A Summer to Remember Read online

  “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.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning, or should I say afternoon, I was woken up by a loud buzzing sound coming from Lily’s nightstand. I rolled over and hit Lily on the arm.

  “Lily…wake up…your phone is ringing,” I mumbled.

  “Huh?” she responded, still half asleep.

  “Your phone. It was ringing.” I laid my head back down on my pillow.

  “Oh man, my head is killing me! Why’d you let me drink that much?” She looked at me through her fingers in an attempt to block the sunlight shining into her eyes.

  “Ha! Why’d I let you drink that much? If I recall correctly, you’re the one who was all ‘Woohoo! Jell-O shots!’” She threw her pillow at me and I laughed.

  “And if I recall correctly, you met some hot college guy last night. What was his name again?” She picked up her phone from the nightstand.

  “Adrian.” I tried to keep a grin from forming on my face.

  “Yeah, Adrian. What’s his story?” A wrinkle formed between her eyebrows as she looked at her phone. My guess is Steven texted her and was still pissed about how drunk she got last night. She had a reputation of getting a little too friendly with people when she drinks. He didn’t like her drinking in the first place, let alone getting drunk.

  “I’m not really sure, we didn’t get to talk too much. He seems like a super nice guy, though. Oh! He invited us to go camping with him and some of his friends. He said they were going up to the lake tonight. You want to go?”

  “Sure, that sounds fun. I should probably call Steven and figure out what his problem is.” She dialed Steven’s number, so I took that as my cue to head to the bathroom.

  As I showered, I went over the events of last night in my head. I thought it would take at least the summer to get over Jason breaking up with me, but it felt like it had happened days ago and I was already pretty much over it. I didn’t know if it was seeing him with Cally last night or meeting Adrian, but whatever it was seemed to be working for me. When I finished, I went downstairs to join Lily in the kitchen.

  “Everything all right?” I asked as I watched her put together two PB & J sandwiches.

  “Yeah. Steven and Jesse should be here in a little bit. They had to pack up the camping stuff and hook up the boat. We can swing by your house and pick up your stuff on our way up there if you want.” She pushed a plate toward me with a sandwich on it. My stomach growled with hunger. Steven and Jason’s parents were lawyers so they had their fair share of toys. That boat was Steven’s baby. He took it out every chance he got.

  “Sounds good!” I was starting to get excited. I took a bite out of my sandwich. I was happy I at least had an appetite after everything that happened yesterday.

  “Yeah, I can tell. I’m kind of surprised you’re so…”

  “Happy after Jason broke up with me?” I finished her sentence.

  “Yeah, kinda. Usually it takes a lot more than a guy’s attention to get you back to normal, let alone happy. But you’re not just happy, you’re like prancing around happy.”

  “I know, but Adrian just seems so…different. I don’t know what it is and I can’t really explain it. It’s just a completely different feeling than I’ve ever gotten with anyone.” I was a still a little confused myself. It wasn’t the kind of feeling you could explain to someone. “I know I probably sound like a complete crazy person since I’ve just met this guy, but it’s just different.” I thought about the feelings I had when I was with him last night and I could feel the butterflies stir in my stomach again.

  “I will say, yes, you do sound like a crazy person and I think you’ve been watching too many of those vampire romance shows.”

  “Thanks.” I picked up a kitchen towel and threw it at her. I saw the guys pull up outside. “The guys are here.”

  I pretended to listen to everyone reminisce about last night, but really I was playing last night over and over in my head. It was like a good movie I didn’t want to forget. When we got to my house, I sprinted inside and packed up a few changes of clothes and some swimsuits for the weekend. I checked in with my parents and let them know my plans and ran back out to the Jeep.

  We stopped at the local grocery store to get some food and drinks, then went to the gas station to fill up. I was beginning to get impatient. I couldn’t wait to see Adrian again. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the number on the screen, it was an unknown number, it must be Adrian.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Is this Amazing Ava?” I blushed as I remembered what I punched into his phone.

  “The one and only.”

  “Are you coming up to the lake?” The sound of his voice alone made my stomach do backflips.

  “Actually we’re just getting ready to head out of town now. We should be there in about forty-five minutes.”

  “Really? Cool. I’ll give you the directions to the cabin.” I was relieved to hear he sounded just as excited as I was feeling.

  “Actually, I really suck at directions, let me have you give them to Jesse.” I handed the phone over to Jesse, who looked a little irritated, but took the phone anyway. I listened intently, trying to hear the voice on the other end of the line. After a few minutes of talking back and forth, Jesse handed the phone back.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, I guess I’ll see you in a little bit. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.” I smiled to myself.

  “Me too. See you soon.” I hung up my phone. I could feel my cheeks becoming warm so I turned and looked out the window to keep anyone from noticing.

