I'd been battling the lump in my throat ever since Liam pulled out of the driveway 2 hours ago. I just kept replaying the image in my head of Dakota's figure fading to nothing. Knowing that would be the last moment I saw even the general outline of him (at least for a while) ripped my heart to absolute shreds. A summer love shouldn't hurt this bad. This whole cliche thing - it should just be a few tears, then the pain will pass.
But it's not. It feels like someone personally grabbed my heart, ripped it out of my chest, stomped on it, then ripped it to a million pieces. Quite graphic, but true. I wanted to go on YouTube and watch the videos I was in, so I could relive happiness and the carefree moment. But I restrained myself. I knew it'd only end up making me even more sad, if that was even possible. I decided to listen to some music. I grabbed my headphones from my bag, plugged them in and clicked the "shuffle" above my music library. We'll Be A Dream by We The Kings and Demi Lovato came on - one of my favorite songs of all time.
Do you remember the nights we'd stay up just laughing, smiling for hours at anything? Remember the nights we drove around crazy in love?
Those first two lines completely caught me off guard. Of course I've known the songs for years, but...they just summed up me and Dakota's relationship in a nutshell. The amount of times we would just sit there and laugh - most of the time at absolutely nothing - was too many to count.
And the night drives, they summed up our final week together. We would be out until the early hours of the morning driving around in the middle of nowhere, finding secluded spots to lay and watch the stars. 4 out of 7 days, we even watched the sunrise as well.
When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound. We'll take control of the world like it's all we have to hold on to, and we'll be a dream.
The first line reminds me of all the time we had to spend hiding from my parents. I had to wait for them to go to bed to sneak out or for Dakota to sneak into my room.
Do you remember the nights we made our way dreaming, hoping of being someone big? We were so young then, we were too crazy in love.
The night we told each other our hopes and dreams, that was a good one. It was before we started dating, actually. Relatively early in our friendship, even. Everyone left and we just happened to be the only ones left. I asked him how he got into filmmaking, one thing lead to another, and before I knew it we were telling each other every single hope and dream. Seeing him talk so passionately about something he loved was one of the sparks that lit the flame (by flame I mean me developing a crush on him).
The rest of the song basically repeated, and I just kept thinking about the summer. As much as I knew I'd regret it, I went into my phone's photo album and looked through all the pictures, starting at the day I got there. I took a picture of the endless blue lake. I also found a sneak-attack picture I took of them that I sent to my best friend to show her how attractive they were. Strange that I never deleted it, as I usually do with pictures like that. I got to the first selfie I took with the boys. Me in front, and Dakota, Connor, Tanner, Frankie, and Alex all piled behind me making weird faces. It was the day we filmed Teenage TV, Gosh, that was a good day.
One by one I scrolled through each picture, vividly remembering each moment. I found some selfies that Connor and Frankie took that I've never noticed before, which put a smile on my face. I scrolled slowly, careful to remember everything I could. Then I finally got to the last picture: the one Dakota and I took last night - the one that's our lock screens. It will get a lot of questions when I get back home, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. Constantly telling people about it will only help keep the memory alive, and no matter how much it hurts, that's all I want. I wanna be able to preserve all of the memories in my mind as vividly as I can, so even when I'm old and gray, I'll always remember the best summer of my life - the summer spent in Lakeville, Minnesota.
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"How much longer until we get home?" I asked Liam. I was getting very antsy and somewhat claustrophobic.
"About an hour and a half" he replied.
"Can you turn off the A/C and roll down some windows please? Im feeling a little bit claustrophobic."
"Of course." Liam removed one and hand from the steering wheel, flipped the dials down and simultaneously rolled down our windows. I stuck my head slightly out and took a deep breath of fresh air (well, as fresh as it could be on a highway). I brought my head back and rested it on the door - half was partially out the window and half was in the car. I stayed like that for a moment, then heard Liam's voice.
"Hey Jen?"
"Yeah?" I picked my head up and looked over at him.
"Tell me about your summer" he said.
"I basically told you everything after it happened..." I trailed off, a bit confused.
"I know, but tell me again, like top to bottom. Tell me a story" he said.
"Why though?" I tried my hardest not to make that sound bitchy.
"Cause when you're hurting, it sometimes helps to talk about it" he answered. I couldn't argue with that.
"Okay" I smiled. I began telling him everything, and by that I mean everything. I started from when I woke up the morning we left and used the rest of the hour and a half to lead up to how much the song "We'll Be A Dream" reminded me of Dakota and I.
We finally arrived home, and I grabbed all my bags and lugged them inside. Although I missed Minnesota (not even really the place - just my friends), I was very glad to be home. I missed the familiar smell and sights. I missed seeing my most recent school picture and Liam's senior picture hanging on the wall. I missed curling up in our big recliner and watching a movie. I guess it's true, there's no place like home.
I dragged everything to my room and took it in. The place where I spent 99% of my time. The blue walls, the sea of pictures of my friends and I, my big comfy bed, the desk where my laptop usually sits. I turned on my air conditioner so my room could cool down while I went and helped bring everything else in.
I spent a while helping, and returned to my now freezing room. I was exhausted (dont know why - all I did was sit in a car all day), so I decided to go to bed and unpack tomorrow. I ripped off the comforter and the pink sheets and snuggled under them. As I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, my mind wandered. There's no place like home, but there's also no place like somewhere you spent a majority of your time - like your boyfriend's bed on a summer night, cuddled up to him, listening to the sounds of nocturnal creatures.
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We'll Be A Dream on the side :)
YOU ARE READING
Summer Days
FanfictionJenna is lugged off to Minnesota to spend virtually her whole summer there with her family. She is not happy about it, nor excited. That is, until she meets a group of boys who ultimately change her life. Description sucks but the story is better!
