Summer Is When Everything Could Happen

“Here we are, Gummy.”, I pushed the front door open with my back and took a deep breath as I put Gummy down on the foyer. He barked before running off to the inside of the house. The house was empty because my parents went to Netherlands to visit my grandparents for the summer.

After I dragged in my duffel bag and threw it into my room, I decided to unpack first. The week break gave me much time to think and to re-pack for the next length of Warped. Gummy played around on the backyard, chasing some birds as I sorted through the mails that were sent when I was away. Some of them were from my old friends and the other some were from my pen pal.

As I read the letters, I dunk all the dirty clothes into the washing machine. The sound of the machine gave me a relaxing sensation because I was home. I took a shower and changed to wait, and decided to make myself lunch.

When I waited for the toasts to be done, I sat on the counter, thinking. What happened in the past month were confusing and stressing. What would happen when I’m back? What would happen? There were still two months in Warped, until August and I think I won’t even make it till’ then.

“Boo!”, someone exclaimed. I yelped and fell from the counter. “Oh shit!”, the person breathed and he rushed into the kitchen from the backdoor. “Ally, you okay?”

“You fucking dick!”, I groaned and rubbed my knees. I had to look back to the person, and when I saw his face, my mouth hung open. “Stephen?”

He smiled and helped me up. “Hey.”

“How-How do you know I live here? And I thought you live in Scottsdale!”

“I kinda…asked Pat for your address, and I moved to Phoenix a couple months ago.”, he shrugged his shoulder and leaned back onto the counter. “Sorry for surprising you.”

I nodded. “Well, you should just ring the doorbell like normal people do.”

Stephen’s eyes widened and suddenly, he exploded into a big laughter. “I did ring the bell! Maybe, you were the one who doesn’t hear it.”

My cheeks burned and I turned around to the toaster, which rang in time. The toasts flopped up and I picked one up, took a bite. “Okay. What do you want, Stephen?”

“Nothing, I guess. I just want to hang out with you, if that’s okay.”

As I munched, I just stay quiet about my answer, letting him sweat. I could see his eyes flickered everywhere in the room, nervous about what I would say. When I swallowed the toast, I nodded. Stephen’s lips spread into a wide smile.

“But, I have a dentist appointment in an hour. Do you mind if our hang out just accompanying me to the dentist?”, I smiled sheepishly.

Stephen shrugged his shoulder without taking off that crooked smile of him. “Sure, whatever you want, I’m okay with that.”

“Good.”, I nodded. After I was done with my toasts, I grabbed my wallet and we decided to enjoy the sunny day in Arizona by walking to the dentist. The walk was simple, and kind of awkward. We stay off from the topic of us, and his brother, and Warped. We basically talked about our recent life.

I had my hands crossed because the urge just to hold his hand was hard to resist. Whenever he just looked front, I would peek from the corner of my eyes to his face. He looked so good today, with his v-neck and jeans. I looked down to my flip-flops and let the sun burned the back of my neck.

When we were arrived at the dentist, he noticed my face went white pale. “Ally, what’s wrong?”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

“I’m kind of scared with the dentist.”

Stephen bit his lower lip, probably holding back his laughter. My cheeks flushed harder than before and I looked down, but suddenly, Stephen cupped my chin with his fingers, making me looked up. “Don’t be scared, I’m here.”

When I was about to say something, he pulled my hand and led me into the office. He was the one who confirmed my appointment and as we waited at the waiting room, my legs were shaking. Stephen took my hand and intertwined our fingers. I couldn’t say something because of my fright.

“What do you call a snail in a ship?”, he suddenly asked.

I cocked my eyebrows at his question. “What?”

“What do you call a snail in a ship?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“A snailor!”, he chuckled. My lips trembled and let myself to laugh. When the lady called my name, I stood up and didn’t notice that Stephen went into the room with me. I lie down on the dentist chair and let the dentist to check my teeth. Stephen just stood there next to me, waiting patiently without getting sick or disgust.

“Well, miss Smith, you have a cavity. We have to drill em’ up.”, the dentist smiled. My eyes widened and when I was ready to make my escape, Stephen held my hand again.

“I’ll be here, squeeze my hand if it hurts.”, he whispered right in my ear. I forgot how his whisper could just gave me chills and shivers through out my body. I nodded and leaned back again. When the dentist drilled my tooth, I closed my eyes and squeezed Stephen’s hand when it hurts.

When it was done, Stephen smiled and waited for me to wash my mouth. After that, he led me out from the office and out to the hot sidewalks of Phoenix. We decided just to get an ice cream and he would walk me home.

There was an ice cream cart near the office, so we just bought our ice cream there. He got himself a fudgesicle while I got myself a chocolate cone. After the whole holding-hands thing, it wasn’t that awkward anymore.

“Thanks for today, Steve.”, I smiled when we were already at my curb. “I totally appreciated what you did back at the dentist.”
He nodded and smiled. “No problem. But, can we do this again while we’re on break?”

“I guess.”, I nodded and when I offered my hand for a good friendly handshake, he leaned forward quickly and pecked my cheek. Before I could protest, he ran off. The spot where he kissed me, it was burning hot.

I was still standing there and I didn’t realize someone was creeping behind me. “Guess who!”

I yelped and turned around, greeted by John’s goofy face. “You and your brother really need to stop giving me fucking heart attacks!”

John’s smile fell when I mentioned his brother. “Stephen was here?”

“He accompanied me to the dentist.”, I crossed my arms. “Why?”

“I thought we could spend the day, you know, just you and I.”

My eyes widened on his offer. “Like a date?”

He shifted his weight nervously and I bit my lip, holding back the urge to laugh at his cuteness. John couldn’t answer so I just linked my arm with his. He was a bit taken off guard when I did that. “W-W-Wha?”

“Come on, you said you wanted to take me on a date.”

John’s eyes widened for a second before he smiled. It was nice to talk to him again, aside from his feelings for me and what happened to us. He took me to the diner six blocks away but the walk didn’t really matters to me.

We sat down on the booth in the corner, near the windows. It was almost dinnertime so I ordered a turkey sandwich and he ordered a hamburger. He made me laughed by putting two fries behind his upper lip, pretending to be Dracula.

Some people were looking and staring at us, probably confused what was John doing. The teenagers who sat across us were whispering because they noticed who we are. The girls were kind of scared and shy to come to our table.

“I think we should wave at them.”, I whispered to John, who was drinking his milkshake straight from the glass. He nodded and waved at them. Their eyes widened and giggled when they saw John has a mustache from his milkshake.

I snorted to hold back my laughter and wiped it off with a tissue. John’s eyes widened again when I did it. He just froze in his spot and I could hear the girls whispered when I did it. “Done.”

John didn’t move an inch until a few minutes later. “T-Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

We ate in silence and when we were done, he insisted to pay. The girls in the table across us hadn’t left maybe because we hadn’t too. When we stood up and walked out, I gave them a heart sign with my hands.

The walk back home was quiet, probably due to what happened back at the diner. I looked up and there were stars, strewn around the black clear Arizona sky. “It’s really pretty tonight.”
“What?”, he asked, probably didn’t listen to me before.

I pointed to the sky. “The stars, they’re here tonight.”

He looked up and smiled. “Yeah. They’re pretty.”

“I wish I could fly up there and touch one, just one.”

John shrugged his shoulder. “I already have my star down here.”

We had our heads back straight and I raised a brow at his statement. “What?”

He stepped forward, closer to me. I could even feel his warmth, radiated out from him. “Ally, I thought I would never say this, but I’m sure now. I love you.”

Those words rang like bells in my ears. He smiled and leaned down, pressing his lips on mine. I threw my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.