A Summer to Remember

I woke up with a groan. Between Zach and I whispering, and Cameron’s snoring, I only got a few hours asleep. I got up unwillingly, and stretched. I could hear someone in the shower, and Cameron was watching Good Morning America. I had no idea where Nathan was. Zach came over, and kissed me. It was only a little peck, but I still got butterflies in my stomach. Zach made a face at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You really need to brush your teeth,” he replied laughing.

“Oh, shut up,” I told him.

“Ewww!” Zach yelled, as he started running away from me. I ran after Zach, trying to breathe on him. I caught up to him, and tackled him to the ground.

“Gotcha!” I said triumphantly. I gave him a kiss, and got up.

“You guys need to chill out,” Cameron said. “It’s kind of gross.” Michael came out of the bathroom, smelling good. I went in and took a shower, and then I dried my hair.

When I was done, I walked back into our room. “So, what are the plans for today?” I asked.

“We were planning on going to the beach, and then we are going to the show.” Nathan told me.

“Sounds good,” I replied. I packed a bag with towels, sunscreen, a change of clothes, and my iPod. I was excited to go to the beach. The last time I went to one, was when I was in third grade.

We piled into their van, and drove to the beach. When we arrived, we got out, and the boys all sprinted to the water. They waded in, and started splashing each other.

“Boys will be boys,” I muttered to myself. If anyone knew that, it was me. I had two brothers, and the majority of my friends were guys. I only had a few girl friends, but I’m not nearly as close to them.

I pulled out a towel from my bag, and laid it out on the sand. I slathered sunscreen on me. I had fair skin, and it burned easily. I was trying to get it on my back, when Zach snuck up behind me.

“BOO!” he yelled, scaring me. I shrieked, and jumped in the air. “Ya need help with that?” he asked me, gesturing to the sunscreen in my hand.

“Yeah, thanks.” I replied, trying to slow down my pulse. He grabbed the bottle from me, and started rubbing it in on my back. When he did that, there were sparks where he touched. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, and I started getting dizzy.

It seemed that Zach took longer than necessary putting sunscreen on me, but when he finished, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the water.

We went in to about hip level, and when I wasn’t looking, Michael jumped on my back, pulling me under. In the water, I managed to flip him over, dunking him. I came up for air, to see Nathan staring at me.

“What?” I asked.

“No one has ever been able to dunk Michael,” he said slowly. His face was full of wonder, and confusion. “How did you do that?”

“When you have brothers who like to cause physical harm, one has to learn how to defend.” I replied nonchalantly.

I waded further into the water to shoulder level, and just bobbed with the waves. There is something about the beach that just relaxes me.

After a while, I got out, and laid down on my towel. I put on more sunscreen. I didn’t want to be a lobster for my first show tonight. By the water, the guys were playing Frisbee.

A few hours later, it was time to leave. We headed back to the hotel. We each took a shower, and changed. I did my hair, and put on makeup. We were waiting for Mikey to finish getting ready, when Zach came over to me. He pulled me into a hug, and whispered into my ear.

“Are you ready for the show?” he asked. Nervousness had slowly been creeping back since we got back from the beach.

“Yeah,” I replied honestly.

“You’ll be amazing.” He told me. When everyone was finally ready, we left and drove to the venue. It was a big bar, with a huge stage. On it, everything was set up.

“So, sound check is in an hour. Until then, we can just chill and stuff.” Cameron told me.

An hour passed quickly, and sound check started. That went by quickly. There were only a few people in the bar, so my nerves weren’t too high. When we finished, we went backstage. I could hear the venue being filled up with people. From the sounds of it, there were a few hundred people.

The opening bands went and did their set. Soon, it was our turn. Before we went on, each of the guys gave me a big hug, and wished me luck on my first show.

We ran out on stage, and I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins. “This was really happening,” I thought to myself.
This isn’t a dream, it is reality.