The Summer I Will Always Remember
by Laina Vitarelli, staff reporter
There he is. Sitting right in front of me is the guy of my dreams. He’s tall, dark, smart, and handsome. He’s the one I would stay up late at night wishing for. The only problem is that he came too late.
School starts in a week and I can’t bear the idea of leaving him. Why does summer have to end? I want to just stay here, in Big Mama’s Diner, with my friends and him sitting around me. But life isn’t fair and no one gets what they want all the time.
“Hey Brit, are you okay? You look kinda spaced out,” says Kyle, snapping my attention back to the here and now.
“Yeah, of course. I’m fine babe.”
“Okay, well we were talking about going down to the beach tonight for the last good surf of the summer. Jake said they might have fireworks. You’re gonna come right?” He already knew I was going to say yes. I could never say no to him and those big blue pleading eyes.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world” I reply, reaching out for his hand across the red checkerboard table, only to find that he is reaching for mine too. “What time are we meeting up?”
Before Kyle could answer me, Jake pipes in, “I was thinking we could meetup here at eight and grab some dinner then head over to the beach.”
Kyle, Sofia, and I can’t help but laugh. Jake’s entire world revolves around food. He has to eat before he can do anything, so as a result the meeting place was always Big Mommas.
“Sounds like a plan,” says Sofia as she tries to catch her breath from laughing so hard at Jake. “Can you believe it’s over? Its your last weekend in Cali and then you go home.”
“No, I can’t” says Jake.
Just like that, those few words spoken of goodbyes, brought my heart to my stomach. The thoughts from before came rolling back into my mind. It’s like watching a horror movie one has already seen; the ending is inevitable.
Kyle must see my mood drop because he immediately switched topics.
“I think we should order some more fries seeing as Jake at most of them.” As quickly as the thoughts come, they leave again, getting pushed away by the bickering of who ate more fries and who should pay for them. We all know it was Jake, but the arguing made for lots of laughs. He ends up paying for them.
“Bring something to change into after we surf tonight. I have plans for the two of us, but don’t tell Jake and Sofia that we are bailing on them.” whispers Kyle as he leaned in to kiss me goodbye.
I’m no good with secrets but for him I would say nothing. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s a surprise,” and then he’s out of his seat and heading to the door before I could even complain about the fact that I hate surprises.
Jake is the next one to get up from our little corner booth. “I think we should all get going. I have to get my board ready for tonight. You want me to walk you home Sofia?”
“Yeah thanks. You okay to walk home by yourself?” Sofia is always the mother of the group, making sure everyone was okay. It’s why we all love her.
“It’s no problem. Only a couple of blocks. See you guys at eight,” I smile even though it didn’t reach my eyes.
“Alright, see you then.”
And then there was one, me. I am always last to leave. I like to hang around and watch the tide come in from the window. Big Mama’s has the best view of the beach from the boardwalk. There’s no other like it. It usually calmed me down but today the tide felt like it was coming in to swallow me up. I didn’t want to go home. My best friends are here, but most importantly my boyfriend is here. How can I say goodbye to him not knowing that we will stay together when I leave? A year is a long time to wait for someone.
No. I need to stop thinking like that. I walk outside the diner and the overwhelming smell of the ocean hits me. It’s time for me to go home and get ready for tonight. I don’t even know what I’m going to wear out with Kyle after surfing. Thinking about petty things like my hair and clothes push the negative thoughts aside. I have got a hot date tonight and that’s what I’m going to focus on. At least for a little while.