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Seasons
by
Krista Jefferies
"Summer air reminds me of, all the seasons of her love and what it was like when we were together." Andrew said, turning to his friend Steve. "Oh no, not this again." Steve said, shaking his head. "What was so special about this girl that she's still got you thinking about her?!" he asked. "She's more special to me then you could ever understand." Andrew started. "I met her at the cottage, we'd be going there together since we were little, but it was only recently that I started noticing her, I mean really noticing her, you know?! So last summer..." he trailed off, smiling as he reminisced. "Last summer was where it all began.
"We were walking along the beach when I noticed it, noticed her. She was kicking the golden sand with her bare feet, her bright pink nail polish peeking through the grains. Her long blond hair shone in the summer sun, and I had this urge to grab her hand, so I did. She looked up at me, only slightly surprised, and smiled, then continued to play through the sand. "I love the way the warm sand feels on my feet!" she exclaimed. I could only mutter some one-syllable response back, I was so captivated by her. She held my hand a bit tighter, "I dare you to run into the water!" she said, looking innocent. The water was freezing, and she knew it. "No way!" I said laughing. "You do it!"
"Fine!" she said mysteriously, and before I knew it she was running into the water, still holding my hand! I was dragged into the freezing water, the cold, frothy waves lapping up my feet, and numbing them of feeling. She shrieked happily, and began to splash me, running along the shoreline, stumbling as she ran but laughing the whole time. Before we realized it we had ran down the beach, the sun had set and the moon cast a glow over the lake, over her. I finally caught up with her, and grabbed her from behind, attempting to transfer some of the wetness off of me and onto her. She shrieked, giggling, and I released my grip, but she stayed in my arms. She felt so comfortable there.
"I'm tired." she said, looking up at me with her big blue eyes. I looked down the beach, and couldn't even see our cottages in the distance. "Me too," I said as a large trampoline caught my eye. She followed my gaze and immediately knew what I was thinking. Grabbing my cold hand into hers we raced towards the trampoline. I helped her up, then jumped on after her. The cottage owning the trampoline looked empty, and we assumed that it's owners weren't up yet, not that we cared. I lay down on the trampoline, as she jumped up and down a few times, her hair flying in the wind. Eventually she got tired and laid down beside me. Without thinking I reached out for her, and held her close to me, our wet bodies sharing what warmth we had with each other.
We watched the stars in a comfortable silence, and I was so aware of her presence so close to me. I brushed back a piece of her hair, and kissed her forehead. Suddenly it was as if she felt comfortable and she began to tell me all of her worries, and fears, we talked late into the night, comforting each other and sharing our lives. Before she fell asleep she thanked me, murmuring, "You were never far from reach, and you held me through stormy weather." As I watched her sleep in my arms, caressing her face and trying to erase all of the lines of worries, I thought, 'I wanna fall in love tonight.' And somehow I knew I already had.
"The next morning I woke up with her smiling at me. She looked just as beautiful as she had the night before, although her hair was a mess and her clothes had become wrinkled. "Good morning sleepyhead." she smiled. After I woke up, we walked back to our cottages, knowing that things between us were different than they had been the day before. We both felt the bond as we raced back to our cottages. I won, of course, but near the end I slowed down to let her think that she had a chance.
We went to our separate cottages, knowing without saying it that we would meet up again as soon as possible. I rushed to shower and ate breakfast, barely saying a word to my parents. I walked along the stone path that led me to her cottage, and saw her lying on a blanket in her backyard. Her golden body shone in the sun and her sunglasses shaded her eyes. I walked up and lay down beside her, and without saying anything she shifted her body to show me she was aware of my presence.
We lay in a comfortable silence, basking in the sun, as well as each others presence. Not being able to take it anymore, I perched up on my elbow and started to pour my heart out to her. I told her how I had never felt this way before. I told her how comfortable I felt with her, and how I always wanted it to be this way. She took of her sunglasses, sat up, and turned to me. "It's okay," she said, as she told me not to talk so fast as I told her how I felt. She made me feel right at home, and she told me I was not alone and she knew just how I felt. I told her how I was worried about how things would be when the summer ended, and how I didn't want to be without her. She looked at me, smiling, and said, "Everything is gonna be alright."
"I know we talked about it, I just can't get around it, I just want one more night with her!" Andrew said, turning to Steve. "Wow man, I never knew, I mean I didn't realize you felt that way about her." Steve said sympathetically. "But hey, you guys were still together after summer, I remember you going to visit her a lot."
"October air reminds me of, all the seasons of her love and what it was like when we were together." Andrew said. "The summer ended, but we stayed together. The memories of the summer kept us sane through the long school week. Late night phone calls kept us connected, and on weekends, visits to each others houses kept us in love. Although she lived an hour away it kept me happy just talking to her, about school, about friends, and about life. Every week I looked forward to seeing her, and every weekend made me feel connected with her again. But after a while we started to get busier.
With her new job, and my jobs, our late night phone calls turned into brief messages as we ran out the door, or on our breaks. Our weekends were consumed by work, school work, and even friends. I was lucky to see her twice a month, and it was tearing me apart. One night she called me, and we finally had time to talk. Our talk started off fine, catching up with each others lives, it felt almost normal again. "Listen Andrew, we really need to talk." she said, her voice was small and something inside me jumped. "We are talking!"
I said , trying to keep the mood light. "No, I mean really talk, about us." she said. "Oh," was all I could manage to say. "I think you know what I'm going to say, and even if it's not something I want to say, or something you want to hear, it's something that has to be said. This isn't working Andrew. I can't live off of just seeing you once a month, and the occasional phone call. I need more, and so do you. And no matter how hard we try, there just isn't a way for us to make this work.
Andrew I love you, and I always will, and we'll always have our summer." she said this all through tears, and I remember it like it was yesterday, the pain I felt as I hung up saying I understood, how we could still be friends. Friends. I was heartbroken with nothing to do about it." Andrew said in a small voice, as tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to spill. "The smell of fall is everywhere, but now it seems I just don't care."
"Wow, I never knew man, that's rough." Steve said, grabbing his shoulder in
comfort. "But don't worry, it will get better, and she's right, you do have the
memories."
"It doesn't matter," Andrew said looking up. "Cause now, she's gone away."
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