Days of Summer

“Ha ha. I totally remember that. Man, that summer was so much fun.” Tina laughed out, thinking back to when herself, Kevin, Me and her all went to a carnival last summer and Kevin tried knocking over the three milk cans with three balls and completely missed every single time, while on her first try she knocked them all down.

That was a good day. That was a great day. All days last summer was great…but summer comes to an end, and unfortunately, that meant everything else came to an end too. Well, except for Kevin and Tina’s relationship.

“Yeah…really fun.” I said quietly, thinking back to that night and how crazy in love I was with a girl that I barely knew for 2 days.

“Come on Kevin! You can do it!” Tina cheered Kevin on while he threw his second ball, completely missing the three milk cans, causing Allie and I to laugh under our breaths for my older brothers pathetic aim.

“You think this is easy?” he scoffed at us and I pulled her closer to me by her waist, just out being protective of her.

“Yeah.” she stated and lifted her chin up to challenge his words.

“Fine…you try then.” he stated and handed over $3 to the guy running the booth that was more than happy to take it, and then proceeded to give Allie three balls.

Kevin stood there watching her get situated while she handed her purse to me and smirked at him while Tina started laughing from Kevin’s other side.

“Are you sure you want to go after me? You may want to finish up your throws.” she said to him, smug look on her face while Tina continued to laugh at the scene that was unfolding before us.

I had to admit. It was pretty funny. But for some reason, I didn’t think she was laughing at the idea of Kevin and Allie having a throwing contest. I think she knew something that none of us knew and was laughing about it.

“No. I’ll wait.” Kevin said back to her with a smirk on his face as he wrapped an arm around Tina’s waist and pulled her close to him while he gave her a quick kiss on the head.

It was weird to see him do that. He never really was a PDA type of person. And the fact that it was with a girl that he just meet 2 days ago was what made it even weirder.

Neither of us knew practically anything about them. Well, maybe Kevin knew a little bit more about Tina than I knew about Allie.

Maybe like her favorite color or where she was currently staying here in Cali and for how long.

But I knew things about Allie too. Like, her name. And that one of her favorite songs was Get Low by Lil Jon. And how Tina was her best-oh who am I kidding. I knew how her tongue moved and every curve of her amazing body.

Yeah, we kinda picked up where we left off the first night that we met almost every time we greeted each other.

It was unavoidable. She was too…undeniable. I couldn’t help myself whenever I was with her. I needed to touch her and feel her. But don’t get me wrong, we talked and stuff, but it was just about like what we were gonna do later on that day or whatever happened after we weren’t with them. Not that there wasn’t much time for that considering they were practically attached to our hips since we met. Not that I minded.

I noticed her give Tina a little wink before turning to me and give me a very seductive smile and wink combo that, holy crap, literally made my blood boil.

She was so frickin’ gorgeous. End of story.

And the next thing I knew she wound up her arm and threw the ball towards the milk cans, hitting them right in the middle of the bottom two and made them topple over, making both Kevin and I’s mouth’s drop open out of shock.

“How-but-what?” he struggled for words while the guy handed her a small stuffed baby blue bunny.

“I used to play softball.” was all she said with a shrug of her shoulder and then turned to me and gave me a kiss.

“You can have this if you want. I think I got like 20 of them back at home because of guys like your brother who think because I’m a girl I can’t throw a ball.” she said as she pulled away from me and held up the little bunny for me to take.

“Ok. But you have to name it for me. It’s still technically you-”

“AHHH! WHAT THE HECK!” Kevin cut me off since he threw his last ball and completely missed again while Tina tried calming him down even though she was holding back her laughter.

“How about you and me go do our own thing? Your brother I don’t think is too fond of me right now.” she said as she looked over her shoulder towards him while I stared at her profile.

How her lips were a little pouted out from our random kissing throughout the day and night. How the carnival lights and moon bounced off her dark brown hair, showing some of her natural red streaks in it.

God she was beautiful. I honestly couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was every time I saw her.

