowing into her steaming mug of coffee.
I shove my phone into my purse. “Nope. Just Lily.”
Mom shakes her head, smiling. “I just hope she’s careful.”
“She is, Mom,” I groan. As much as Mom loves Lily, some of the things Lily did were not mom-approved and I could almost hear the gears in her head spinning, wondering if her daughter would ever be that careless. But she had to know better. I never broke curfew and never had a date with anyone except Carter who had been a perfect gentleman in front of my parents. Thinking of him made his text message pop into my mind again. In a way I was grateful that he took the job at the pool. I’d only have to see him for an hour a day which would be enough space for us. And hopefully he would get over our relationship soon enough. It should have bothered me that I was over it quicker than he was, but for some reason it didn’t. I guess there was something to be said about being the dumper instead of the dumped.
I pour myself a cup of coffee and splash a bit of milk into the mug before settling down at the table. Mom rubs the sleep from her eyes as I grab the box of cereal from the table. This is her idea of “starting breakfast”. She’s great at baking but Dad is the real cook in the house. But this morning he’s going in extra early, so no fluffy pancakes for us. Hard footfalls descend the stairs. I already know it’s Dad by the way he gracefully flies down them.
He’s dressed up this morning, well, if khaki pants and a similar shirt to mine is dressed up. He’s normally in jeans and a t-shirt. He swipes a kiss on Mom’s head and she mumbles sleepily.
He plucks an apple from the bowl on the counter and peels off the sticker before washing it in the sink. He’s wiping the fruit with a paper towel when he turns to me. “Are you still mad?”
The first spoonful of the cereal hovers in front of me. “About what?”
He takes a bite of the apple, his thick eyebrows raised. “I see you’ve had time to adjust to the situation.”
I ponder this while polishing off the spoonful of cereal. “I was blindsided a bit, thank you very much. But it’s fine. It’s a job right? We have to be professional.”
He grins. “There’s my girl.” He turns to the clock on the microwave. “I’ll see you soon.”
He fluffs my hair before leaving the room. “Love my ladies!” he calls from the door.
I look at Mom who is still pretty zoned out. I finish half the bowl before my stomach starts to knot. I hate to lie to Dad but I made a promise to myself not to let Will get to me. My phone chimes.
Another text from Lily: Driveway
I down the rest of the coffee and scoop up my bowl placing it in the sink. Mom is particular about who loads the dishwasher. Only her. Not that we ever complained. I kiss her on the cheek and leave the kitchen. “Ethan!” I call up the stairs.
“What?” he groans from his bedroom. He takes after Mom as another late-riser.
“I’m leaving with Lily. Will is walking over in about a half hour if you wanted to go with him.”
“Mm-yeah,” his voice is softer now, hovering over sleep again.
“Don’t be late!”
“Yeah.”
I grab my purse and open the front door. The temperature has warmed significantly and I can already feel the stickiness in the air. Lily’s head is tipped back on the head rest as I flop into the passenger seat. The cool air conditioning feels fantastic and I turn the vent toward me.
Lily jumps as if she had actually been asleep. Not surprising due to her late night texts.
“You know we need to be there early on the first day,” I say, eyeing the two extra large travel mugs that I know are filled with black coffee. Neither are for me.
She blinks a few times and settles her hand on the shifter, a wild grin spreading over her face. “It was so worth it.”
I laugh. “I don’t want to hear it!”
But I do hear it. The whole ride. Lily is usually pretty straight forward with discussions of her dates, but this one, nearly ten minutes long, has me thinking that she actually might be interested in a second date.
“He’s going to the fireworks Friday, he said he’ll bring a friend.”
I groan. “Are you setting me up on a blind date?”
“It’s not a date. I just mentioned that my very hot friend is single and he mentioned his also-single very hot friend will be coming along. Well he didn’t call his friend hot, but I made sure he was attractive to guy standards.”
She pulls into the park and I shake my head. “You know Carter is going to be there.”
“I don’t see the problem. This is what single people do.”
“I just wanted—” I pause, unsure of what I really want.
She groans. “Wanted what? This is what you wanted. You aren’t tied down. You can go out with whoever you want. I’m not telling you to sleep with the guy but you can’t be a hermit until college. Don’t feel guilty about Carter. He’ll be fine. The girls at the pool are already plotting.”
My head snaps in her direction. “Who?” I shove down the reflexive jealousy that floods my veins. He’s not yours anymore, remember?
Lily eyes me and takes a large swig of her coffee, draining the first mug. “It’s how guys get over girls. By replacing them with another.” She catches my look. “What? It’s a simple fact of manhood. You just need to accept it. It’s not fair to hold onto him when you know the outcome at the end of the summer.”
“You’re right,” I concede.
“Yes I am.” She pulls into a spot at the back of the community center that houses all the town’s events throughout the year. During the summer its rooms are used for the campers’ activities and lunchtime. I get out of the car and head for the door, but soon realize I’m alone. Lily leans her hands against the car, her forehead resting against them.
“Come on!” I urge.
“Give me a minute,” she grunts. She drops her sunglasses over her eyes jumps back and forth on her feet, shaking her hands at her sides in some crazy wake up dance. I laugh and she stops. “Let’s do this.”
The back entrance to the building filters into a hallway with several different rooms on either side. For the purpose of the camp these are divided into the various activities that take place during the summer. Inside one of them there are paint supplies and canvases the next one has gym mats set up across the floor.
