Before the Summer's Out...

This moment was abruptly interrupted by a loud squelching noise followed by a thump. Heather and I looked over and I saw Enid sprawled out on the wooden deck. She must have slipped from all the water! I listened, angered and horrified, as everyone burst into laughter.

I guess, can you really blame them, though? They were hammered and Enid had just wiped out completely, owning herself. But the killer part was I heard Heather laughing just as hard as everyone else; and, even worse, I saw and listened to Joe Hamface snicker as he made a lackluster attempt to help Enid to her feet.

She just brushed him off and quickly went into Heather's house. I watched her walk away, making a mental note to kill Joseph, but I couldn't stop the overriding concern I felt for Enid. That must have hurt when she fell and everyone laughed like that. And, Enid, well, I really, really care about Enid. She's my best friend... or well... I guess I actually do lo-

"Benj?" Heather prompted me gently. I forced myself to look at her. Heather just smiled at me and kept leaning toward me. She smelled like cinnamon and chlorine, alcohol and sex. Those long lashes curled out and her eyelids were closed. Her raspberry coloured lips were right there, parted a little, and barely a few inches from mine.

I've dreamed about kissing Heather Amestead since I was 12 years old and I discovered all the functions of my penis. I've wanted to be Heather's boyfriend since I was thirteen. I've watched her smile, laugh, and talk our entire high school lives. I'd sit there at lunch in the cafeteria, watching Heather sit with Joseph and giggle with her girlfriends, hoping time after effing time that she'd just look at me and give me one of her beautiful smiles. She almost never did.

And that whole time, who was the one that was smiling, laughing, talking and sitting next to me? Not Heather. Enid.

So I walked away from the drunken and beautiful Heather Amestead. I left her to
gape at me in shock as I walked into her house.

I found Enid sitting on a bar stool at the island in the kitchen, taking a fresh tissue out from her purse and rubbing it under her eyes. I walked over to her and sat down.

"Wha- what are you doing?" She demanded of me.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" I demanded right back. Enid blinked her tempest eyes over and over, stunned. She'd been crying, I could tell. Enid doesn't cry very often, but when she does her biology really lets you know: red, running nose; puffy, blood shot eyes; the works.

"Oh. God, yeah I'm fine," Enid said, disgusted with her klutziness.

"You sure? You're weeping," I said, using her word, trying to get her to smile. She cracked a very small one.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just..." Enid trailed off. She wiped her nose and dropped the tissue on the counter. "I'm just really, really embarrassed," Enid admitted.

"Because you fell in front of Joe?" I asked, sympathetic. I mean, they'd been on a date. I might hate the idea of it to my core, but I still felt bad for Enid.

"Well, partly," Enid said, rubbing one of her big tempest eyes. I watched her as she pushed her hair off her shoulders and then lean her head tiredly on one hand and rest the other arm on the table.

"I can't be that popular... goddess all you males seem to like," Enid admitted in a frustrated rush.

"What?" I asked, confused. Enid rolled her eyes at me.

"Come on, Benj. You know what I'm talking about. Guys crawl on their hands and knees for girls like Heather. And, frankly, I don't really blame them. I mean, she's gorgeous and... really nice," Enid said, her voice breaking unhappily.

"You're nice," I said. She was really pretty too, but she wouldn't believe me if I said it. And she had great boobs, but again, she wouldn't have appreciated it if I said that either. Enid rolled her eyes again.

"I'm not that nice," Enid mumbled.

"What... makes you think you have to be a popular goddess to have guys like you?" I asked her. "I mean, you've always been so self assured in your own skin," I said. It's true. Enid has always just been herself and chastised me for trying to put on a show for Heather. Enid sighed and rested both of her arms in front of her.

"Yeah well. Things change," Enid said, looking at her hands.

"What things?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, Heather started paying attention to you. And then I tried my contacts and shaved my legs and you paid attention to me. And Joseph Hamholffer paid attention to me. And it just all snowballed into this pressure to be as presentable as Heather," Enid said, sounding disgusted with herself. I was disgusted with her too.

"Enid. You don't have to be like Heather. That's stupid," I told her.

"Shut up Benj," Enid snapped at me. "You like, like Heather, you hypocrite. You like Heather because she beautiful and nice and graceful and all that other crap. And everyone else likes her too. In case you haven't noticed, I'm NOT beautiful or nice. And I'm the complete, polar opposite of graceful. Ergo, no one even likes me a little bit the way they like Heather," Enid said, angry and tearful.

"Aw, Enid. That's not true. Joe seemed to like you," I said.

"Oh yeah? Until I felt flat on my face," Enid said, sniffing aggressively.

"Well, I'm sure if you just went back out there he'd still like you," I said.

"I can't. I lost one of my contacts when I fell," Enid said.

"Didn't you bring your glasses?" I asked, surprised. Enid always had a backup plan.

"Yeah I did but... Joe was going on and on about how nice I look without my glasses. If I put them on, he's just going to think of me as the dork from law class," Enid said, looking at her hands. Man, it must be hard as crap being a girl.

"You too, huh?" I mumbled, amused, mostly to myself.

"What?" Enid asked.

"Oh. Heather called me a dork," I said. Enid and I were quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, hey, what the hell are you doing in here anyway?" Enid snapped at me suddenly. "You seemed to finally be fulfilling your lifelong dream of kissing the great and wonderful Heather Amestead," Enid went on, her voice dripping with hurt sarcasm.

I shrugged.

"I was worried about you," I admitted. Enid looked at me sharply.

"You expect me to believe you left Heather Amestead as she was about to kiss you to come talk to the puffy loser that is me?" Enid asked. I shrugged again. It was true. What could I say?

I could feel Enid looking at me. I couldn't look at her, for some reason. I reached over and poked through her purse. She didn't stop me. I pulled out her glasses. I looked at Enid. Her tempest eyes were staring at me, all puffy and stormy. I put her glasses on her face. There she was. That was my Enid.

"That's Enid. And I like her this way," I said. I didn't really mean to do it, but when I took my hands away from her face and rested them on the island, one of my hands covered Enid's. I didn't mean for it to happen. It just happened.

"You really left Heather to come see if I was ok?" Enid mumbled, still staring at me. I shrugged.

"She's just Heather. You're my best friend. Or you were..." I said.

Suddenly, Enid leaned over and kissed me. I kissed her back. I could taste her salty tears. I could smell sunscreen and her bedroom. Her bedroom smells like fresh cut flowers, so Enid smelled like fresh cut flowers. Flowers and sunscreen. Kissing Enid sober was much nicer than rape-kissing her drunk. This... this felt great.