It actually made me want to cry sometimes from how stunning she really was. I always found myself surprised more and more every time I saw her, thinking that it had to be in my head whenever we were separated and I’d get my hopes up and imagine her as this perfect girl. But the thing was, I was never disappointed. She always blew me away. She makes all the girls I used to think that was gorgeous, look like short, fat bald men. Or something along those lines.

“Yeah. What did you have in mind?” I was finally able to ask her when she looked my way and shoved me slightly, bringing me out of my trance.

“I don’t kno-wait. I know. You like adrenaline rushes right?” she asked me as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind her, making her way towards the street.

“Are we gonna play frogger or something? Cuz I like adrenaline rushes, but I don’t feel like dying tonight.” I said with a laugh as she chuckled from in front of me since she was walking so fast.

“No were not gonna play frogger. And to be honest with you, it’s not that scary. Just gotta make sure your very focused on what your doing.”

“You actually did that? My gosh girl you’re crazy. You’re gonna get me killed!” I laughed out even though I was somewhat shocked about her response with the whole frogger thing.

She actually ran through traffic before? That’s insane. But she was crazy, and that’s what I liked about her the most. She was crazy like I was crazy. Crazy about life and now about her.

“I’m not gonna get you killed. I promise. Here.” and that she turned around and looked at me with a smile in her eyes.

“I promise you, Joseph Jonas, that you will not be harmed, hurt or injured in anyway when you’re with me.” she said while sticking up her free hand and extending her pinkie towards me.

I shook my head and let out a puff of air before bringing my free hand up to hers and locking my pinkie around it while she added as an afterthought, “And of course death. You don’t die when I’m with you.”

I let out another laugh and then pulled her closer to me and gave her a soft kiss on the lips to seal the deal.

And trust me, it was hard to not attack her right there on the sidewalk and start making out. But we tried to not do that in public.

We still did it, but we tried not to as much. We normally saved it for when we were in the car or by the bathrooms when no one was looking.

“Joe? You ok?” Kevin’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me back to my horrible reality.

“Yeah. Just that I realized something.” I said somewhat dazed as I got up from the seat at kitchen table and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

“She sure knows how to keep promises.” I stated before turning around and walking away.

And it was true. When she was around, I never felt hurt. Or broken. Or even like death had come to get me. But when she wasn’t around…well…I felt all of that. I basically hit rock bottom.

I knew they’d know who I was talking about because let’s face it, that’s the most I had said since Tina got here yesterday and everything that I said was referred to her.

I stalked up the stairs to my room, leaving a now quiet Tina and Kevin in the kitchen and began thinking of that night again.

Anything to take me away to a happier place….like that summer.

“Now that that’s settled, let’s get going on the adrenaline rush thing!” she stated with an eager smile and turned around and started leading the way again and I realized we were heading towards the beach.

The boardwalk actually.

“What are you doing?” I asked her confused while she let go of my hand and ran a few paces ahead of me, lifting up her shirt to take it off.

“Isn’t it obvious, we’re gonna go swimming.” she said back to me while looking over her now bare shoulder and sending me a smirk that got my heart pumping hard, that and the fact that she was wearing her jeans and a black lacey bra, and I took off after her, having a small giggle come from her before she started running too.

There wasn’t many people out right now. Well there was, but they were all at the carnival across the street and a block away so I dropped her purse and the bunny and quickly unbuttoned my shirt while still running after her.

I saw her dropped shirt laying down on the old wood, soon followed by one of her flats and then the other and I couldn’t believe I was even doing this.

I threw my shirt off of me along with my beater as she let out a laugh while I caught up to her and pulled her into me, having my lips crash down on hers.

I felt her smile against my lips as she ran her hands over my bare chest, sending shivers down my spine.

If my parents saw this right now, they’d have a heart attack. NO! Don’t think about them, think about right now. It’s summer. Do what you want to do.

Her tongue flickered against my lips and I opened my mouth slightly, just to give her a challenge for a change while my hands trailed down her exposed back, over the back of her bra and down to her butt where my hands cupped underneath it to pick her up.

She wrapped her legs around my waist as one of her hands cupped my face while the other one ran through my hair, sending me into a state of pure bliss.

