June and I haven't spoken for 3 weeks, I've seen her in town hanging out with Maggie and Victoria. I have been staying at home for the most part with my mom. She was telling me that there's a carnival happening in a couple towns over, so me and her had planned to go.
I've been thinking about June ever since I dropped her off at home that day, but I don't know what to do. She clearly doesn't want me to be in her life right now, and I don't want to be a burden.
"Henry, are we still going to the carnival tonight?" My mom asked, sticking her head in my room with her phone to her ear.
"Yes ma'am." I answer
"Yeah, I think you should come. It'll be fun! You can bring your daughter." My mom is still at my door, I guess waiting for the person on the other end to give an answer.
"Alright perfect, I will see you tonight..... Yeah you can just pick me and Henry up, I know you have more space in your van." My mom says.
She finishes up her phone call, "Who was that?" I ask.
"It was one of my friends from church, I think you know her daughter. I think her name is Debbie." My mom answered.
I haven't spoken to Debbie since I got June to text her off my phone. "Oh okay, sounds good mom." I say
Debbie's mom called my mom 10 minutes ago and told her that she'll pick us up in about 30 minutes. So I have 20 minutes until we leave, so I decide to send June a text.
"Hey June, I don't know what to say. I've missed you these past few weeks, I know I'm partly to blame for the lack of communication. I've just been thinking a lot about you, and I was hoping maybe we could at least be cordial? I don't want us to be complete strangers now June, I mean I see you in public and we don't even speak. I miss you June, sorry to bother you!"
It took me almost 2 minutes to type that and then almost 10 minutes debating whether or not to send it. When I finally pressed the send button, a horn was honking outside. I guess Debbie and her mom were here early.
We finally got to the carnival after an hour and a half car ride of listening to our moms gossip, Debbie really didn't talk that much. All she gave me was a little smile when I got into the car.
We were all walking towards the entrance, me and Debbie following a little behind our moms.
"So. How have you been Debbie?" I ask looking over at her.
"Ive been great, what about you? I haven't seen you out a whole lot. Normally you're running around town with June... Just so you know I'm not some stalker, I just notice things." Debbie says while nervously laughing.
"No it's cool, Yeah me and June really don't hang out any more... I've kinda only been hanging out with my mom." Debbie looks down, "Am I the coolest guy you know or what? Been inside my house doing puzzles with my mom almost all summer." I say laughing.
"Oh yeah, definitely in my top five coolest guys ever list." Debbie says laughing, looking back up at me. I never really saw Debbie outside of a school related event. She's way more relaxed and fun.
We all four get to the front gate, our moms buy us a few tickets and tell us to meet back here in 2 hours. The carnival is divided into two sides, one with all the snack trucks and then the other with all the rides. Debbie and I make our way over to the ferris wheel, "So Henry, do you umm have a girlfriend or anything." Debbie asked, not even looking in my direction.
I'm not sure why she wanted to know but I answer honestly, I mean Debbie isn't someone I have to lie to. "No but I'm not really looking for one right now. I got so much going on with everything, and I'm kind of still getting over this one girl." I answer while putting my hands in my pockets, I probably should've kept that last part to myself.
"You mean June?" Debbie asks, I catch her peeking over at me.
"Oh what? No, June and I were just friends." There's a brief silence before I speak again, "Anyway we better get in line, it already looks like we're going to be here for hours."
I guess Debbie realizes that June is a sensitive topic for me. "Okay let's not be dramatic! It wont take that long."
We reached the ferris wheel line and you'll never guess who was in the line, "Henry, hey..." June says, turning around to face me.
"What's up, Dawton." Jalen says, he wraps one arm around June and reaches out with the other one to shake my hand.
I stare at him and June for a second, my eyes move to his arm around her. I look up and lock eyes with June, but I shake Jalen's hand at the same time. "Oh umm, Hey June, Jalen.." I say dropping his hand, Just as I did that Debbie grabbed my hand and put her head on my shoulder. I was confused and uncomfortable at first, but then I realized what Debbie was doing.
"June, you remember Debbie don't you? Debbie, I'm sure you know Jalen." I play along with Debbie, I can see June stare at me trying to read me.
"Hey Debbie!" Jalen says, giving a small smile and then turning around.
June is still looking at me, "Hey Debbie! Well umm you two have fun tonight!" She turns back around grabbing Jalen's arm again.
"You mind if we go on another ride?" I ask, already getting out of line.
"Yeah, I'm good with whatever." Debbie says, dropping my hand and following me.
"You okay Henry?" Debbie looks up at me trying to search my face for answers.
"Yeah, thanks Debbie. For saving me back there too." I say.
We met back with our moms after running out of tickets and eating lots of carnival food. I was still upset about seeing June with Jalen, but I didn't let that stop me from having fun with Debbie. It turns out that Debbie is actually really funny, so we made plans to hang out tomorrow.
They drop us off at our house, while walking in I see my dads car is in the driveway. I didn't want to deal with him so I went straight to my room. It wasn't that late, I decided I would get a shower and go to sleep.
After getting out of the shower I check my phone, I have a text from June. I forgot that I texted her earlier today, before I saw her with Jalen. I clicked on her message.
"Hey Henry, Just now seeing this. I definitely think we should start hanging out again, I missed you too! Cool to see you with Debbie, I always knew she liked you. Glad you two ended up together."
Are you kidding me, it's "cool" that me and Debbie are together? I decided to text her back.
"Yeah me and Debbie are just friends. But seeing that you and Jalen ended up together is cool. Hope everything is going well with you. See you around?"
I sent the messages and saw three little bubbles pop up, she replied "Yeah see you around!"
YOU ARE READING
Their Last Summer
Mystery / ThrillerA small town boy is haunted with the ghosts of his past. A girl he loved went missing and now he has the opportunity to do something about it. There is a trail of secrets, and people from the past are in the way of the truth. Will Henry find out wha...
