Dear Summer

The only barbeques that Kinsley Dimera ever attended were located on the roofs of buildings or in someone’s nice backyard when they recently had their vacation homes renovated. This was not one of those barbeques.

Those barbeques took place during the day, under the beautiful sun and sometimes dragged on into the late hours of the night. They were all about socializing and eating delicious food brought in by the top caterers. This one started at ten in the evening, and the food was being cooked and served by a band called Longway.

Kinsley tried to peer through the crowds to find a familiar face but couldn’t. Maybe coming alone with Abbey was a bad idea. They should have left when Matt and the boys had headed out. “Abs, I don’t know what to do.” She latched on to her friends arm tightly, “They’re all little fan girls and people I’ve never seen before. What do I do?”

Abbey laughed and tried to pry Kinsley’s hand off of her now sore arm, “First, let go. Just smile and try to be nice. And tip people who give you food.”

Kinsley nodded and her face showed a great deal of determination. “Right.”

Abbey rolled her eyes as Kinsley reached into her purse to pull out a wad of cash. Abbey never understood why Kinsley preferred to pay for things with cash. That’s what her platinum AmEx was for. Paper money was dirty, and Abbey constantly reminded Kinsley that every dollar bill has a trace of cocaine on it and was likely once in a stripper’s G string.

The two trotted over to where the food was being served. They didn’t want to just stand around and look like idiots (though many people there were doing that exact thing).

Both Kinsley and Abbey eyed the food nervously. The band was making hamburgers and veggie burgers that barley looked edible. They didn’t even wear gloves, which Kinsley’s father once fired a cook for. If only to clear her conscious, Kinsley forced herself to believe that the nice young guys had just thoroughly washed their hands—multiple times—then kindly asked for two veggie burgers. She thought they looked healthier than the cow meat, even if it was still unsanitary.

The guy smiled and handed her the food.

Kinsley remembered her money in her pocket and tipped the man a hundred. “Thanks,” she chirped, taking the food.

The man looked astonished as he stared the crisp Benjamin. “Uh, miss? Are you sure you meat to give me this amount?”

Kinsley turned back feeling embarrassed. Maybe she was supposed to give them more since they were musicians. “I’m so sorry, take this,” she said, and she gave him another.

His face went white. Abbey sighed. “That’s for me too.”

Kinsley looked confused. “Did you forget your wallet, Abs?”

Abbey shook her head and started walking towards a couple empty seats. “No, Kins. But next time I’ll do the tipping, kay?”

Kinsley nodded. It seemed fair enough to her. She cleared her head of all thoughts about the unsanitary condition of the food and took a bite of the burger.

It was surprisingly good, she thought. Abbey seemed to be enjoying hers too. It may have just been the fact that they hadn’t particularly eaten too well that day, but Kinsley was suddenly craving more of the veggie burgers.

Now that they were sitting down, both Kinsley and Abbey were able to spot some familiar faces. They decided to wait until they were done eating to start any conversations, but when Kinsley looked up, Jonathan Cook was walking towards them, smiling at Abbey.

Kinsley nudged Abbey with her elbow and watched Abbey quickly try to compose herself.

Jonathan had one of those adorable smiles that were contagious. It seemed like Abbey caught it because she was beaming as she rose from her seat to give him a hug.

“You girls having fun?” He asked, now hugging Kinsley.

Abbey glanced around and tried to seem honest as she said, “Sure”.

“Actually, I’m kind of parched,” Kinsley admitted, looking around for something to drink.

“Not a problem,” Jonathan said reassuringly, “I’ll have Kyle bring you something.”

Kinsley followed his glance to the cute, blonde boy she met earlier in the day. He was at a keg filling up a red, plastic cup and talking to some redheaded girl.

Jonathan whistled, catching quite a few peoples attention. “Kyle! Bring some over here!”

Kinsley blushed. She wasn’t much of a drinker. She honestly would have preferred water, but Kyle was already heading over towards them with three cups.

He handed both of the girls cups, “Sorry dude, but I could only hold three. And ladies first.”

Jonathan reached for the third cup. “Not a problem,” he laughed.

Kyle pouted. “Hey! That was mine!” he protested.

Kinsley quickly held her cup out. “Here, have mine,” she insisted.

Kyle shook his head. “No, it’s fine. He walked back to the keg, flipping Jonathan off in the process, and returned with another cup.

Abbey smiled at Kinsley, then looked at Kyle, raising her eyebrows suggestively when the guys weren’t looking.

At least when Jonathan and Kyle weren’t. Matt seemed to appear out of nowhere and shot Abbey a disapproving look while standing in between Kinsley and Kyle. Abbey shrugged. She knew Kinsley would end up doing what she wanted by the end of the night anyway. Matt couldn’t be around to play protective relative all night.

Matt eagerly took Kinsley’s arm. “Kid, I’ve been looking for you. I’ve got a few people I know you’ll want to meet.”

Kinsley happily started off with Matt.

“Wait,” Abbey said, looking directly at Matt, “I’ll come too.”

