Life Like This

”She's a new tattoo and I won't forget, her sun kissed skin; shining on forever. I don't wanna wait for the endless summer, I don't wanna wait, no I don't wanna wait, for the endless summer. I don't wanna wait, no I don't wanna wait, for the endless summer.”

When he finished the song, he placed the guitar by his night stand and stared patiently. “So, what do you think?”

“I think,” I got up and took a seat in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You did amazing, best summer song yet.”

“Really,”

“Really,” I kissed the tip of his nose. “You’re cute, and talented.”

He chuckled nuzzling his face into my neck, “Cute huh?”

“Most definitely,” I leaned down to kiss him when my phone went off. “Hang on one second.”

“Hello?”

“Hey sweetie, it’s Jenny!” Jenny was home…

“Jenny, you’re home already?” I asked kind of surprised.

She sighed at the other end of the phone. “Yeah, we had to cut the trip short because Jay got food poisoning.”

“Oh that’s too bad! I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Non-sense, he had it coming. I told him not to eat food off of street venders.” She laughed a little to herself before continuing. “Anyways, that wasn’t the reason I called you. I was wondering if you were coming home for dinner tonight, I’m making homemade ravioli.”

I looked over at Joel and bit the bottom of my lip. “Um, that sounds wonderful.”

“Great! I’ll see you in 30 then!”

“Okay, bye Jenny.” I hung up the phone and got off of his lap.

“What was that all about?” Joel asked getting up as well.

I grabbed my keys and purse from his bed and walked towards the door. “Jenny’s home early and wanted me to come home for dinner.”

“Oh okay,” he said a little defeated.

I wrapped my arms around his torso and leaned forward. “Sorry to cut the party short, promise I’ll call you later though.”

He smiled and pecked my lips. “You do that, have fun.”

“Will do sweet thang!” I walked out of his house and towards Jenny’s car. Turning on the radio, ‘Bad’ by The Cab played as I drove home.

~

“Jenny, I’m home!” I yelled walking into the house. The smell of food struck me, my stomach growled as I walked into the kitchen.

Jenny was tending to a bowl of sauce when I walked in. “Ash, you’re home!” She rushed over and pulled me into a hug.

“Haha, hi Jenny,” I said laughing a little by her enthusiasm. “Need any help with anything?”

“Oh no, everything’s ready! Just call the boys down for dinner, and make sure they wash their hands, Shane’s been outside all day.”

“Sure thing,” I walked to the screen door and slid it open. Shane was outside pitching with Ross, while Jay was reading the evening newspaper. “Dinner’s ready you guys, wash up!”

I walked back in and set up the table, by the time I was finished dinner was served.

“Where’s John, is he not joining us tonight?” Jay asked, passing the salad bowl.

Ross shook his head, stuffing a mouth full of bread into his mouth. “No, he’s with his girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend, when did John have a girlfriend?” Jenny asked, curious of her son’s love life.

“Since he got sick of one- night stands,” I almost spit out my food when hearing Ross say this. I held back the laughter, reaching under the table and gave him a high-five.

“Ross watch your mouth; do not speech about your brother like that!” Jenny scolded, seeming a
little uneasy about the subject.

“What it’s true!” He retaliated.

“What’s one-night stand?” Shane asked, once again I tried holding back the laughter.

Jay chuckled, seeing this all amusing to him, “Something that your brother seems to be having.”

Jenny sighed setting her fork down, “Jay.”

He held his hands up in defeat. “Sorry, boys will be boys!”

She rolled her eyes at him not wanting to go on with the conversation. “Moving on, Ashleigh, I know summers just started but, do you know what college you plan to attend?”

I shook my head chewing the last bit of salad. “Not really, I want to go somewhere in the East coast. But there’s a part of me that wants to stay in the West.”

She nodded intently staring at me. “Well either way, we’ll be here to support you, right Jay?”

He looked up from his food and nodded. “Yeah most definitely, but you know, your father would love for you to go to Washington State University.”

I froze at the thought of him, this had never occurred to me much. Jenny slapped her husband on the shoulder for bringing up the subject.

“Jay!” She scolded.

“No, it’s okay. He’s right, that is was my dad would have wanted for me.” For the rest of dinner everything became awkward. No one said a word, we only ate in silence.

As I cleared the table, the front door opened and in came John. He was wearing the usual attire, black skinny jeans and white V-neck.

“John honey, you’re home!” Jenny said, greeting her son. “Come join us for desert, it’s your favorite, strawberry cheesecake!”

“Yes!” He cheered grabbing a hunk of cake. It’s weird after our little morning incident, John and I avoided one another. It was the first time I’d seen him in about a week.

“So John, what have you been up to?” Jay asked his son.

He shrugged licking the frosting off the fork. “Not much, just writing some songs. We might be coming out with an EP soon.”

“Why that sounds great!” Jenny gushed patting his back. “Do you know when?”

“In maybe a week or so, the guys and I were planning on road tripping to the east coast.”

“East coast huh?” Jenny repeated staring at me. “Wait! Why don’t you take Ashleigh, she’s wanting to look at some colleges anyways!”

John nearly dropped dead to the ground hearing his mom’s suggestion, “What!?!”

“It’s fine Jenny, I’ll just—“

“Non-sense! He’s heading to the east coast and so are you! It’s good bonding or you two, just like the good old times.”

“But—“

“Don’t even bother you two, this trip is happening whether you like it or not.” John rolled his eyes and trudged upstairs. But he sure made hell of an exit, making sure to growl past me.

I simply scoffed and finished my cheesecake. This was going to be a long summer, for sure. And let’s just say, I’m not gonna make it easy for him.