A Summer To Remember

Chapter 16

After the ceremony, I decided to head down to the peer where I and David shared our first kiss. Its deserted and lonely there now. It's unused and probably unstable. I walk up the stairs to the peer and rest my foot on the wood seeing if it's stable. I keep stepping a few more feet to make sure the peer is stable enough. It is.

I walked down to the end of the peer and lean over the railing remembering my moments here two years ago. The afternoon sun shine in the sky turning the sky a light pink color. The water is calm barely moving. The water comes to shore slowly and keeps calm. Boats are tied up next to the peer, moving gently with the water. This is when I realize how much has changed in the pass few years since I was last here.

But I know something's here will never change. Such as my affection to David. I think it's great that he's going to my college but he's leaving his home to come to New York just to be with me. I don't want to be the reason he leaves. I sigh at the thought and look out onto the horizon.

That's when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Emily?" A familiar voice spoke softly. I turned to see that it was David. The dinner for the funeral was being held at David's house tonight. David isn't wearing his suit jacket. He now is only wearing his dress shirt that is now untuck from his dress pants. The shirt is unbuttoned one thirds of the way down exposing his chest. And now his head is messy. Not combed enough to look fancy.

I look at David as he walks over and stands next to me with his arms on the bars of the peer as he stares out to the horizon.

"That's my Dad." He said still looking out at the horizon. I looked at him confused.

"What?" I said with a bit of shock.

Without turning to look at me, David points to the horizon and smiles. "He's watching us. He's out there protecting us." I just look at him. "You know what?" David said sadly. "I never got to say goodbye." He then does a light chuckle. "God, he was a good man."

I keep looking at David as I lean on the railing. "He sure was." I said softly.

We just stood there for awhile.

"It's so confusing." David said breaking the silence.

I looked at him. "Confused? About what?"

He looked down at the water. "I don't know. Everything maybe?" He paused and gulped. "Why do these things happen? I thought everything would work itself out. I thought a miracle would come and save my dad. The only miracle I got was you."

He turned to me and I wrapped him into a hug and let him cry on my shoulder. "Shh." I hushed him rubbing the back of his neck. "It's okay." I said that a couple more times. I didn't know what else to do. I'm not the best person to comfort with words. All I can do is hug him. His bleach blond hair rubbing against my face. I can feel his soft breathes on my neck.

We stood like that for awhile and then shifted from eachother. I leaned my elbows back onto the railing of the peer and looked out at the afternoon sky. The sky was starting to turn a light orange by now.

I heard David chuckle under his breath. I looked at him as he looked into the water. "Good memories we had at this peer, right?" He stared at me with a half smile.

I looked down. "Yeah." I sighed. "Maybe back then we where just stupid teenagers in love or something."

"No, we weren't." He slowly turned to me. "I knew I loved you. We weren't stupid teenagers. You know who was a stupid teenager? Your brother."

I laughed. "You got that right. Now he's a stupid college student."

"I miss our talks, Em." David stared at me.

"I do to."

He looked down then back up. "When do you leave?" He says changing conversation.

"Tomorrow morning."

"We don't got much time." He said patting my back gently before putting his face to his arms on the peer.

I rubbed his back. "Want to go for a walk?"

David just nodded and we walked back down the peer.

"Graduation date?" He asked me as we walked along the beach. We where catching up.

"June something. My Dad knows." I stared at him. "Favorite song?"

He thought for a while. "'Crazy' by Aerosmith." He finally said. "Your's?"

"You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson." I replied faster than he did.

We kept walking along the beach and asking each other questions. We have changed a lot, mostly in personality, since the summer of 1993. Two years made a huge difference.

We stopped outside of his home where we could hear everyone chatting from behind the door. But before we could say anything, Timmy came out. "Emily, time to head to the hotel." He told me and he started walking to the car.

I watched as Timmy walked to the car and turned back to David. "It was nice to see you again."

"It was nice to see you too." He said.

I turned around to start walking to the car; but right before I took two steps he spun me around and planted his lips on mine.

"What was that for?" I asked calmly.

"I wanted to be the one to do the kissing for once." He chuckled. "You did it first at the memorial home. My turn." He said and leaned in to kiss me again before we pulled into a hug. 

I never wanted to let go. The feeling of his lips on mine and his skin on mine. That was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That is when I figured that everything I thought was true. I was still madly in love with him and nothing was keeping us from being together even if I had to travel 300 miles just to come here and be with him.

We said a quick goodbyes before I ran off to join Timmy at the car.

"About time." Timmy said once I got there. I just chuckled and headed to the passenger's side of the car. We then headed straight for the hotel where we had two queen beds in a decent hotel room.