The Summer Scene

I’ve gotten back into the normal routine of Kennedy coming to pick me up and bringing me to band practice at Pat’s now, because the renovations are done with. The Maine wasn’t practicing today, and the weather wasn’t too hot out, so I decided to go for a walk around the block, considering it was nearly 11AM and most of my friends defiantly aren’t up. As I was walking a few streets away from the house, a small red car pulled up next to me.

“Whatcha doing?” A male voice asked from inside. I looked over and noticed that man was Ross.

“Walking. I have nothing else to do.” I replied nonchalantly with a small shrug.

“Wanna come over?” he asked out of the blue.

“Sure, why not.” I shrugged and hopped into his car.

“Do you have a bathing suit?” he asked once I was buckled up and we were off.

“Yes, because I wear a bathing suit instead of underwear.” I sarcastically said.

“Jeeze, you don’t have to be mean about it.” He replied. “I guess mom will give you one.”

“Kay.” I smiled.

Ross is the middle child of the O’Callaghan spawn trio. He is also the only person I know here who is actually my age. He also looks nothing like John. John is skinny, tall, has a long oval shaped face, and wild hair; while Ross is muscular, a few inches shorter, has a round face with brown eyes, and has curly hair that sits on the top of his head instead of hanging from it. I like to think of him as the oddball of the family, not with his looks, but also with his aspirations. He hates the music industry, but will support his brother all the way. That’s one of the things I love about the O’Callaghan family, they support each other no matter what. It’s something I wish I grew up with.

“Mom.” Ross called, once we entered the house.

“Yes.” She yelled from the kitchen.

“Do you have an extra bathing suit?” he asked when we reached the kitchen. “I picked this up off the streets.” He joked pointing over at me standing next to him. I rolled my eyes. He’s such a dork sometimes.

“Of course I do.” She smiled at me as she strolled towards the laundry room to go find the swimsuit.

I looked at Ross. “What?” he questioned confused as to why I was looking at him.

“Nothing.” I replied, unsure at why I was looking at him too.

Mrs. O came back a few minutes later. “Here you go, Natalie. It may be a little big, but it’s
brand new. If it fits, you can keep it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” She smiled.

Ross and I exited the kitchen, and climbed our way up the stairs. He pointed towards the bathroom door, signaling for me to change in there while he went to his room.

I put on the blue and white bikini. The top was a little big, but nothing tying it tighter couldn’t fix. I examined myself in the mirror. I was extremely pale. I really need more vitamin D in my system. Living in Arizona would sure fix that problem in my life. I stopped examining myself in the mirror exited the bathroom. Staring at myself won’t change anything about it. As I was shutting the door behind me, I turned around and bumped face first into John’s chest.

“What are you doing here?” he asked shocked when I backed up from our collision.

“Hanging with Ross.” I stated matter-of-factly.

“Really?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Got a problem?” I asked, placing my hand on my hip for a little attitude. I was
standing that way as a joke, and I couldn’t help but smile at myself.

“John, hurry up.” I heard a high pitched whinny voice call from inside his room.

I suddenly realized that I was standing in front of him in a bikini. No one here has ever seen this much of me exposed! I wore tankini’s all last summer, and still that wasn’t enough covered in my mind. He quickly looked into his room to check on whoever was in there and back at me, but I was already making my way past him and towards Ross’s door. I knocked and he said it was safe for me to come in.

“You ready?” I asked, wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible. What just happened was so awkward.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied grabbing two towels off of his dresser.

We sat around the pool, our feet hanging in the water, and talked about nothing at all. It was
nice. It was defiantly something I missed, even if it was John and I talking about these miscellaneous things back then, instead of Ross.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” He asked.

“Teacher. Have my own business. I don’t know. You?”

“Anything not involving the music industry.” He stated.

“Makes sense.” I agreed, nodding my head in approval.

“Where would you live?” he asked.

“Live for the rest of my life, or for school?” I asked for clarification, kicking my feet in the
water.

“Both.” He answered.

“Ok, um, I’d probably stay in New York for school, cause it’s cheaper. And I’d live wherever the love of my life wanted.”

“That’s deep.”

“Shut up.” I nudged him.

“I’m stuck going to ASU and will probably end up staying here for the rest of my life.” He blandly said.

“But it’s nice here.” I replied.

“So you think.” He countered.

Suddenly, we heard the glass slider door slam shut. We both turned around to see who the person who scared us was. It was John. He was walking towards us with some girl attached to his hand.