Our bodies fit together perfectly and my skin felt like it was on fire from having contact with hers. Our tongues became synchronized with each other along with the waves that were crashing against the shore line and I smiled to myself.

Life honestly couldn’t get better than this.

She slowed down our tongue action as I continued to walk in the general direction of the end of the boardwalk, and then she pulled away from me, and gave me a light kiss on the lips, signaling the end of our make out session, but I didn’t want it be the end. Not right now anyways.

“As much.” she said but I kissed her quickly and then lifted her up higher on me and she wrapped her arms around my neck to steady herself.

“As I love.” she said, trying to finish her sentence she started, but I again cut her off, giving her another sweet kiss and then smiled at her.

She smiled back before continuing her sentence. “Kissing you.”

And I again, gave her another kiss, all the while walking towards the end of the boardwalk and her letting out an mock upset sigh against my lips from my constant cutting her off.

“Let’s get our adrenaline pumping.” she stated and smiled widely down at me since I finally allowed her to finish her sentence.

“What? My kisses don’t send you a shock of adrenaline anymore?” I laughed out at her as I set her back down on her feet while she let out a fake scoff at my statement.

“Of course they do. I was just thinking of more…that’s all.”

“So making out, with our shirts off, in public on the boardwalk at night isn’t enough of an adrenaline rush for you?” I asked her, trying my hardest not to smirk as I saw a scared look flash across her face.

“Wow. You really are perfect.” I stated to her while she giggled slightly and grabbed my hand and pulled me after her slight jog towards the end of the boardwalk.

Let’s face it. She was perfect. In everyway. She was crazy. She lived in the moment. She was an adrenaline junkie like me. And, not that it really mattered, but it definitely was a bonus, she was gorgeous as hell.

Can you find anything wrong with this girl? Cuz I can’t.

Soon enough, we reached the end of the boardwalk and she climbed up and over the edge to stand on the little overhang of wood and then looked back at me.

“What? Jonas scared now?” she asked me with a baby voice and I shook my head and let out a laugh before crawling over the edge and taking a stand next to her.

“Hold me for a second.” she stated as she turned towards me while she unbuttoned her jeans to take them off.

I grabbed onto her forearms lightly to still giving her use of them but strong enough to catch her if she lost her balance.

Once she kicked off her jeans and pushed them underneath the last wooden crossbar she smiled up at me, the moonlight bouncing off of her body that made her look like an angel.

“Come on Jonas. Get those pants off. Who knows when the cops will show up.” she said with a laugh at the end when my eyes bugged out somewhat.

“The…the cops? You really think they’ll come?” I asked her nervously, rooted to my spot.

She let out sigh of frustration and rolled her eyes and head at me before reaching for my pants button, causing me to jump back at little bit at her forwardness.

“Geez Jonas calm down. I’m not gonna steal ‘that’ innocence or anything. Just your ‘jumping off of boardwalks’ one. But if you don’t hurry up and get out of the those pants and we get into that water, I might be taking your ‘first ticket’ innocence too.”

“Ticket? We could actually get a ticket for this? For what?” I asked, slowly unbuttoning and unzipping my jeans, but still not taking them off fully yet.

If this was against the law I sure as hell wasn’t going to do it!

“Yeah. Indecent exposure. But if you hurry up, no one will know the wiser that we jumped in the ocean in our underwear. Once we’re in the water, we’re fine. They can’t yell at us for wanting to swim can they?” she asked me with a smirk, and she knew she had me.

She was right. How would they know we went swimming in our underwear? Unless they asked us to get out, then they would see, but other than that, the sooner we got in, the sooner we wouldn’t have to worry.

I quickly took off my pants and threw them over my shoulder, hearing them land of the wood before turning back to her and smiling.

“Alright. Should we go together or-” she started to ask, but my confidence and adrenaline was pumping through my veins, so I grabbed her and jumped, her letting out a scream from the unexpectedness of my actions.

“Joseph Adam!” she yelled at me when we resurfaced, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What? You said we had to hurry up and get in the water.” I said to her, trying to hide any guilt in my voice and trying to make myself look innocent.

