The Summer Air Is Here

‘The summer air is here, so get your dress on and dance around like no one cares.’

“I love the summer!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, causing the people on the boardwalk to stop and stare at me.

“Would you quit it? People are staring.” My best friend Emily giggled. Her sun kissed cheeks were a slightly darker shade of red due to the blush of embarrassment I had caused her.

“Oh come on Em. It’s summer! Who cares what everyone thinks!” I gave her a slight hip bump to show her I was kidding around.

“You’re such a loser Jack.” She said playfully. “Where did everyone go?” She asked referring to our friends. We were here with my band and some of our school friends, but they ditched us a while ago.

“No clue.” I shrugged.

As I said before, I love the summer. It’s the only time Emily and me get to spend all day together. There’s no school, no curfew, no tour, just me and my best friend since the sandbox days. I met the beautiful Emily Jenkins when we were five years old. I had just moved into town and our mothers set up a play date together. Since then we’ve been inseparable. As cliché as it goes, I developed a crush on her and decided that this summer I would make her my girlfriend. Only problem with that is that it’s my promise for every summer since we were fourteen and I’ve always bitched out on doing it.

“So, what do you want to do?” I looked over at her. She was wearing a yellow sundress that she bought the other day with yellow flip-flops to match. Her long brown hair was down and fell just below her shoulders. She had on no make up, not like she needed it anyway. She looked up at me with her bright green eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. Rides?” She pointed to the rides.

“Yeah! Let’s go on the Ferris wheel!” I yelled excitedly. I grabbed her hand and started dragging her over. The sun was close to setting. I figured that a nice ride on the Ferris wheel would be romantic and I could finally make my move. Before I could get any further, Emily yanked her hand out of mine and came to a complete stop.

“Em! Why did you stop?” I whined. She didn’t say anything, just stared at a small area where people were dancing.

“Emily, come on.” I tried pulling her again.

“Jack! Shush! Do you hear that?” She scolded. She didn’t wait for me to answer. Instead she started walking towards the make shift dance floor, which in reality was a dock that fisherman fish off of all the time. As we got closer I noticed a man sitting with a guitar. He was strumming a tune that sounded a bit familiar. Next to him was a man with a saxophone. He wasn’t playing yet, but looked as if he was about to. I saw a few older couples already dancing to the wordless tune.

“Jack, c’mon! I love this song!” Emily grabbed my hand and started walking towards the dance floor. I obediently followed her. She went right into the middle of all the couples. She wrapped her arms around my neck and started swaying to the song. I stood there shocked for a moment, but snapped out of it quickly and grabbed her waist, moving with her.

’The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful stop me and steal my breath.’

Both Emily and the man with the guitar started singing together.
“I know this song!” I laughed making Emily laugh with me.

“Everyone knows this song! It’s one of my favorites.” She smiled up at me.

“You always were a sucker for those cheesy love songs.” I smirked.

“Oh you hush. You know I’m a hopeless romantic.” She playfully slapped me in the chest and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I know.” I mumbled and pulled her closer and started listening to the man sing again.

‘And I’ll be, your crying shoulder. I’ll be love’s suicide. And I’ll be better when I’m older. I’ll be the greatest fan of your life.’

“We might be the luckiest men in the world.” An elderly man said making me jump slightly. I looked over and smiled at him and his wife. You can tell they’ve been together for a great length of time. I looked down at his wife and smiled.

“We got the best lookin’ ladies on the boardwalk.” He winked. I heard Emily let out a laugh and she buried her face in my chest to hide her blush.

“We definitely do.” I smiled.

“Don’t let this one go son. She’s a looker. I had to fight off a million guys for my gal.” He let out a chuckle.

“Hush Harvey. You did no such thing.” His wife rolled her eyes, but had a giant smile on her face nevertheless. “Men, always trying to charm their way into your heart.” She said to Emily.

“I don’t know how they do it.” Emily smiled at the old woman.

“Harvey, let’s go. Let’s stop bothering this adorable couple.” She said to her husband causing him to let out a loud laugh. Both Emily and I blushed.

“You’re right. Have fun kids!” Harvey said and slowly twirled his wife over to another part of the dance floor.

“I like them.” I whispered looking into Emily eyes.

“Me too.” She whispered back.

‘And tell me that we belong together. And dress it up with the trappings of love. I’ll be captivated. I’ll hang from your lips. Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above.’

The man singing belted out the chorus. I twirled Emily around and dipped her. She let out a small squeal, but laughed quickly after. She held her arm high above her head so I could twirl too. It was a bit difficult considering I was a lot taller than her, but we managed. We joked around a bit before going back to our original position, only this time a lot closer than before. I looked down at her and smiled. She returned my smile with an even bigger one. The music started to slow down.

“Emily, I have a question.” I said softly not removing my eyes from hers.

“What’s your question?”

“Would you hold it against me if I kissed you?” I mumbled in fear of rejection.

“Not at all.”

The greatest fan of your life.

As the man held the final note of the song I leant down and pressed my lips to Emily’s. We never stopped swaying to the music. I completely forgot about everything that surrounded us. The music, the band, the other couples, everything. All I was focused on was my lips on top of Emily’s.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” I whispered breaking our kiss.

“I would love too.” She smiled and pulled me back in.
We continued to sway to the music with our lips connected.

“OW OW!”

We broke apart to see Alex howling and the rest of our friends laughing. I glared at Alex for ruining the moment.

“Jack, we’re the only ones dancing.” Emily said lowly. I looked around and saw the couples and a bunch of on lookers smiling at us. I looked over at the band that was still playing an extended version of the song.

“We didn’t want to stop the song. You looked adorable.” The man with the guitar said.

“Sorry.” Emily squeaked out. Her face was as red as an apple.

“Thanks.” I smiled at the band. We both started making our way towards our friends.

“Oh, young love. Remember what I said! Don’t let her go.” Harvey said as we passed him and his wife.

“Don’t worry about that sir. It will never happen.” I smiled down at Emily and kissed her again.