Summer Days

Chapter 18 - The Hardest Word To Say

"C'mon Jen, time to get up!" I heard my dad's voice boom. My eyes were still closed, but the inside of my eyelids became lighter as he turned my light on. I groaned and pulled my covers over my head. "Let's go!" he yelled from the hallway as he exited my room. I lazily opened my eyes, which felt heavy. I let my eyes adjust to the light, and laid there for a moment. 2 months ago, I thought this would be the happiest day of my life. Now, I wanna go back to sleep, hoping it's a dream that we're leaving. Hoping I'll wake up and it'll be July again, and I'll be going to film with the guys. The only that was able to lift my mood the slightest bit was the fact that I got to ride back with Liam. Thank God, then I won't have to fight back any strong urges to cry. 

I took my phone off its charger and checked the time. 5:15 AM. I cringed at how early it was. As my brain came out of its sleepy haze, I opened my blinds, and realized how gloomy it looked. How cliche could this get? It's so bright and sunny all summer, and the day I leave it's so dreary. 

Gloomy weather reminded me of rain, and rain was able to make me sad too. It reminded me of a couple nights ago. Dakota and I were taking our nightly drive (we decided to do it every night after the first time), and we went to a different spot. It was a secluded spot on the lake, so we had to leave his car back at the trail and walk up to the lake. We were laying on a blanket he brought, listening to the soft little ripples of waves hit the shore and talking, when suddenly we felt little pelts of raindrops on our foreheads. Before we could even process what was happening, it started downpouring. We quickly got the blanket, threw it over our heads, and sat on the bare ground. 

"You left your phone in the car right?" Dakota asked me.

"Yeah" I replied, confused. 

"So did I, so what're we afraid of? It's just a little water" he smirked, and in an instant the blanket was thrown off and we were being pelted with heavy raindrops. Dakota picked me up off the ground, and stood me up.

"I've always wanted to do this" he said as he pulled me close to him and intertwined my lips with his. Kissing in the rain. My summer of cliches went up a level.

As he wrapped his arms around my waist, he tugged on my it, signaling he wanted to pick me up. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around him, our kiss only breaking for a second. As we kept our lips together, he started walking closer to the water. 

"What're you doing?" I asked, disconnecting our lips.

"We're already wet, let's go for a swim!" After that, it was just a hazy memory of splashing around, wrestling, and kissing.

Now I want to cry again. I'll never have another night like that, I'll never have a night with him. I swallowed hard to push down the lump in my throat. I went to take a quick shower, and after I was done I put all my toiletries into my bag. I threw on black and blue under armour gym shorts, and a plain black shirt with a guitar brand logo on it. Even though this would be the last time I saw Dakota, I'd already be a bawling mess, so would an outfit really matter?

I threw my phone charger, headphones, and other small things in my sling bag to bring for the car ride home. I slung it around my back, and lifted my heavy suitcase. I lazily dragged it down the stairs, my brain still in a bit of sleepy haze. As I set it by the door, I noticed none of my parents stuff was by the door. I turned to Liam, who still had bed head and was eating toast and chugging a cup of coffee. 

"Where's mom and dad's stuff?" I asked.

"They already put it in their car" he replied, mouth full of toast. He finished chewing, took a sip of coffee, and continued talking. "They wanted to be home before us, so they're leaving earlier than us." Just as Liam finished his sentence, my parents came walking in the door.