I Feel Our Memories Fade With Time.

As summer finally rolled around, there were way more opportunities to have fun. The four of us would always stay at my house and hang out by the pool. Especially on those 90 degree days. I had no arguments against it, if you know what I mean. The four of us had something special. All of us were such good friends, and as my dad would say, we were weird. Not my fault though. Get the smallest amount of sugar in any of us, and it’s downhill from there. I was in the kitchen getting something to eat, and I watched Kyle sneak up behind Katie and push her into the pool. I laughed then went back outside with my sandwich, walking towards Steph.

“Do it and die, Tyler,” she said.

“What?” I asked. “I wasn’t going to do anything.”

I sat next to her and took a bite out of my sandwich. Katie swam around the pool for a bit until she saw me.

“SAMMICH!!!” she shouted, coming towards me.

“Tyler? Run,” Kyle said. “Hide until that sandwich is gone!”

Instead of running, I just finished it quickly, and watched Katie go after Kyle. I just sat and thought about my family. Ever since the band ended, I haven’t seen much of them all. Uncle Frank, Aunt Emily, and Natalie still lived in the area, because of where mom is buried. Uncle Gerard, Aunt Ana, and Aiden moved away, but only to New York. Bob, Colleen, and their kids moved back to Chicago after his dad had gotten diagnosed with cancer and was given six months to live. All that happened three months ago. Ray, Megan, and Maddie are in New York, but we never found out exactly where. A lot of them don’t really talk that much anymore. It kind of hurt me, because they were all family to me, but I still had my friends, and Stephanie. I randomly poked her as I saw her staring off into the water.

“What?” she asked.

“Hi,” I said.

“Tyler! I was in deep thought!” she whined.

“Oh? What were you thinking about?”

As soon as I asked it, I found myself underwater. I surfaced and saw her laughing at me as she had just pushed me into the pool. I grabbed her arm and pulled her in after me, listening to the laughter from Kyle and Katie. I swam away, resulting in Steph clinging to my back.

“Piggy back ride! Now!” she demanded.

I walked around for a bit, until I dunked us both under and she let go.

“Tyler! I hate you!” Steph shouted, pretending to pout.

I myself started my acting skills, pretending to look really hurt as I slouched and slowly went for the house. I had made it to the door when Steph shouted at me.

“Tyler! I was kidding!” she said.

I heard her running after me then she hugged me from behind. I smiled at the thought that she really believed me. Then I just turned around and hugged her.

“I know you were,” I said. “I’m just an amazing actor.”

“Not that again,” Steph said, hugging me back. “What? You gonna run away to LA and become an actor?” she asked.

“Maybe I will, and you’re coming with me.”

“YAY!” Steph shouted as she ran back and jumped into the pool.

I went and joined Kyle and Katie in the hot tub, and as Steph realized where we were, she joined us.

“So what the heck are we gonna do this summer?” I asked.

“What we’re doing now. Except with more sugar,” Katie said, taking a swig from a bottle of Diet Coke.

“That always works,” I said, agreeing. “Just what we need, more sugar.”

“And condoms,” Steph said.

“TMI!” Kyle shouted. “We don’t want to hear what you guys are doing behind closed doors.”

“But that stuff is healthy!” Katie said.

Steph was giggling uncontrollably, and I tried to hold it back. “No. We don’t do that stuff!” I said.

“It is healthy though,” Katie said.

“Yes, it gives you shiny hair, and burns a lot of calories,” Steph said as she finally stopped laughing. “So let’s get to it, Tyler. LET’S BURN CALORIES!”

I started to laugh now. “Maybe another time,” I patted Steph’s head.

Steph nudged me, then we started talking about something else. Mainly Senior year, and how we were going to slack it until graduation. Oh the joys of summer. Although I did miss those times when dad left to go on tour and I would stay at Kyle’s house for two months. I couldn’t complain though. I loved my friends. And as Katie would say, having good friends is healthy. It was helping me get my mind off certain things. Although I still missed my mom a lot, but she wasn’t on my mind as often.