“Ho…” she said while shaking her head and moving towards me, causing me to let a laugh while I said, “Ho Ho.”

“What the heck was that?” she asked she wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist while I treaded water to keep us afloat.

“Well if we’re gonna be Santa we have to say it three times. Not just once.” I said back her, my ‘innocent’ smirk still on my face.

“Joseph, you are by far the weirdest boy I have ever met.” she stated while giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

“Allie, you are by far the most amazing girl I’ve ever met.” I said back to her, smile on my face before giving her a quick kiss before we started a water fight with each other.

“Hey Joe…” Frankie’s voice trailed off from my bedroom doorway.

“What’s up man?” I asked him, breaking my memory yet again.

That was one another one of them that I didn’t mind having.

“I’m going over to Jake’s in a little bit and he wanted me to bring over my baseball cards cuz we’re gonna trade.” he stated, making his way into my room and sitting next to me on my bed.

“Ok…why are you telling me this?”

Sometimes I just don’t understand kids…

“Well, I was looking through all of mine and I realized that he has all of them, so I was wondering if I could go through your’s and possibly use some of yours to trade since you don’t even look at them anymore.” he said, looking up at me somewhat shy of what my response would be.

I smiled down at him and ruffled his hair.

“Sure man. No problem.”

I got up from my bed and made my way to the closet with an excited Frankie at my heels and started roaming through the top shelves.

Great. It’s on top of her box.

“Frankie…you’re gonna have to get up on my shoulders and grab it. It’s on top of that box…” I pointed to the black shoebox at the top of a pile on my shelf. “I don’t want to take everything down.”

He nodded his head and headed for my bed and stood on top of it while I bent down slightly for him to slide his legs over my shoulders.

I stayed as still as possible while he got on and then braced his back with my hands as I slowly made my way to the closet.

“Joe, we haven’t done this in forever!” he exclaimed with excitement and I ducked down a little bit to avoid him hitting his head on my closet doorframe when I entered it.

“That’s cuz you just got too old man.” I said back to him with a slight chuckle as he moved some things around.

“Hey! This box has a girls name on it. Why?” he asked me, bringing some of my happiness down a level.

“Ummm…I don’t know. I just have some old stuff in there….it was probably used to but stuff in when we moved here.” I said back to him, trying hard to not think of all the crap that she put me through when I put all of that in the box to begin with.

“Let’s open it up and look! Maybe you have some more cards in there!” he said, and before I could even protest I heard him practically rip the box cover off.

“That’s weird. There’s whole bunch of pictures of you Joe. With some girl. And a bunny and…what’s this?” he asked, pulling out the dreaded jewelry box and putting in front of my face.

“Don’t worry about it. Come on Frankie, put that stuff back cuz you’re hurting my shoulders man.” I said, trying my hardest to cover up any sadness or hurt from seeing that box.

“Ok. I got it. Go back to the bed.” he said and I ducked out of the closet again and made my way back to the bed and bent down in front of it for him to slid off over my head.

“Here. This looks like just a bunch of junk. Maybe you should clean your room today since you don’t have anything else planned.” he stated to me, handing me the box along with another one that I knew was just old trinkets and stuff from my youth.

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll get rid of some stuff. Good thinking Frank.” I said to him, closing my eyes somewhat and turning away from him, taking a seat on my bed and placing the boxes next to me while he let out an excited thank you before running from my room to go look at my cards.

I looked over at the boxes and my eyes went immediately to her’s.

Should I do it? Go through it and get rid of it all? Can I do that? Like…physically and mentally do that?

I shook my head and let out a loud sigh before opening it up and looking into the contents.

It was like looking back at my last summer. All of it right there in the box before me and I knew right then, I couldn’t throw it out.

It meant to much to me. It was literally the summer of my life. How could I just throw it away because of one horrible memory.

I put the lid back onto it, not before taking a final look at the blue nameless bunny from my previous flashback, and got up from my bed and sticking it back where it belonged.

Away from me, in my closet tucked away with all other memories from previous years before that.