Strictly Summer Romance (ON HOLD)

Chapter Two, Summer Bash

All I hear for the next few minutes is a very loud and very annoying ring in my ears. My mother babbles excitedly, but all I'm able to do is plaster a fake smile on my face and nod. She seems so excited, oblivious to the panic swirling through my entire body. Air feels hard to come by, and my limbs demand to sag in defeat, self-pity, and betrayal.

I can practically feel the anxiety oozing off Alice next to me. I'm sure she can hear my heart about to beat out of my chest as well.

THE O'CONNER'S?! ARE THEY FUCKING INSANE?! WHY?! WHY NOW?! WHY THIS SUMMER?! WHY! WHY! WHY!

"So! What do you girls think?" Ava asks us. Her and my mother are gripping each other's hands and nearly bouncing out of their seats.

"Sounds...great!" Alice manages to croak out. I'm thankful for her voice because my throat feels like that of the Sahara desert.

They must not have heard the not-so-underlying tone of unease lacing her words because they chatter on about how amazing it's going to be and how much they miss Shaina, Mrs. O'Conner.

They fill us in on a few details. They wanted it to be a surprise; they've been planning this for a month now. Apparently we are leaving after graduation tomorrow night. Spending a full two and a half months at the beach house. With the O'Conner's. That's roughly eighty days. Twelve Weeks. Two full moon cycles. At the beach house. With the O'Conner's.

Alice and I manage to get dismissed fairly quickly, making an excuse about getting ready for the party. We silently walk to my room. I close the door behind me just as Alice falls face first onto my bed and lets out a muffled scream. I follow suit. I yell until my voice is hoarse. My bed's comforter is wet with saliva, yet I still want to bury myself inside of it and never resurface.

"What the hell are we going to do Emery?" Alice finally breaks the silence.

"I. Have. No. Idea." I say in a raspy voice. I roll over and stare at the ceiling, still not fully letting my self comprehend what just happened. If I process it, it becomes true.

See you soon, Em.

I mock his words in my head. Cryptic son of a...

"I can't face him. I can't do it!" Alice panics. "It's been three years! Three years I've had to get over that asshole. And now, our last summer, they want to go back to that god forsaken beach house?! With them?!!" Alice is completely beside herself. I try to think of something to comfort her thoughts. Anything to help ease her panic, but I come up blank.

My own mind is spinning too fast for me to catch hold of a single coherent thought. The O'Conners. We'd all practically been raised in the same house growing up. Our mothers were inseparable. And every summer we'd go to the beach house.

I haven't thought about that house in so long. I wouldn't let myself. My senior year was not going to be plagued by the memories of it. But now as I let them resurface it's like everything happened yesterday.

"Should've burned that place down when I had the chance," Alice grumbles.

I crack a smile at that. "Maybe we can just avoid them all summer. I mean, that house is really big...we could just quarantine ourselves in our old room, and use the window as our means of coming and going."

"Yeah, sure. Except I don't want to break a limb every other day scaling down that damn tree!" Alice quips.

I break out in full on laughter now. I'd forgotten about that. Alice and a certain O'Conner boy had decided to play Romeo and Juliet. He had thrown pebbles at our window, leaving a small nick in the glass before Alice had opened it and listened as he recited a corny ballot I'm pretty sure he stole from a Hallmark movie. Alice had then attempted to climb her way down a tree outside our window. We were three stories off the ground. Attempt is an adequate word choice because about half way down her footing slipped and she fell nearly ten feet to the ground breaking her leg as consequence. I still don't understand why she didn't just walk out the damn front door.