Classics in Summertime

After my short ride with Dylan, I had spent the rest of the morning into the afternoon working out at the barn with my dad. I knew that he’d talked to Dylan, but neither of us said anything to the other about it. We both just mindlessly cleaned out stalls in the same pattern we’d done when I was a little girl, neither of us speaking a word.

I would have left my dad to go hang out with Dylan again, but I didn’t want him to get angry with me when it seemed like Dylan was just starting to make some progress with him.

My father and I had been working for hours in silence before he cleared his throat in the stall across from mine, speaking loudly so I could hear him over the sounds of the few horses who hadn’t gone out yet.

“I talked to that boy of yours,” he nearly shouted from across the way, making me jump both in the loudness and the words that he’d said. I knew Dylan’s side of the story, but I still didn’t know what my dad had to say about it, and I was still nervous to hear it from him. There was always the chance he’d say one thing to Dylan and something entirely different to me.

“Oh, really?” I said, my voice cracking when I spoke. I swallowed the lump in my throat before continuing. “How’d that go?”

My dad paused for a few seconds, shoveling some of the hay before he stepped out of the stall. He walked towards me and leaned his shovel up against the wood.

“He’s a stubborn one, that’s for sure.” My dad pulled off his hat and wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. He placed his hat back on before speaking again. “Just watch yourself, Everly. I don’t wanna see ya getting hurt.”

I knew my father had good intentions when it came to me, but he often went about it the wrong way. He still hadn’t realized that I was an adult, technically, and was free to make my own choices. As long as he wasn’t going to be hovering over Dylan and I anymore, I’d be happy. It was probably as good as it was going to get with him.

“And if he thinks he’s going to take my little girl away from me,” he continued, “he’s got another thing coming.”

Making progress with my dad was a long, treacherous road, and I often wondered if it was worth it. There were many times I had thought about leaving the state to go away for school, but that opportunity had come and gone. Now I wondered if I should take Dylan’s offer to just go down to California and conveniently lose my ticket back, but that could never end well.

“You don’t need to worry about either of us,” I said, looking at my dad as I propped up my shovel next to his. I loved my father dearly, but sometimes he was too difficult to deal with, especially when he treated me like a child. “Can Austin finish up in here? I’ve got other things going on.”

I could tell before my dad even spoke that he was not happy with me. Chores were chores for a reason, and they needed to be done, but apparently he was a little afraid of me. My best guess was that my mom had put the fear into him.

“Be back at a decent hour, please.”

I nodded my head at him, not saying another word before I all but skipped out of the barn. I hurriedly went inside to freshen up, hoping that Dylan would be at his house. I thought it was a good guess considering he didn’t have much going on in the area, but there was always the off chance he’d found himself some more shenanigans to get into.

When I got to Dylan’s house, I knocked on his door, to which he quickly answered. He opened it up slowly, and when he saw me standing there, a smile fell to his face immediately.

“Everly,” he said with a smile, opening the door wider so I could step in. I followed him inside and smiled back at him as he shut the door behind me. “What brings you all the way down here?”

I went and sat on his sofa, shrugging my shoulders as he sat down beside me. “There wasn’t really anything going on at my house so I figured I’d see what you were up to.”

“Well, I just got finished eating lunch, actually.” He reached over to the coffee table where he had a small stack of dishes sitting and tried to clean them up a bit. “Sorry the place is a mess. I wasn’t expecting you over until later.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. My house would be a mess too if my mom wasn’t always cleaning it up.”

Dylan finished fiddling with the dishes and looked back at me with a sweet smile on his face. “You wanna go for a walk and get out of here?”

I nodded my head and the two of us stood up from the sofa with Dylan leading me out the back door. We began walking towards the field out past Dylan’s barn where the grass was low enough to walk comfortably without tripping over your own feet.

Dylan was walking with his hands in his pockets and he looked over at me with the sun beating down on his face. “I have to admit I had sort of an agenda for taking you on this walk.”

“Oh really? What sort of agenda is that?”

I never knew Dylan to be the type to try to get things out of people, so I was admittedly a little surprised to hear that, though I had to assume it was something innocent.

“I know how much you love it out here, so I thought I’d do my best to get you as calm as possible.”