“Hey kiddies.” She greeted, once they were standing before us. “I’m John’s girlfriend, Melissa.” She introduced herself to me.

“Hi.” I replied, not making eye contact with either one of them.

“What are you two doing?” She asked in a voice that made me think she was talking to a bunch of two year olds.

“Cooling off.” Ross replied.

“From what.” John chuckled.

“From sitting out in the sun.” I said like it was obvious.

“But you wouldn’t know. You’ve been locked up under your sheets all day.” Ross added. I looked over at him and smiled. He could be a real dick if he wanted to be.
Melissa tugged on John’s hand, and they both walked to the far end of the backyard, where the sauna is. I guess she’d had enough.

“I hate her.” Ross revealed once they were far enough not to hear us.

“Really?” I asked, not surprised.

“She’s such a bitch. I don’t know why he keeps her around.” He started to vent. “And I have no clue what she sees in him.” I could think of a few things. “She’s probably with him because the bands starting to take off.”

“They are?” I got sidetracked.

“Yeah.” He answered. “But, she’s like, I have no clue how to explain it, but like, a sexual disease. She comes over and he drops everything to make her happy. I mean, I want him to be happy, but the bitch has to go. He’s my brother and I don’t want him to get hurt.” He concluded.

“That makes two of us.” I whispered softly.

“What?” Shit. Did he hear that?

“Nothing.” I replied.

“Ok. You wanna go? I have work in an hour, and I doubt you can hang here with John.” He asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

Ross dropped me off at the house. I wasn’t feeling like myself since the encounter with John and Melissa by the pool. I climbed up the stairs to my room, with my head hanging low. Something has definitely gotten into me, and it needs to go. This feeling sucks. As I was turning to corner, I bumped into Jess coming from the other direction.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked concerned.

I looked at her. I mustn’t have looked good, because shock and worry took over her expression. She grabbed me by my arm and pulled me into my room.

“What happened?” she sternly asked.

“Nothing.” I barely answered, trying to fight back tears.

“Something happened. Tell me.” she demanded.

“No.” I retorted.

“Natalie Marie Classon, tell me what happened!” She shouted. I couldn’t fight my emotions anymore; they were built up too high. Tears started to slowly spill down my face. Jess noticed, and captured me in a hug. By then I was almost hysterical.

She pulled me over to my bed and had me lie down and rest my head in her lap. She stroked my hair and hummed to calm me. She wasn’t a singer, but her sweet rhythm was enough to sooth me. After a while my breathing leveled and my eyes ran out of water.

“Will you tell me what happened now?” she cooed sweetly, brushing the strands of hair out of my face.

“You’re so damn annoying.” I finally yelled, sitting up.

“So I’ve been told. Now spill.” She smiled, turning sideways to face me.

“John has a girlfriend.” I solemnly said.

“Yeah, and?” She looked at me, wanting me to keep going, but I didn’t. “That’s it.” She
disbelieved.

“Yes.” I decided not to tell her about the whole ‘family hating her’ thing.

“Are you serious?” she replied.

“Yeah.”

“He’s so much older than you.” She pointed out; scrunching up her face in what I guess is
disgust.

“Three years. Not that much of a difference.” I countered.

“It is when you’re sixteen and almost a junior, while he’s supposed to be going into his sophomore year of college.” She clarified.

“Well when you put it that way…” I started to consider the awkwardness that would come with a relationship with John.

“Do you love him?” she asked.

“I’m sixteen.” I stated what she previously pointed out.

“Do you love him?” she asked again.

“I haven’t known him for that long.” I backtracked.

“Do. You. Love him?” she asked getting a little frustrated with me.

“I, I don’t know.” I honestly answered.

“Why would you be crying if you didn’t?”She pointed out.

“I don’t know. I’m jet lagged.” I tried to come up with a rational reason.

She looked at me with an expression that says “Bull shit.”

“I haven’t been with him yet. So I wouldn’t even know if we were compatible. And anyway, he probably just thinks of me as this kid he can hang out with, considering I’m his brother’s age.” I defended myself.

“Go for it.” She encouraged.

“What?” I asked. Her response was totally out of the blue and contradicting to what she was pointing out before.

“Go for it.” She said again.

“He has a girlfriend.” I clarified.

“She probably won’t last long.” She shrugged.

“That’s mean.”

She put both her hands on my shoulders, “Don’t give up.”

I went to rebuttal but she was already up and out my door.

I mean trying would never hurt, right?