  Chapter 6

  After what felt like hours, I finally spotted the sign to the entrance to the cabins. I’d been to this lake many times growing up, some of my best summer memories happened here. We used to come up here at least three times a week and park our cars in a little gravel lot and walk about forty-five minutes to spend the afternoon cliff jumping.

  “He said cabin twenty seven, right, Jesse?” Steven asked.

  “Yeah. Take the next right and it should be down at the end of that road.” Jesse pointed Steven in the direction of the cabin.

  Jesse was right, a few miles down the road we saw a large cabin in the distance. I could feel the butterflies multiplying in my stomach, only this time it was more like anxiety. What if I just imagined the feelings I had last night? What if I really was crazy and I was just some girl he met at a party? Heck, he could just be a man whore and I was his next prey.

  While all these thoughts were racing through my head, we pulled up to the front of the cabin. There he was, standing on the front porch, beer in hand, waiting for our arrival. Well, there wasn’t any turning back now. Everyone got out of the car but me. I took more time than the others, hoping my nerves would settle a little.

  “Hey! I’m glad you guys found the place. Let me give you a hand.” He set down his beer and helped Jesse and Steven unhitch the boat and unload our things. Lily and I waited impatiently on the front deck while Adrian admired Steven’s boat. Steven made sure to tell him every little detail, including the custom paint job.

  “Where do you want me to set up the tents?” Jesse asked.


  “Bro, look at the size of this place.” He gestured to the cabin. “There are plenty of rooms in there for you guys. It’s only me and two of my buddies and their girlfriends staying here.”

  “Damn, all right. Where can we put our stuff?” Jesse grabbed his things and headed toward the front door. Adrian took my bags and the rest of us followed him into the house. After a short tour of the house we all had our own rooms. Well, except Lily and Steven, they were sharing a room, of course. I decided to unpack some of my things before going downstairs to join the others.

  “Hey.” I looked up to see Jesse standing in the doorway. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  “You going to be okay staying in here by yourself? The room I’m in has two beds if you’d feel more comfortable in there.”

  “I’ll be fine in here.” I smiled at him. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

  “If you need anything, I’ll be down the hall.” I could hear the protectiveness in his voice. Jesse had always been a good friend of mine, kind of like a brother to me. But the last few times we’d been around each other, things had started to get a little weird. I was hoping we weren’t going to have to have a conversation about this.

  “Thanks.” I gave him one last smile before he walked out the door.

  Adrian’s friends had come back from spending the day out on their boat, and decided to start a little pit fire in the back of the cabin overlooking the lake. It was dinnertime and everyone was clearly hungry, so while they were inside getting things ready to grill, I sat out by the fire and watched the sunset. I’d always loved the outdoors, there’s something about it that gives me peace of mind.

  “It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?” Adrian walked up behind me.

  “Yes, it is. I love coming up here. We come here every summer, but we’ve never really stayed long enough to watch the sunset.” I scooted down the log bench and he sat down next to me.

  “Yeah, I’ve been coming up here with Brian’s family since we met in sixth grade. It was cool because my family didn’t do a lot of things like this, but Brian’s family took me in like I was their second son. So sitting out here watching the sunset brings back good memories for me. It was one of the only things that let me get away from my problems at home as a kid.” I could see the look in his eyes like he was a kid all over again.

  “You guys ready to eat or what?” Brian came out with a tray of burgers and hot dogs ready to be cooked.

  “It’s about time. I’m starving!” Adrian jumped up and grabbed some burgers to put on the grill.

  After dinner, we sat around the fire and reminisced about coming up here during the summers growing up. It was funny to think out of all the summers we’d spent up here and we’d never crossed paths. We even used to jump off the same cliff!

  When early morning rolled around, everyone was buzzed up and ready to call it a night. Everyone went inside but I stayed back to help Adrian clean up and put out the fire.

  “Looks like it’s going to be a full moon tomorrow night.” He tossed a bucket of water onto the fire.

  “I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it’s not so cloudy.” We walked into the cabin and up the stairs to our rooms.

  “Yeah, let’s hope for clear skies.” When we got to the door of my room, I got that weird first date feeling. You know, that ‘to kiss or not to kiss’ feeling. I really hoped this wasn’t going to be awkward.

  “Well, amazing Ava, I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” He looked right into my eyes. I could feel goosebumps crawling up my spine. I felt as if he could see right though me. “Goodnight,” he whispered as he kissed me on the forehead and turned to walk away.

  What was happening? First Jason, then Jesse, now this? I was so confused. But there was something in me that couldn’t let him go. “Wait…” I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward me.

  “Hey, Adrian! Where the hell is the bathroom in this place again?” Jesse yelled as he came stumbling down the hallway.

  “There’s one right down the hall to the left.” He pointed Jesse in the right direction.

