Summer: Undefined

Elle and Jude joined me in the back yard just before the first car arrived. Jude ran to greet the mysterious people who were emerging from the car. I knew one of them as a friend from our old town, but the others were new to me.

“Hey, Halle!” I smiled as she came up to greet me with a big hug.

Halle and me went way back with each other. We’d first met in third grade. Some ass had pushed her off her swing and I helped her to the nurse’s office. Ever since then we’ve been really close. She had dated Jude for a while but it died down when they both realized the spark had fizzled down. They remained just as close, though.

Anyone with a mind could tell that Elle was jealous of Halle. But she was nice just the same. One thing about Elizabeth was that she had a terribly great conscience. It could really get her in trouble sometimes.

The friends Halle had brought with her included her new boyfriend, Will, and Halle’s cousin, Bob. Will seemed nice enough, but defiantly not up to Halle standards.

Slowly but surely people started showing up. But the two people I’d been dieing to see the most were still missing.

“Vince said he’d be about an hour late,” Jude said after pulling me aside for a minute. “I thought you might want to know…”

I gave him a weak smile and rejoined Halle, Will, Bob, and Elle in the gazebo.

Elle and Halle were actually getting along really well, despite the romantic factor of Jude. It’s not like Halle still liked my brother, but it’s just that lingering fact that she had was Elle wants.

Jude was about to join us when an unfamiliar car rolled up into our long driveway.
I curiously tilted my head to one side in order to get a better view of the passengers.

Emerging from the drivers seat was a boy with long black hair. From the passenger side was a boy with long blondish-brown hair and what looked like remnants of facial hair. The three boys that emerged from the back were too far away for me to see.

They greeted Jude with great enthusiasm, and Jude was more than willing to repay them in full. Then with a smile, Jude led them my way.

I quickly looked away and pretended to be interested in whatever it was that Elle was explaining to Bob.

“Hey, guys!” Jude said, waving his arms, trying to get our attention. “I want you to meet some people!”

I got up from my spot on the gazebo floor and followed my friends to the open yard.

Now that they were closer I could see the three people who were sitting in the back of the car.

One had a beanie cap hiding his brown hair and square glasses covering his equally brown eyes. He was shy in the way he walked and slightly awkward from his lanky limbs.

The other, the shortest, was obviously the spunkiest of the group; he was bounding up behind the rest of the group with a giant grin on his face. This boy had short black hair with a tiny bang growing from the middle of his forehead.

Finally, the last boy came last in the line and kept his head down. He had a small Afro bouncing in sync with his step. He wasn’t as shy with the boy the glasses, but by the way his pockets were safely hidden in his hoodie, I could tell he still had his share of timidity.

All five of them stepped up into the gazebo and looked us all in the eye.

“Guys these are some friends of mine,” Jude began. I wasn’t quite sure if he was referring to us about them, or vise versa. “This is Halle, Will, Bob, Elle, and Delilah.”

At the sound of my name the boy with the long black hair perked up. He searched the faces of each girl, trying to figure out whom Jude was referring to when he said my name.

“Guys, this is, Mikey, Frank, Ray, Matt, and Gerard.”

Gerard?

Which one was Gerard?

I wanted to smack Jude on the head for not being more specific. But he left us with an excuse that he was hungry and he headed off in the complete opposite direction of the snacks.

Everyone sat in silence for a moment. It took Halle’s brave personality to finally break the ice.

“I’m Halle!” She smiled and reached out a friendly hand and shook it with each of them. “Jude was just too stupid to be specific, so I thought I’d do it for him!”

The boy with his hands in his hoodie let out a soft laugh as Halle continued with her introductions.

“This is Will,” She stood behind her boyfriend and kissed the top of his head. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“This is Bob,” She stood behind him and smacked the back of his head. “He’s my cousin.” And then she rolled her eyes.

“This is Elle,” She stood behind her newly found friend and patted her head. “I just met her today, but she’s pretty cool.”

“Then this is Delilah,” She stood behind me and gave my head a hug. “She’s my best friend, and also Jude’s twin sister.”

“Hey!” The short one laughed. “I’m Frankie!” He gave us all a dramatic wave.

Frank then followed Halle’s trend of introducing people.

“This is Ray!” He stood behind the boy with his hands in his hoodie and played with his Afro. “He has big hair.”

“This is Mikey!” He stood behind the boy with the beanie cap and put his hands over Mikey’s eyes. “He has square glasses!”

“This is Matt,” He said it less enthusiastically and rolled his eyes behind Matt’s head so he couldn’t see. “He plays drums…”

“Finally, this is Gerard!” Frank’s enthusiasm returned as he stood behind the boy with the long black hair. “He draws comic books! Really good comic books…”

Gerard blushed and dropped his head, letting his black bangs fall over his hazel eyes.
After that everyone shot into conversation. Ray struck up some very interesting topics with Halle and quietly kept refusing to let Will in on the action.