Lily chugs the last bit of her coffee and lets out a whoop, as if I had been the one to challenge her to do that. Her voice bounces off the concrete walls and we follow it to the front entrance. Several six foot tables line the entrance. Five cardboard boxes wait patiently next to the tables, ready to be dug into.
Her nose wrinkles at the boxes. “Ah, registration duty.”
I twist my hair, pushing it behind my shoulder. “A little organizing never hurt anyone.”
She rubs her head as if it just might.
“And there’s always that,” I say, hearing someone entering the room.
Dad comes into view carrying bags from Donut Joes. Lily’s eyes light up. “Please tell me you got the chocolate croissants!”
A condition of Lily helping me out, since most years I did this by myself, I had told Dad her favorite pastry from the bakery.
“Six in fact,” he says, putting the bags down on the farthest table. “But this is for after we get the welcome packets on the tables. I don’t need chocolate all over the paperwork.”
Lily bobs her head and digs right into the first box.
I give Dad a “told ya” look and he winks.
“You know the drill?” he asks. If there’s one thing he didn’t have to worry about at camp, it was me. I had lived and breathed this place my whole life and it started to sink in that this was the last time I’d be doing any of it. Dad had made that very clear to me earlier that year. He wanted summers in college to be filled with places outside of Spring Falls. It was unlike any other parent that I’ve come across, but he and Mom never got away from this town and it was the only thing he wanted for me. And it wasn’t like me to disappoint him. And I was going to be living in the most amazing city in the world. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want to come back.
Lily is already halfway done with her box before I open mine.
I laugh. “Maybe I should bring chocolate croissants everywhere with me. Like Lily treats.”
“Yeah, well,” she says, distracted, rearranging two of the folders in front of her. “Whatever they put in them is like catnip for me. Unless you want me to roll out of this place, I wouldn’t suggest doing it.”
“I’d pay to see that,” I say.
She tosses the empty box at me and I jump out of the way. She’s on a roll and I struggle to catch up. We make quick work of organizing the folders and are just about done when the front doors open. I look up and am momentarily blinded by the bright morning sunlight streaming through. Will and Ethan enter the room, both with a yellow glow around their bodies as if they are angels coming through the pearly gates.
Will locks eyes with me and I can’t help taking in the full sight of him. Even though he’s become leaner throughout the years I can’t help the constricting feeling in my chest that steals my breath. It was the last outfit I’d seen him in the night he left. The hurt resurfaces and it takes all of my strength to turn around.
Ethan beelines for the food but Lily slaps at him. “Not until we’re done.”
He shoots me a look but I turn back to my work, attempting to steady my breathing.
“What can I do?” Will appears at my side, close enough that I can feel his warm breath on my cheek. I inhale sharply, noting a minty scent on his breath.
I indicate the next full box. “Alphabetical, based on age group on the tables.”
He hovers for a second as if he’s going to say something, but I reach down, grabbing the next set of packets, ending the conversation before it starts. He eventually moves the box to another table and gets to work. Ethan joins in with one as well.
“So Will,” Lily says pointedly.
I stiffen and glare at her, but she continues on, fueled by the caffeine shooting through her veins. “What are you going to do around your house this summer?”
He doesn’t miss a beat, again throwing me back in time when their sparring matches were the highlight of many times with just the three of us. “The plumbing needs some work, I need to do some repairs on the trim, and I was going to paint a few of the rooms. Trudy said it will help jump up the price.”
“Do you need help, man?” Ethan asks.
Will nods. “I could use a hand if you have time.”
I snort. “Ethan has plenty of time. He’s been playing Enter Strike since school got out. Actual work might be good for you.”
The corner of Will’s mouth quirks up. “You still play?”
Ethan gives me a see, I am cool grin.
“I never stopped,” Ethan says and fixes me with a look. “Don’t pretend like you don’t either.”
“Seriously?” Will asks incredulously, turning to me.
I blanch. Enter Strike is a first person shooter game. Ethan and Will played for about a year until I got involved. I haven’t signed on since a particularly embarrassing weekend of missing Will where I signed on and stared at the chat menu waiting for him to do the same. For about five hours.
“I don’t!” I exclaim. “Not since—” I stop myself. “Not for a while.”
Will turns back to his task and Ethan continues on about his ranking within the game.
Ethan claps a hand on Will’s back as he tosses the empty box next to Lily. “We should set up your computer and play Enter Strike tonight.”
“Sure, man,” Will says just as I say “I’m sure he has work to do.”
“It’s fine,” Will counters. “I have three weeks before the first open house. It’s nice to get a break from chores too.”
Ethan sticks his tongue out at me and I roll my eyes, turning back to my work. Ethan and Will chatter on about video games while my skin pricks with embarrassment. I feel Lily’s eyes on me, begging to look at her, but I keep my focus on the task.
The rest of the counselors slowly trickle in and by the time eight-thirty rolls around they are all accounted for. Dad hands out morning assignments and just my luck I’m paired with Will for check-in. But so is Lily, Skye and Tyler. Lily gives a little pout when she realizes she won’t have time with Aiden that morning, but I remind her she has a whole summer with him.
“I don’t need a whole summer.” She eyes Aiden’s bobbing head as if he’s rocking out to music in his head.
Tyler and Will prop open the doors and already there is a crowd. Lily nudges my arm. “And so it begins.”