Take Me as I Am

Summer woke up the next morning as the sun was streaming through the window and into her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that she wasn’t in her own room. She looked to her left and saw Patrick lying there, asleep. She quickly got out of bed and gathered her clothes that were strung all over the room. She made a quick exit, going back over to her room.

Once inside her room, she picked up her cell phone and scrolled down her contacts to the one she wanted. “Hello?” Olivia answered, sleepiness evident in her voice.

“Hey, Liv,” Summer said.

“Sum, is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yes,” Summer began. “No.”

“Sum?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Sum, please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid last night,” Olivia pleaded.

“If I tell you, will you promise that you won’t hate me?”

“Summer,” Olivia began.

“Promise me,” Summer insisted.

“Summer, you know I could never hate you. What did you do?”

“I slept with Pat,” Summer told her.

“Pat?” Olivia questioned. “Pat? As in Pat Kane?”

“That would be the one,” Summer admitted.

“Okay, I need to know every single detail from last night,” Olivia told her.

“Not now,” Summer said. “I’m about to go to the hospital to see Mom, but once I get home, you’ll get all of the details.”

“Fine,” Olivia sighed. “Tell your mom I love her, and I’ll see you home tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a flight for ten tomorrow morning. I’ll see you then. Bye,” Summer replied, hanging up the phone.

The next day, Summer sat on the plane, waiting for it to land in Chicago. She couldn’t believe what the last couple of days had brought. Her mom seemed just as sick this morning when she saw her as she had the past couple of days. Summer was doing everything in her power to remain strong for her mother and for Olivia, but she didn’t know how much longer she could do it.

And then there was Patrick. He and Summer hadn’t really talked since they had slept together. He had gone to the hospital with her to see her mother, but they hadn’t had a real conversation yet. Summer wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she hadn’t wanted him to come on this trip at all, and she had wanted him just to leave her alone. On the other hand, they had slept together. But, it was probably just a one night stand to him, anyways.

As Summer stood at the baggage claim waiting for her luggage to come around, she heard someone scream her name. She turned around to see Olivia running towards her, pulling Jonathan along with her. “Sum, how are you?” Olivia asked as she gave her a hug.

“Okay,” Summer admitted. She turned around to see her suitcase coming her way, but before she could grab it, Patrick picked it up and set it down next to her. “Thanks,” she said quietly to him before picking it up and following Olivia out of the airport.

“I’m going to ride back home with Summer,” Olivia told Jonathan as they reached the parking garage.

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Jonathan said as he gave her a quick kiss before heading off to find his car.

“Okay, you’ve got some explaining to do,” Olivia said as she got in the passenger’s seat and buckled her seatbelt.

“Fine,” Summer said. “After I talked to you that first day, I went to go see Mom later on that evening. She looked sicker than she had that morning, and I was really upset about it. Pat and I were getting ready to leave, and he got stopped by fans, and I went on to the hotel without him.”

“I know,” Olivia said. Summer looked over at her, and she elaborated. “Pat called me that night and was worried about you. He asked me if I knew where you would be if you weren’t at the hotel. Anyways, back to your story.”

“Okay, well when I went back to the hotel, all I wanted to do was to forget everything that had happened that day, even if it was only for that night. So, I put on this short skirt and tiny top,” Summer explained. “I walked out into the hallway, and Pat was there. He told me he wasn’t going to let me go out and regret whatever I did the next morning. I told him I wanted to forget everything, and I kissed him. He pulled away and told me that this wasn’t going to get rid of my mom’s cancer.” Summer took a moment to breathe.

“So, how did you two end up sleeping together?” Olivia asked.

“I told him it was either going to be him or some stranger, and he stopped me and kissed me, and we went back to his room,” Summer told her.

“Wow!” Olivia said as they pulled up to their apartment. “I can’t believe you slept with Pat Kane!”

“If I tell you something, will you promise me that you won’t tell anyone else?”

“Yeah, Sum. What is it?” Olivia asked.

“I wasn’t planning on going out and sleeping with some random guy,” Summer admitted.

“I don’t understand.”

“I wanted to sleep with Pat. After you told me that he was there because he wanted to be and not because you forced him, part of me stopped hating him.”

“You wanted to sleep with him?” Olivia asked in disbelief.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Summer said. “I’m not in love with him. But, I wasn’t going back to my old ways. I just wanted to see if he’d sleep with me.”

“Sum,” Olivia began.

“It was a one night stand to him, Liv. Nothing more. So, it’s a one night stand to me, too.”

“Did you want it to be more?” Olivia asked.

Summer didn’t answer as she got out of the car and made her way to their apartment.