  “Thanks, man.” Jesse patted him on the back as he stumbled by. He didn’t even realize he’d just ruined a perfectly good first kiss moment. He turned around halfway down the hall. “You know where I am if you need me.” He pointed at me and gave his best attempt at what I think was a wink but the lazy eye from the alcohol made it hard to distinguish.

  “Thanks.” I looked back at Adrian as I covered my mouth to try and mask a laugh, hoping he wasn’t reading anything into it. “Um…thanks for inviting us up here. We all had a lot of fun tonight, if you couldn’t already tell.” We laughed as we watched Jesse stumbling into the bathroom.

  “I’m glad you guys are enjoying yourselves. I’ll see you in the morning.” He smiled at me with his perfect smile and went to his room a few doors down. It took everything in me to force myself to walk into my room by myself. As much as I’d like to blame it on the alcohol, I knew it was something more than that.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning I was woken up by the smell of bacon seeping in from underneath the bedroom door. The nauseous feeling in my stomach let me know I was still a little tipsy from last night. I was desperate for water. I slowly worked myself up to sit on the edge of the bed. After I got my bearings, I decided to go downstairs, but as soon as I stood up, I stumbled forward. Yep, I’m still a little tipsy.

  I changed out of my pajamas and threw on a swimsuit and cover up before going down the hall to the bathroom. Thank God I didn’t run into Adrian on my way there, I looked like I had just come back from the dead. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and applied my “bare minimum” makeup. I threw my hair up in a bun and headed downstairs.

  “Good morning, Sunshine!” Adrian greeted me as I entered the kitchen. Everyone but Jesse was sitting around the kitchen table eating breakfast. I couldn’t believe my eyes, there was a full spread breakfast buffet right in front of me.

  “Wow! Good morning. This looks amazing!” I walked around the table and admired all it had to offer, but as delicious as it looked, my stomach still wasn’t having it.

  “Would you like some breakfast?” he asked with a proud grin on his face.

  “I would love some but I don’t think my stomach is feeling up to it. I could use some water, though.” He grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the fridge and handed one to me with a smile, setting the rest on the table.

  “You have to have some, Ava! This is probably the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten in my life.” Lily was very impressed.

  “Maybe a little later.” I took a few gulps of the water Adrian handed me. “Where’s Jesse?”

  “I think he’s still sleeping. I could hear him stumbling down the hallway a few times last night,” Steven answered, sounding amused.

  After everyone finished with breakfast, Jesse decided to join us.

  “Hey.” He flopped down in the chair next to me.

  “Good morning, Sunshine. How you doing?” I joked with him.

  “I’m never drinking that much again. I feel like hell.”

  “You look like hell, too. I’m pretty sure we’ve all said that once or twice in our lives and we never stick to it.” I grabbed a bottle of water off the table and handed it to him.

  “Thanks.” He took the bottle and chugged it. “Everything go okay last night?” he asked as we watched Adrian, Lily, and Steven go outside to join everyone else.

  “Yeah. Thanks for asking.” I smiled at him. I thought it was sweet of him to keep checking up on me. When I stood up to follow them, Jesse grabbed me by the hand.

  “Ava…I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.” He stood up and pulled me toward him.

  “Wait, Jesse.” I backed away, trying to make the situation a little less awkward. I knew where he was going with this and I needed to put a stop to this now before it got out of hand. “I think I know what you’re about to say. I’m sorry. I really like you, I do, but j
ust not like that.” Jesse looked down, hurt. “You’re a great friend and I love hanging out with you. I hope things can stay that way.” He looked back up at me with a half smile on his face.

  “Well…thanks for letting me know.” He sat back down in his chair. “You just seem to have everything I’ve been looking for.” I sat down next to him when I felt it was safe to enter the friend zone again.

  “You’ll find what you’re looking for…just don’t go looking for it in all the wrong places. You know, like your friends’ exes, strip clubs, that sorta thing.” A wide grin spread across his face and we both laughed.

  “You guys coming or what?” Lily yelled from the porch.

  “Yeah!” Jesse yelled. “I’m not about to miss girls strutting around in bikinis.” He winked at me and we walked out the door.

  We packed up the coolers and took the boats and tubes out for the day. I was so happy summer was finally here. I’ve never been a big fan of winter. I would love to live somewhere where I could lay out all day long. We didn’t get back to the cabin until dinnertime. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, then everyone helped clean up and went upstairs to shower.

  “I’m exhausted.” I flopped down on the couch in the living room.

  “Me too.” Adrian sat down beside me. After spending the whole day together on the lake, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable around him.

  “So, tell me a little about yourself, Adrian.” I decided to try my best attempt at flirting, which, mind you, I hadn’t done in a really long time, so I laid my legs across his lap.

  “Well, what do you want to know?” He started rubbing my thigh and it made my heart skip a beat.