A Summer to Remember

Beautiful girls all over the world, I could be chasing, but mine time would be wasted, they’ve got nothing on you babe.

“Ahhh Andrea turn it off, I’m not done sleeping,” I complained to her.

They might say hi,

“Andreaaaa, I’m going to smack you upside the head if don’t turn that thing off.” Julie threatened her. I had never seen Andrea move so fast in my life. One second she was laying sleepily on the floor and the next she was running across the room to her phone. I wouldn’t blame her though; Julie grew up in a house with five older brothers.

And they might say hey, but you shouln—

“Thank the Lord!” Margaret said.

“I won’t be too happy Margaret, you have to get up with me, we both have flights to catch” Andrea told her.

“What time is it anyway?” Julie questioned her.

“6:30,” Andrea responded.

“Ahhhh, you’re kidding,” Julie said. “I have to go to work in a half hour.” Julie got up and started getting ready with Margaret and Andrea. Too lazy to move I watched my friends run back and forth trying to gather all their stuff they had brought with them.

“Okay, I’m set,” Andrea said. “Ready Mags?”

“Yeah,” Margaret said as she came over and gave me a hug. “I’m going to miss you Dani.”

“Me too,” Andrea said as she too came and gave me a goodbye hug. Then going over to hug Julie as well. Once they left, Julie came over to me and gave me a huge hug.

“Dani, I know it seems like this summer is going to suck, but make the most of it. I’m making it your mission to find out who this guy with the blue eyes is, okay? And make sure you text me as soon as you find out!”

“I’m going to miss you Jules,” I said giving her one last hug.

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“Stop…stop… Jake please stop, I’m up, I’m up,” I shouted between giggles. I must have fallen back asleep after Julie left.

“Hey sis, breakfast is ready. And I’d hurry up if I were you, some of my friends are here and they eat a ton. There might not be anything left by the time you get up there,” Jake said. As he turned to leave I jumped on his back. “Jeez, you don’t get any lighter as the years pass do you?”

“Jerk,” I said as I punched him in the arm. To my disappointment he didn’t even flinch.

Jake set me down on the top of the stairs and I walked to the kitchen to get my breakfast. I filled my plate with my mom’s homemade French toast and headed towards the dining room. As I entered the room a pair of crystal blue eyes looked straight at me. A sense of warmth and comfort wash through me. It felt so nice that I was sure this was all a dream…that is until WHAM! I walked straight into the wall and landed on my butt. All the conversation stopped to see what had happened. I stood up sheepishly and took the only seat left at the table. Much to my delight it was next to Mr. Blue Eyes himself.

“Do you walk into walls often?” He asked as I set down my plate.

“Not usually. Only when I’m distracted, which happens a lot, so I guess you could say so.” I responded.

“I’m Patrick,” He told me.

“Danielle,” I said. I was finally able to get good look at him. Instantly a small gasped escaped my lips. Not only did Patrick have blue eyes, but he also had blonde curly hair that stuck up in every direction. Immediately I liked him even more than I did before because curly hair has always been a huge turn on of mine. “How do you know Jake?”

“He’s our team equipment manager.”

“Jake got a job and didn’t tell me!” I exclaimed.

“I guess not.” Patrick answered.

“So what team does he work for?” I asked curiously.

“The Chicago Blackhawks.”

“No way! I was so excited. Ever since Jake has been playing hockey it’s been his dream to work for the Blackhawks. “Jaaaake!” I hollered across the table.

“Daaaani,” he mimicked me.

“How could you not tell me you worked for the Blackhawks!?” The whole room went silent man this is awkward.

“Because I was going to tell you yesterday, but you weren’t in the best shape so I decided not to.”

“Oh, I have one more question.”

“Shoot.”

“Do all these people work with you?”

“ Yeah, they have a different job than me though.” Jake pointed to his left, “This here is Tazer, and next to him is Burish. Across from me is Sharp and next to him is Kaner.” When Jake finished I figured out what he meant when he said they had a different job then him.

“You guys play hockey!” I screamed.

“Did you really not know who we were?” Sharp said.

“I can understand why you doesn’t recognize them, but how could you not know who I am. I’m offended.” Burish said in a joking tone.

“I bet you don’t know who I am,” I challenged him.

“Oh we do,” Tazer responded confidently.

“Really… prove it,” I responded just as confident as Tazer.

“You’re five foot four, but incredible strong for you’re size,” Toews told me.

“You just graduated from West Point High School,” Sharp contributed.

“And you’re going to Northwestern University.” Kane added

“You also have a scholarship because you’re an amazing long jumper,” Burish said.

I looked straight at Jake. “Wow you don’t talk about me at all do you?” I told him sarcastically.

“Hey, they were the ones interested in you. It’s not like I wanted to talk about you.” Jake said.

“Well, I don’t blame them, who won’t want to talk about me.” I said in a teasing tone. I looked back at Jake and we burst out laughing because we both knew he was lying when he said he didn’t want to talk about me. Jake loved showing me off even though he knew I hated being the center of attention.

“Oh yeah, Dani, I almost forgot we have something for you.” Jake said as he handed me a sheet of paper. I grabbed the sheet and examined it.

1) Watch a sunset
2) See a concert
3) Dance in the rain
4) Ride a rollercoaster
5) Go to a party
6) Kiss someone famous
7) Teepee a house
8) Share a milkshake
9) Play hide and seek in a hotel
10) Play truth or dare
11) Make a homemade pizza
12) Go cosmic bowling
13) Ding dong ditch
14) Go to a water park
15) Go jet skiing.
16) Play laser tag
17) Pull an all nighter
18) Have a water balloon fight
19) Go on a picnic
20) Jump on a trampoline in the rain

“What’s this for?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Well,” Toews started, “Pat and I were in the car yesterday when Jake came and picked you up.” Instantly my face turned a deep red.

“You heard that?” I asked feeling quite embarrassed.

“Yeah and…” Toews’ voice trailed off.

“And we heard how bad your summer was going so we made you a list of things we could do this summer.” Patrick finished for him.

“You guys did this for me?” I asked completely shocked. This was by far one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Generally people try to take advantage of me because of my size. “When do we start?” I asked eagerly.

I looked at Jake, but Patrick was the one who answered my question. “Today.”
“Awesome! Do I get to pick which one we do?”

“Nope,” Sharp answered.

“Aw seriously?” I complained.

“Yes,” Jake responded. “Now hurry up and get dressed so we can start.