Tell Me You'll Miss Me | ✓

5. very berry

It took until we were back in my bedroom for us to fully be out of Nora's freaky sphere of influence. It was like she'd totally scrambled our brains. I knew why I was so spooked by her, but I had no idea what had Summer so shaken up.

"That was wild," Summer said, throwing herself down onto my bed. The plushy, silky cover rustled underneath her, and when she squeezed her eyes shut, she looked way too comfortable, like she was about to drift off into the dreamland I usually saw Nora in.

"Wild? Are you kidding me? That was beyond wild. That was-- I mean-- there isn't even a word, dude, for how wild that is. She's the girl!"

I was pacing; this felt so unreal.

"Right? Shit, Jess. You live next door to the Beach Blast Very Berry Smoothie girl!"

And the pacing stopped.

"Who?"

"Nora! From the adverts! Where that surf dude goes all Baywatch on her and she slurps up her drink and she's like, berry smoothie? Very smooth." Summer was laughing, and she only laughed harder when I stared at her, totally lost. I figured my day had peaked in terms of weirdness, but this just kept feeling more and more bizarre. Summer had lost her mind. "You know!" she insisted.

"Dude, no," I said. "What the shit is Beach Blast? Is that a new thing?"

"Yeah, but they're like, the hot new thing. They're supposed to be super good." Summer nodded, suddenly way too chill about this. "Man," she sighed, all dreamy, "I can't believe you live next to a model and she's the smoothie girl. You were right. No one's gonna pay any attention to us with the very berry babe next door," she teased, cackling when I gave an exasperated groan.

"That is not why I was freaking out, Sum," I yanked my desk chair out from under my way-too-messy desk and aimed it at the bed. "She's the girl from my dreams," I said, shrugging as I slumped down into the chair and kicked my feet up on the bed.

Summer's ears practically perked up. "Um? Holy shit?" She sat up, sharp as anything. "Are you--?" She raised her eyebrows at me, her eyes tracing all over every pore on my face. I made a mental note: you're way overdue for fixing your eyebrows and tried not to panic. I was in way too deep here already, but Summer would know what to do. Summer always, somehow, knew what to do. She'd give me like, eighty-three bad suggestions first, but we'd get there - we always did.

She made an ungodly screeching noise and then let herself collapse back on my bed, kicking her feet up in the air as she continued to almost scream. "You're in love with the very berry girl!"

I jabbed my foot into her thigh. "Um, false. I'm grossly in love with the very berry girl from my dreams," I corrected, trying to be smart about it. Summer cackled some more.

"This is the best. This is the best day ever. I cannot believe this is happening. My little girl, all grown up," she teased.

"Shut up, dude, I don't even know her," I said, the beginnings of a smile trying to tug at the corners of my mouth. "You know, if this is the best? You're the worst." At least I was starting to chill, all the frantic nerves that Nora had shot right through me had managed to spread out a little. I felt wired, but I could deal with it now. Summer, despite being the worst, was a total godsend.

"High praise," she grinned. "God, I can't believe you're gonna marry a model." She waited a second, biting her bottom lip and gazing up at the ceiling, lost. "You know, this makes so much sense," she said, kicking her elbows back to lean half-up and look at me.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Where else d'you think your brain picked that face from, right?"

I cocked my head to the side, looking around the room as if an answer would leap out at me. That didn't sound right - but of course it didn't. Summer, weirdly, didn't believe in prophetic dreams. Somehow, that was 'bullshit', even though psychics totally weren't. Double standards, I know. Take it up with her, not me.

"Maybe my brain didn't pick it out. Maybe it's fate. Maybe it's something guiding me to her, you know? Like... I don't even know what this Beach Blast stuff even is."

"Your subconscious is a deep, dark, and... like, knowing you? Super scary place, dude," she grinned. "You saw her serve that sick pun without even realising and you were like, 'Hell yeah. That was very smooth.' Next thing you know, she's haunting your dreams," Summer clapped and then spread her palms out at me, as if she'd just done a fancy magic trick and was awaiting applause.

"You're such a loser," I said, in lieu of applause.

"A loser who's gonna help you get a date," Summer grinned.