Matt scowled at Abbey. His little cousin surely didn’t need to be her wingman and flirt with Kyle Burns as she tried to do whatever with Jonathan cook. “She doesn’t need a babysitter, Abs.”

“I know, that’s why she was with me and not you,” Abbey shot back, but it was too late. They were already walking away.

Kinsley looked at the ground as she and Matt walked. She hated whatever was going on between Abbey and Matt. She was afraid that if she said anything they'd think she was taking sides. There weren’t even supposed to be sides. Whatever was going on needed to stop.

Matt hated it too. He thought they he and Abbey had some sort of agreement to put the whole thing behind them. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. But what had started out being a subtle awkwardness was growing into something on the verge of hostility. He hoped that it was all in his head. That really, he was just trying to look out for his cousin and Abbey was just being a friend. But if that were the case, he could have been a little nicer.

Kinsley people watched as Matt led her over to where she could see Jack and Rian talking to a couple guys. As they got closer, Kinsley realized who they were.

Matt cleared his throat and wrapped his arm around Kinsley, “Guys, this is my cousin, Kid.”

“Kinsley,” she corrected. She was too busy being grateful to Matt to be angry with him for introducing her with the wrong name again.

“Hey!” they all said, motioning for her to join them.

“We’ve heard you’re a fan,” William said, smiling.

Kinsley nodded, smiling back. “Yeah, well, you guys don’t suck.”

Jack started laughing. “You’re great with compliments.”

Kinsley tried not to seem like a fan girl as she talked to The Academy Is… There were already plenty of those around.

After chatting with the guys for a while, Kinsley got a text from a number she didn’t recognize. It ended up being Kyle Burns, who wanted to meet her where she was with Abbey and Jonathan not too long ago. It turned out that they left him alone, and he didn’t feel like talking to anyone else.

Kinsley waved goodbye to Matt and the others and tried to retrace her steps. When she found Kyle, he really was alone, with a few empty cups beside him and two full ones in his hands.

When he noticed Kinsley, he smiled and waved her over. “I got this for you,” he said when she was close.

Kinsley shook her head. “I really don’t drink much, and I’ve already had one…”

“Nonsense,” Kyle said, handing her the cup, “It’s the beginning of Warped! Time to celebrate!”

Kinsley grinned and accepted the cup, finishing it off quickly. “But no more!” she’d said when he went to get her another.

“Kay!” he replied, handing her one anyway. “You know, I’m kind of glad I met you. You seem really…real compared to some of the other people around here.”

Kinsley felt her cheeks flush; he couldn’t have been flirting with her, could he? “Thanks. Though I’m sure there’s plenty other people around here that are real.”

Kyle shrugged, “Yeah, but it’d take too much time to go find them."

Kinsley laughed. After all, he was just another band jerk. “I have to warn you though, I’m a bit of a lightweight.”

Someone must have turned up the music, because Kinsley was starting to have trouble hearing. She thought she heard Kyle say ‘good‘, but she really didn’t think he seemed like that much of a jerk.

“Do you know where Abbey went?” she asked.

Kyle shook his head. He was almost shouting over the music. “No, she left with John after she gave me your number.”

What kind of trouble was Abbey getting herself into now? But soon Kinsley was able to stop worrying. Kyle was able to get her to dance with him, even though she wasn’t that great of a dancer. She actually felt a little less insecure about her dancing, and either it was because she was with Kyle or because she was keeping herself well hydrated with beer.

She had just stopped dancing when Abbey found her.

Abbey laughed at her obviously intoxicated friend as she approached. “There you are!” Abbey called, catching Kinsley as she tried to hug her, “I’ve been looking for you.”

Kyle waved to them as they walked away.

Kinsley twirled in a circle, “I was dancing.”

“I saw,” Abbey chuckled.

Kinsley inhaled deeply and stood up as straight as she could. “Did you hook up with Jonathan?” she asked, puffing out her chest and speaking in a deep voice.

Abbey found Kinsley’s drunk state hilarious. If it didn’t happen so rarely, Abbey would have been annoyed with Kinsley’s insinuations. “Actually, I lost him in a sea of girls wanting autographs,” she confessed.

Kinsley’s eyes opened wider. “Awe, you poor thing! Where were you then?”

Abbey rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I got stuck with Gaskarth for a while. But only until I found you.”

Kinsley ran her fingers through her hair. “He likes you.” she stated, only half paying attention.

Abbey smiled. “Let’s hope not.”

Kinsley took a step toward Abbey and poked her in the forehead. “And you like him.”

“Oh, God, no,” Abbey protested.

“Oh.”

Kinsley swayed back and forth, humming some sort of song that sounded like an out of tune nursery rhyme.

Abbey shook her head, realizing that her friend was in a worse condition than she thought. “Let’s get back to The Monster,” she insisted.

“Okay. Hey Abbey?”

Abbey stopped. “Yeah.”

“I’m drunk.”

“I know," Abbey laughed. She helped keep Kinsley on two feet the entire way back to the bus. As soon as Kinsley laid down in the back of the Monster, she was asleep. And snoring.