Lost in the Sun

"Aidan! I don't recognize the name and number,"

Aidan's fiancée Madi called out as she looked down at the phone, biting at her bottom lip. By just the name, she was sure that she'd heard it before but... she herself didn't know the name. Aidan came into the room and glanced down at the caller ID on their home phone and immediately felt a lurch in his stomach.

"Lula Price,"

he mumbled and picked up the phone without an explanation to Madi. She knew the story, even if Aidan had never told her the name of the girl. Aidan carried the phone through to the front porch, closing the door so he could talk at least somewhat in private.

"Hello?"

His voice was soft, almost scared. Why would she call now?

"Aidan? It's Lula,"

Lula's voice was a little different, she sounded more mature. In fact, Aidan did as well. If it were even possible, it seemed his voice was even more like velvet now than ever before.

"Wow... it's uh, been a long time,"

Aidan admitted and a long silence sort of came over them. Aidan honestly didn't know what all to say to her. He felt like an asshole for never calling her, never e-mailing and most certainly never going and seeing her.

"It's been seven years, since that summer."

Lula said quietly and Aidan nodded, biting on his own bottom lip now. He could remember so clearly how she use to do that to herself... how he use to bite upon her bottom lip.

"Yeah... we sure had some fun, huh?"

Aidan asked her and you could hear Lula begin to cry. Aidan sighed, he should have figured something like this would happen.

"Why didn't you ever call or come see me, Aidan? You meant the world to me."

"Look, Lula.. You know you were hard to get over, but I did, I finally forgot out first time somehow. Now, I'm with a girl who loves me what seems to be unconditionally. We're going to get married in a couple months. I don't need this brought to me."

He admitted, his voice sort of growing more firmer throughout the couple of sentences. Of course, it only made Lula's tears flow a little heavier.

"I waited. I waited seven years for you. I never dated, I turned down so many because they weren't you Aidan. No one will ever be you."

Of course, Lula's words struck deep down in his heart. Aidan still loved her, he knew he did. But it'd been seven years, that's long enough for two people to grow apart. To grow out of love.

"Lula, I do think of you... I do see you sometimes, when I'm with her... but it's wrong. You need to get over me, baby, if you don't...we're going to end up in a mess somehow. "

Lula just knew that Aidan would end up saying things like this to her. After all, it had been seven years. Hell, she was surprised he even remembered her! Wasn't like it really meant anything to him, did it?

"We promised that we'd always remember, Aidan. That we'd wind up together, forever. Did you forget that? Did you break that promise?"

"Listen, Lula, it was a summer lost in the sun. It's the past. Just put it back where it belongs. It's alright to have the memories but it's been fucking seven years... I told you, I'm getting married. Just because I still have feelings for you doesn't mean that we can just... hop into one another's arms and act like these seven years never happened. Yes, those two weeks, fuck were they amazing."

"You were my first and to this day, my only. I was a young girl and you took advantage of me, Aidan! You played my emotions just like you're doing right now. Just go ahead and say, you hate me, you never did love me!"

Lula's voice cracked through the phone. She hurt, she felt her stomach feeling sick. It reminded her of the first time she smoked with him, in that summer sun in the woods.

"Lula, I'm sorry. No, I don't hate you. I did love you, but that's the thing. DID. I love my fiancée now and as much as it pains me to tell you this, I want you to move on. I've moved on and you deserve to also. I want you to be happy and if you keep being hung up on me, you're never going to be happy. I'm glad you called me, I'm glad we got this little bit of closure and yes, if you'd like to be in mine and Madi's life as a friend, reminisce on old times sometimes, I don't mind at all and I doubt neither would she."

"I-I'll c-call you some other time then."

"Alright, Lula... please take care of yourself."

"Y-yeah...you too."

The other side went to dial tone, Lula had actually hung up first. Aidan felt like a heel, the most giant of pricks. Clicking end on his phone and laying it down on the porch railing, he looked out and up to the blue sky. It reminded him how beautiful and clear the blue sky was down at the Lake that year. That summer he spent with her.

"I fooled myself by thinking we were through."

Aidan whispered quietly to himself, sighing as he hung his head.