The Summer Scene

“Hey ladies!” I greeted Rach and Gabi seated on Gabi’s living room floor with a bunch of pillows and blankets spread out in front of the television, upon letting myself in; knowing that they wouldn’t mind, and the fact that I wanted to surprise them.

“Hey, girl hey.” Gabi rose from the floor walking over and embracing me in a hug. “How are you?” she asked as she pulled away.

“I was in a really good mood, but…” I dragged out, obviously wanting to talk about it.

“Uh oh, what happened?” Rach asked, putting the finishing touches on their bed made out of blankets.

“Well I brought Nathan here,” I began.

Rach yelled in disbelief. “You didn’t!” Both Gabi and Rach new about Nathan from the beginning of our relationship, given that they kept in touch via facebook and text. Like the best friends they were they promised to keep him a secret from everyone, which I imagine was a hard task, considering Rach’s big mouth.

“Yeah, I did.” I confessed. “Ilene offered and he found out and decided to come.” I revealed. Just from my tone I could tell that the girls new that I really didn’t want him here. Arizona was my escape from the rest of the world. That means overbearing boyfriends are one-hundred percent not allowed.

“How long is he staying?” Gabi asked going to sit on top of the blankets.

“Two weeks.” I replied joining the two of them.

Rach reassured me, “That’s not that bad.”

“No, not really.” I agreed stoically with a shrug.

“Ok, get to the good stuff. What happened to make you all un-happy?” Rach now pried for
information to feed her gossip radar.

“Well first off Jess was all pissy about Nathan being here, cause apparently her mother never told her he was staying with us. So that happened.” I started to explain. “Then I took him over to Max’s because Stephen said everyone was chilling there,” I neglected to add the unusual fact that Stephen and Jess were alone together in Brian’s basement with no other band mates on the premises. Gabi should know something about it, but that’s another mystery for another time. “and I thought it would be a good idea for him to meet them all.” I concluded.

“All at once?” Gabi flinched just thinking about some of the things that could have happened.

“Seriously?” Rach was in shock that I would do such a thing that from the surface would seem harmless.

“Yeah.”

“Bad idea.”

“I know that now.” I informed that I was well aware of my mistake. “When I first told them he was my boyfriend no one believed me.” The two of them didn’t seem too surprised by that.
“Then they offered to let him stay with them while I came down here and as I was leaving…” I gulped, knowing that this next piece of information was the key reason for my sudden lack of enthusiasm. “John followed me out, and got all pissed off that Nat was here and told me that he wanted to be something this summer.” I rushed out as fast as I could, hoping that they didn’t retain all of that information.

“Oh my god.” Nope. They understood every word.

“I’m so proud of him.” Rach wiped a fake tear from under her eye.

“What?” I was again, confused.

“Granted that it was bad timing,” Gabi started. “but we’ve been waiting almost two years for him to tell you he likes you.” she confessed.

“And you neglected to let me know this because…?” Why the fuck didn’t they tell me this ages ago?!?!?! It doesn’t make sense in my mind; they knew my feelings for John since the beginning of time.

“Because it was John who had to admit it first.” Rach replied with a “duh”.

I groaned, flopping back onto the blankets. “Ugh. What do I do?”

“You have Nathan. Stay with him.” They both agreed.

That did not make any sense, didn’t they just tell me John and I had mutual feelings for each other? “But-“

“No buts.” Rach scolded me. “John needs to get his shit together.” she backed herself up.

“Why? What happened over the year?” I was missing something; obviously, I’m always missing vital pieces of information. Knowing me, I could be pregnant and everyone around me would know while I would be left clueless unless they told me.

“Well Gar, Pat, and I graduate in six days, and then they can start touring cross country full time. But John’s mom won’t let him go unless he passes the last of his makeup tests and finals within the next week. She made him promise that he’d pass his sophomore year before he could do any nationwide roaming.” Rach explained.

I had no clue that John was still in school. I thought he was dropping out after last year to pursue music with the band. But I guess he was waiting for the babies to graduate first.
“Oh. When do they leave?” I asked, curious. If the boys were leaving for the rest of the
summer then I had a problem.

“They’re looking at a fall tour starting at the beginning of September.” Gabi answered me.

“Fun.” I replied, happy that I would be able to be with them for the summer, yet sad that they are “growing up” and going to have to leave the girls behind, and then happy again that maybe they could come and visit me throughout the year, if they were nearby of course.

“Yeah.” They both replied with sad smiles.

“Are you guys going?” I had to ask to keep the conversation going.

“I have my junior year, so no.” Gabi answered pertaining to college.

“I’m indecisive.” Rach replied. “I’ve been accepted to ASU, but I also want to go off and get my designs out there.” Rach has been into designing clothing for her own fashion line. She started experimenting with creating the guys merch along with Gabi’s secondhand help.

“I’m sure they can get one of the other guys to sell your stuff for you.” Gabi reassured her.

“Yeah, but that’s not fun.” She threw her hands down in defeat. “Especially sleeping alone on the weekends without Garrett.” She softly said. They’re love was beautiful; you could witness it when they were separated, and together you were engulfed in the capturing aroma. My heart broke for her; being together and always in close proximity for four years was going to be tough with the touring and schooling.

“You sound like my mother, except she’s sleeping around every night.” I tried to joke, referring to my mother and her many long nights.

“Speaking of graduation, are you coming to our party?” Gabi randomly threw in.

“Um, I don’t know.” I was unsure. It really depended on how Nathan’s night went with the boys tonight, because if it didn’t fly then I surly can’t bring him back when there will be more than the fair share of people there was tonight to ridicule us.

“You have to! It’s my grad party.” Rach whined. “And plus all the boys will be there! Even the ones that weren’t over Max’s tonight!” I was still indecisive. “Do it for Gary and Pat.” She coaxed with a puppy-dog pout.

“I, I’ll think about it.” I replied, getting up, heading towards the doorway to pick Nathan back up.

“Do it for yourself, not your boyfriend!” Was the last thing I heard from Rach’s mouth.

I headed to my car, got inside, put the key in the ignition, and before I started my vehicle, I rested my head on the wheel and clutched it with my hands at ten and two, wanting to scream at the top of my lungs.

Why was life so god dam hard.