Bob was busy talking to Frankie and Mikey about something so random I couldn’t follow it.
Elle and Matt just sat there and attempted at small talk every now and then.

That left just Gerard and myself. It was semi awkward in a strange way. Since we were the only two left, I felt a sort of obligation to talk to him.

I started to walk over to Gerard when something caught my eye.

It was a beaten up red pick up truck with three people crammed into the two front seats.

I immediately recognized the driver. His falsely died black hair shimmered in the setting sun and his slender figure gracefully got out of the car and slammed the door.

Next thing I knew my feet were carrying me away from the backyard as fast as they could. Something inside me didn’t want to face him at this moment. Not now.

Inside the house I felt totally secluded, despite the pounding vibrations from the stereo.

My fingers gently rubbed my temples as I tried to make out why I had run from the party.

It couldn’t have been fear. I’d seen him a lot after we had broken up. And it couldn’t have been nerves; my stomach usually has no trouble informing me if it was.

Then the further I thought into the situation it all boiled down to Gerard. Someone who I’d talked to once, well twice, and he had already developed a “crush” on me? I don’t think I could do that in front of him.

Before I could think anymore into the matter I heard the sliding door whoosh open and Jude came in.

With a great look of concern in his face he knelt down beside me.

“Are you alright, De?”

I looked up into his eyes and saw my own staring back at me. It was weird, but sometimes when Jude and I have some true sibling moments I can’t tell him from myself, even though we looked completely different.

“Yeah,” I nodded solemnly and stood up. “How is he?”

“He’s… worried about you too. He saw you running and thought that someone might’ve said something to you.”

I starred past my brother, past the furniture, past the house. I just starred at nothing.

“He really wants to see you,” Just quickly added. “Please come back out?”

With a fake smile I put on a mask of bravery and followed my brother outside where I found Vince and two other girls standing silently over by the food.

He stood upright when he saw me headed in his direction.

“Hey, Vince,” I smiled.

“Hey! Delilah, I felt like I haven’t seen you in forever!” He pulled me into an awkward hug when the girl to his right did an obvious cough. “Oh, Delilah, these are some of my friends, Jules,” He pointed to the girl that coughed. “And Aimee.” He pointed to his left.

Both girls were beautiful, but in their own ways.

Jules had red hair that flowed like silk down her back. It shined like fire in the glow of the setting sun and it made her very alluring in a mysterious way. Eyes of pure emerald were careful not to be hidden behind straight bangs. With features that could stop anyone dead in their tracks, it was easy to see why Vince was prone to be friends with Jules.

Aimee, on the other hand, had a very natural beauty about her. She didn’t need to wear make-up like Jules did to be beautiful. Her blonde hair bobbed around her chin and made its home tucked gently behind her ears. Her soft robins egg eyes told her story. It was one of rejection and loss. I could only guess that this was one of the main factors as to her shyness.

“Hey,” I waved at both of them.

Jules tilted her head to one side and eyed me from top to bottom. I suddenly felt like I was talking some pop-quiz. And by the look on her face I knew I was failing.

“Hi,” She sourly replied and walked off to the pool with her hips dramatically swaying.

I looked back at Vince and he shrugged with that same grin planted on his face. I never thought I’d say this, but it was a little unsettling. Something behind his white teeth was screaming at me to run and never look back.

“Are you all right?” Aimee squeaked as she softly spoke.

A light smile broke out from me at the sincere question and I nodded.

“Well, I’m going to see who else is here. See you guys later!” Vince ran off to follow Jules.

“Don’t worry about him,” Aimee spoke again after a long pause. “And don’t worry about her, either. You’re really beautiful.”

“She was judging my looks?” I ask, slightly surprised. “I’m guessing that was a bad reaction?”

Aimee solemnly nodded.

“Don’t feel bad, though. When she first saw me she laughed.”

We giggled together at the strangeness of this habit Jules had developed.

“Does she really except everyone to be as gorgeous as her?”

“Well…” Aimee rubbed her hand on the back of her neck. “Most of the time when she storms off…”

“Yeah?”

“It means she’s jealous.”

I laughed so hard my sides hurt.

“She’s jealous…?” Laughter filled this pause. “She’s jealous of me?!”

Aimee shrugged.

My eyes glazed over to the gazebo. I wanted everything to go back there and actually talk to Gerard face-to-face, now that Vince wasn’t paying attention. But I didn’t want my conversation with Aimee to end.

“Come with me, I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine!”

I tugged at her hesitant arm until I finally got her to budge.

We made our way over to the crowded gazebo and I introduced her to everyone.

Halle immediately took a liking to her and pulled her into her conversation with Ray.

I flashed an encouraging smile as she looked back at me with desperation.

I stubbornly shook my head. From the looks of it she hadn’t been very social, so it’s about time she made some new friends.

All of a sudden I felt someone’s cool hand touching my arm.

I whipped around to see a pair of sparkling hazel eyes gleaming up at me and a shy smile cautiously playing around the corners of a soft pink mouth.