Summer Love

Julie had spent the last three months busying herself in her work and studying, her social life had gone out the window due to her working eight-hour shifts at the supermarket and then spent the weekend buried in her books. Sam had noticed the drastic change in her social and home life and she knew that it had something to do with the split. At first it was tolerable, she would pick up a few stray shifts and her school work became more of a priority, but as time wore on it got worse Sam worried that Julie was going to work herself into the ground, working all those days and never giving herself a break.

Samantha decided it was time she took matters into her own hands, she was going to get her friend out of the house for at least three hours if not more, she needed a break, she needed to socialise, she needed to see the sun and have a decent meal that wasn’t out of a package.

“Jules!” Sam called as she entered her friend’s apartment slowly, there was no reply so the young woman quietly closed the door, the air in the apartment was stale desperately needing an air. Reaching for the wall her hand fumbled over it before she flicked the light switch. Shaking her head she took in the mess that Julie’s apartment was in, dirty dishes, take out boxes scattered around the cluttered coffee table and all over the floor, rugs that had once sat on the couch were now strewn across the floor. Samantha shook her head before walking over to the windows yanking the curtain open she let the morning light flood before pushing the frames up to let the room be aired. Turning Sam sighed as she took in the state of her friends lounge room before shrugging out of her jacket and getting to work starting with tidying the coffee table.



An hour passed and the lounge room and kitchen were spotless so Sam fell down in the lounge chair groaning as her muscles detested her movements, a smile played on her lips as she let her eyes drift closed promising herself only a brief nap.

“Sam…” the dark haired girl was gently roused from her sleep by her friend gently calling her name and shaking her shoulders. “Sam…” she giggled lightly causing Sam to open her eyes and lock with Julie’s dark brown ones.

“Morning,” yawning Sam adjusted herself so she was sitting up properly blinking a few times to try and bring herself back to reality. “How long have I been out?” she asked the question more to herself then to her friend, regardless Julie helpfully answered her.

“About ten minutes.”

“Well that’s alright then.”

“Mind you I’ve only just woken up. So it could have been longer.” Slowly Sam reached into the pocket of her jeans and fished out her phone. Quickly she calculated that she had been asleep for more then half an hour. “Did you clean all this up?”

“No, I walked in on a heap of little house fairies,” Sam sassed playfully causing her friend to laugh.

“You didn’t have to Sam, I was getting around to it.”

“It’s alright, now it’s one job you don’t have to worry about.” Julie smiled at her friend before taking a seat next to her and speaking.

“So what’s bought you over here anyway?”

“I was going to see if you wanted to come out,” Sam admitted smiling warmly at her friend.

“Oh…” Julie began and Sam knew that she was going to come up with an excuse but she wasn’t going to have any of it.

“No, no, no, before you even think about bringing up school work today is your day off. You’ve been working to hard as it is and you need a break so I am taking you to lunch.” Julie went to argue but her friend wouldn’t hear of it instead she was pulled to her feet and into her room. Sam hit her light before walking over to her wardrobe.

“How is it your bedroom is spotless but out there looked like a bomb had hit it?” Sam laughed lightly as she yanked the door of the wardrobe open. Julie stayed quiet as she watched her friend scan through her articles of clothing, every now and again stopping to pull a shirt or dress out. “Okay are we in the mood for a dress or a nice pair of pants and shirt?”

“How about none.”

“I think you’d get done for indecent exposure.” Sam pointed out causing Julie to laugh, “What about this?” Sam pulled out a maxi dress with mixtures of blues, browns and whites on it, “And you can team it with your white flats, this white jacket and a nice pair of earrings and…” the black haired girl trailed off as she scanned her friends room, “Ah,” she hurried over and grabbed one of her friends clutches.

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, no go and have a shower you’ll feel better once you’re out of this place, believe me,” groaning Julie grabbed the dress off her friend and a fresh pair of underwear before making her way toward the bathroom.

“I hate you!” she yelled down the hallway.

“I love you too,” Sam called back chuckling as she walked out and took a seat on the couch waiting for her friend.



“Right,” Sam spoke as the two of them stepped into her car, “where to?” turning the key in the ignition the car purred to life while they waited for the brown haired girl to answer. Julie shrugged her shoulders smiling, not entirely sure where she wanted to go. “Alright a surprise it is.” Sam chuckled reversing out of her friend’s driveway.

The two of them drove toward the city centre where they were
sure to find a small café they could hide in and talk. “How are you going?” Sam asked turning to look at her friend briefly before turning her attention back to the road ahead.

“Alright,” Julie shrugged her shoulders flippantly as she turned her head to look out her window at the passing scenery. “Work is killing me.”

Sam bit back the urge to ask why she is working so much and instead nodded her head, “Yeah you do seem to be working a lot more, never having time for me…” she joked, “I’m like a puppy I need attention from my best friend.”