Chuckling at him, I looked at him with my lips pressed together and my eyebrows raised up. I had to admit Dylan was making me a bit nervous, but I tried my best not to show it.

“What for?”

Dylan stopped walking then and turned his body towards me. He reached his hands out and wrapped them around mine, turning me so I was facing him as well. “I got a phone call today from the producers. They need to come out and film a few things.”

“Oh,” I said simply, not sure what to make of the whole thing. I was still new to Dylan’s lifestyle and he hadn’t actually done any acting in the time that I had known him. “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it? I mean, what does that mean exactly?”

“It means I’ll be gone for a few days.” He paused, biting his lip as he shifted his weight to his other foot. “For a few weeks, actually.”

I knew that Dylan was going to have to go back to California to film eventually, but I didn’t think it would be so soon, especially so soon after he’d gotten Dakota. It didn’t really sound like good news, though it may have been good news for Dylan.

“Ev, say something,” Dylan said, his voice letting out the worry that his face didn’t show. I wasn’t really sure what to say because I had so many questions that I didn’t even know where to begin.

“When will you be leaving?” I asked, because it seemed like the easiest question for him to answer and for me to hear the answer to. My mind was still trying to wrap itself around the whole situation.

Dylan gave a long pause, pressing his lips together as he looked at me, and I could feel that his palms were a bit sweaty as they held onto mine.

“Tomorrow morning,” he said, his eyes going soft as they looked at me. “They wanted me to take the first flight out.”

If I was drinking something at that moment, I would have spat it out immediately. I didn’t understand how they could just expect him to up and leave so quickly, and that he’d be so willing to do it.

“What? But what about Dakota? You can’t just leave her.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Ev. I’ll do my filming and then I’ll come straight home.” He paused, letting out a sigh. “I promised I’d come back, remember?”

“But you just got here. And my dad’s finally starting to trust you. You can’t just leave now.”

“Ev, what do you think is going to happen when I’m gone?”

“I don’t know, I just - I didn’t think you’d be leaving so soon.”

Dylan paused again, pressing his lips together as he looked at me. It seemed like he was just as confused about the situation as I was, but from another angle entirely. While I was confused about why he was leaving, he was confused about what to do to make me feel better.

“Why don’t you come for a few days?” He asked, a smile falling to his face at the suggestion, as though it would solve everything. “I’ll fly out and get everything settled and then you can come down for a few days and meet my friends. You can fly back the second you’re ready to come home.”

“Dylan, I can’t afford those things like you can.”

“I’ll pay for your ticket,” he said with a smile. I opened my mouth to speak but he shushed me quickly. “Please, Ev, I want to. You got to show me your home, now I want to show you mine. I promise it’ll be loads of fun.”

“And what about Dakota? Who’ll take care of her?”

“I’ll pay Austin to help out,” he said quickly, an answer for everything. “I’m sure a boy his age would love the extra cash.” He paused, waiting for me to throw out another contradiction, but when I didn’t, he spoke again, more eager this time. “Please, Ev. I’m serious about this.”

Everything was happening so quickly that I still didn’t know what to think about the whole thing. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the fact that Dylan was traveling back to California, and especially not that he wanted me to go with him.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” I asked, hoping that the less my head was spinning the more this whole thing would make sense. I knew I had strong feelings for Dylan, but I didn’t know how I felt about spending time in an entirely new state with him.

“Of course,’ Dylan said quickly, a smile on his face as he nodded his head. “I leave in the morning, but I can buy your ticket anytime and you can print it out here. I’d be so happy if you came, Ev.”

The two of us paused, just looking at each other for several moments. Both of our heads were probably buzzing. After a few seconds, I finally spoke. “Could we still hang out tonight before you leave? Just in case I decide not to go.”

Dylan smiled at me and nodded his head. “Absolutely.” He reached over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. His hugs were still as warm and sweet as I remembered, even with all this insanity around us. “Now, don’t feel too pressured into visiting, but know that I’d be so happy if you did.”

“Isn’t that like blackmail or bribery or something?” I said, chuckling softly against his chest as I squeezed him back.

“You can call it whatever you want as long as it works.”

One of the best things about Dylan was that he was so easily able to calm me down when I was freaking out. I was still massively worried about what would happen when he was gone, and I definitely didn’t want him to leave, but with his arms around me, he made me feel as though everything would be okay.