The Summer I Met You || ✔︎

T w e l v e

Beth's head pops up into the treehouse.  She instant looks in-between Daniel and I a little confused about what's going on between us but doesn't say anything, Beth just comes inside the tree house and waits until whatever is going on with Daniel and I to be over. When Daniel looks up at me one last time before standing up and walking down the ladder there's a glimpse of hope in his eyes that I never noticed before really, almost as if he was hoping I'd talk to him instead of letting him leave. He ends up leaving Beth and I alone in the tree house.

When Beth is certain that Daniel can't hear her she looks at me with concern in her eyes, she obviously knew a little bit about whatever may have happened but she probably doesn't know the full story.

"Don't bother Beth, I don't want to talk about it," I tell her not really in the mood to talk about what I had over heard Abby and Daniel talking about. I was probably upset over nothing since I didn't really want to listen to anyone but it still hurt that he'd agree with Abby that he should just give up on wanting to be with me, just because Grady has a crush on me, which I'm still not entirely sure if that's true or not.

"I wasn't going to ask about it, but just know I am here to talk if you want to Ella."

"I know, I know." As I say this Beth gets up and walks over to me holding out one of her hands for me to take, I take it looking at her confused and let her drag me out of the tree house.

"We are going to the only place on this planet that can cheer you up."

"Where? The bookstore?" I ask questionably.

Beth doesn't answer my question but I know that the answer is yes.  We climb down the tree house and she dragged me all the way to the boat house. We get onto the boat and she drives the boat to the local bookstore that's like five minutes away. We get to the Reader's Galore docks in no time. Beth and I have been going to Reader's Galore since we were about 6, Clarissa Hart the owner of the store has lived on Beaconsfield lake for a long time now and everyone adores her.

We dock the boat and get out walking over to the little bookstore. Everyone at Beaconsfield loves going to Reader's Galore just for the smaller selection and the unique styles that are found here. Out of all the bookstores that I end up going to over the year Reader's Galore is definitely my favourite.

Pushing the door open the bell jingles for Clarissa to know someones entered the store. I walk in and instantly feel better about whatever happened earlier.

"Good Morning girls," Clarissa says to us from behind the counter.

"Good Morning Clarissa." We chime.

"I haven't seen you girls at all this summer how are you doing?" She asks us.

"Were good, just hanging around on the beach and in the water majority of the time," Beth tells her.

"Thats nice, I saw you and the new boy on the lake earlier this month Ella, he seems nice."

I start to blush slightly remembering when Daniel took me to his special spot, but inside I start to feel a little sad and unsure of what's actually going on with him and I.

"Uh yeah, he was helping me get away from Beth after I splashed her," I admit a bit nervously.

"How fun, now I've been holding onto these books for you girls since they came in at the beginning for the summer, give me a second I'll go get them from the back," Clarissa tells us.

"Okay sure," Beth and I say to her as she's walking towards the backroom.

Looking around the place its obvious that Clarissa never changes around how the store is organized, or the fact that you'll always find a treasure inside one of the shelves. I wander over to the fantasy section, and start to look over the books. Just as I was about to pull out a book Clarissa comes back with two books, I slightly hear Beth get excited about the book she got and her calling me back over to check out the book Clarissa has for me.

"Coming," I call over to them and walk back over seeing Clarissa hold out a book that looks like a fantasy.

"Thanks," I say taking it from her hands admiring the cover. Running my fingers over the embossed title I smile. I turn over the book and read the back carefully, making sure to soak in every detail. Out of the corner of my eye I see Beth smile at me, her already knowing that I'm going to be in love with this book just like all the other fantasy romances I read.

'Royal Burden' by C.R. Jay, says the cover, I look up at Clarissa and give her a warm smile.

"Thank you so much Clarissa, how much is the book?" I ask wanting to make sure she gets paid for holding onto these books for us.

"No need Ella, I knew it would be perfect for you since the day it came in."

"You sure?" I ask nervously.

"Positively, enjoy the book on the house," Clarissa tells us smiling.

The cover of this book was very detailed and beautiful, it was in black and white with a hint of a teal colour, showing a girl wearing a crown but you couldn't really see her face, it was masked by the title and some supper simple birds flying across her face. The text had such an elegant flowness to it. The cover was so elegant that I definitely had to start reading it right away instead of putting it on my shelf to read it later this summer.