“I know you do, and I am sorry,” Sam smiled warmly as her friend reached out and touched her arm gently, “It’s just a lot is going on in my head at the moment.”

“I can imagine with school.”

“It’s not just that,” Julie sighed, “I mean it’s a big part but it’s not all of it.”

“Niall?” sighing the brunette nodded her head slowly; Sam sighed sympathetically but swallowed anything that she was going to say and simply asked a single question.

“Did you want to talk about it?” out of the corner of her eye she saw Julie shake her head slowly, “Alright, but remember if you ever do want to talk about it I am here to listen.”

“I know,” the car was swallowed into a silence, Sam didn’t want to push her friend into talking to her about Niall, she would tell her in her own time, all she wanted to do was take her friend out and have a good time with her and get her mind away from all the things that she had been so busy thinking about.

“Here we are,” Sam sang as she swung into a free park cutting the engine.

“Gloria Jeans?”

“The one and only, come on,” with that she stepped out of her car closing the door behind her and walking up onto the footpath her friend following suit. Locking her car the two of them stepped inside. The aroma of rich coffee and the chatter of people filled their senses and a smile spread across each of their faces.

“So what are you getting?” Julie asked as they made their way toward the counter.

“Latte, you?”

“I’m thinking Vienna coffee,”

“Well aren’t we Miss Swish,” the two teenagers laughed before stopping in front of the counter where a young girl stood taking orders.

“Morning, what can I get ya?” her tone was bright and bubbly a wide smile spread across her face.

“Can I get one Latte?”

“Sure, anything else?” she asked as she tapped in the order.

“No thanks.”

The tender nodded her head before telling the price, Sam handed over the amount before taking a step back to wait for her coffee while her friend ordered. Once both of them had their orders taken Sam told her friend to go and find a good seat for the two of them while she waited for their drinks.

“One Latte and a Vienna,” the girl called after a few moments, quickly Sam grabbed the coffees and walked over to her friend who had picked a booth at the back of the store where there were only select few people sat conversing.

“So…” Sam began as she slid into the seat parallel to her friend handing her coffee over and taking a sip of her own.

“So…” Julie repeated.

Sam couldn’t hold it back any longer she had to know, “Has he tried contacting you?”

“Several thousand times.”

“And…”

“And what?”

“Did you answer any of them?”

“Sam I told him to stop, it’s not like I am going to answer his every call, and I ended it that’s it, finished, over, no more contact.” Sam sighed taking another sip out of her coffee, her friend could be so stubborn it was annoying.

“Can you believe it, Niall has a girlfriend,” some preppy blonde teen gossiped to her red haired friend that sat next to her.

“What?!” the red head gasped nearly spitting her coffee everywhere. No!”

“Yes! There are photos of them all over twitter and instagram.”

“What’s her name?”

“Nobody knows, from the photos they both looked pretty shit faced though, so maybe it was just a one night sort of thing,” the blonde shrugged her shoulders flippantly. Sam’s eyes flicked straight to her best friend and she saw the way she sat rigidly in her seat, her coffee cup pressed to her bottom lip as she listened intently to the blondes conversation.

“It could be another Niall.”

“How many other Niall’s are there?” Julie asked her voice no higher then a whisper and Sam knew this new had affected her more then she wanted to let on. Julie sipped her coffee silently as the cogs in her mind began to move.

“Jules, don’t even think about it.”

“I have to know,” she argued, before placing her foam cup down and grabbing her phone.

“Julie!” Sam began sternly, “its only going to cause you more pain, just leave it… please,” she begged covering her friends phone with her hand. Hesitantly Julie listened to her friend placing her phone on the table and picking up her coffee cup again. Her mind was whirring; it had only been three months.

No! she argued with herself, you broke it off with him, you don’t get to be upset. You were the one who broke his heart! the voice inside her head was harsh, but it was the truth she was the one who ended it because she thought it would be too hard, she was the one who had been dodging his calls and deleting his texts for so long, so why did it come as a surprise to her that Niall had moved on? Isn’t that what she wanted? Didn’t she want to blonde to move on and find someone else to love?

Yes of course it was! She told herself but there was a small part of her that objected, a small part of her that wanted him to stay single just until she was able to be with, a small selfish part wanted that.

“Julie,” the brunette was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of her friends voice saying her name gently. Lifting her eyes she looked at the raven haired girl who sat opposite her, the girl who she could trust with her life and the only one who could make her feel better after any situation. “You wanna get out of here?” nodding her head the girl got to her feet, dropped a few stray coins on the table as a tip before sliding out of her seat and making her way to the exit.

“Come on let’s go back to mine and I’ll do your hair and we can watch some pathetic romantic comedies.” Sam smiled as the two of them step into the car.