Last Summer

Leather Jackets in the Summer

"No, I'm not doing it." Talia said with a straight face, arms folded across her chest.

"C'mon, he's not that bad!" Auriana coaxed as she shoved a picture of a guy of about eighteen or nineteen in her face.

"He's not bad at all. But that's not really the point" Talia replied, with an expression that suggested she'd rather talk about something else.

"Then what is the point?" Iris mused, clearly enjoying the conversation.

"The point is I'm not particularly interested in boys at the moment. I have a Kingdom to save, oracle gems to find, songs to write and a princess to train!" Talia said pointedly to Iris, "so I apologize if I can't afford to suffer any distractions, especially one as ridiculous as this!"

"Nobody is saying you have to drop everything to go chase boys, we just want you to live a little, and have a little fun. This guy's really cute and life is way to short to pretend you don't have emotions or feelings or... anything!" Iris giggled.

"Ah come on, Talia. He's really cute and he's coming for Nathaniel's thing tonight at the bar".

"smoothie tasting for new flavors," Iris corrected, "And yeah, you should totally meet him. There'll be lots of people and we'll be there too! Trust me, it'll be fine Talia." she smiled.

Talia stared at the photo, still shoved in her face by Auriana, and contemplated. She looked deeply at his piercing green eyes the color of a grassy plane, his messy light brown hair tussled into messy curls that framed his forehead, at the lightly freckled bridge of his nose, his thin lips, how delicately it curved into a half smile. He really was cute, she thought. But she didn't know how she felt about dating at the moment.

She wasn't always the most sociable of people, that was plain to see. Especially in her interaction with boys. It's not as if she didn't ever feel attracted to guys, after all once upon a time she was in a relationship, but that relationship is currently the reason she didn't want to give this beautiful man a chance.

Kyle. Her first and last Boyfriend. At first he seemed like a really sweet guy; giving her huge bouquets of her favorite flower in her favorite color, taking her on museum dates, bike riding, picnic date. It almost felt like a fever dream, unreal...but as it turned out it was probably unreal the entire time.

Their relationship was rosy and absolutely perfect until the day she walked into Nate's smoothie bar and she saw him inhaling the face of The Blonde Bimbo he had hired to help out with the summer rush. She could remember it like it happened a week ago, though it happened last summer, the hurt still fresh like an open wound.

At first, she was horrified, staring with her mouth agape, but she quickly gathered her equilibrium and realized she had to control herself. She couldn't let silly emotions make her lose her calm, and she most certainly couldn't be weak.

"Kyle." She had said in a frighteningly calm voice.

"Talia! W-what are you doing here?" He said as he detached himself from The Blonde Bimbo, both wearing similar weary expressions as they gaped at Talia.

"I came to get drinks for our picnic this evening...but I never expected to see a show of my ex-boyfriend kissing the waitress." She mused.

"This isn't what it looks-...wait. Ex-boyfriend?" He had asked as realization washed over his features.

"I don't remember stuttering..." She said with an obtuse expression.