Always Summer (7 page)

Jordan just
looked at me with a huge grin on his face.

*

Three hours
later and my hair was stripped of pink and returned to my natural (almost)
color, alongside a minor trim.
 
Jordan
had pissed off while I was at the hairdressers, and came back when I texted him
that they were finished; so now we were heading to the gym.
 

Jordan was
busy talking about proteins, carbohydrates and bulking up.
 
I didn’t mind ‘getting cut’, but I didn’t
have any illusions about my ability to ‘bulk up’.
 

This
assumption was confirmed by the personal trainer at the gym we walked into.

“How old
are you boy?” the ruddy looking ageing man asked.

“Fourteen.”
I answered.

He huffed,
and walked around me, looking me up and down.

“You have a
swimmers body; you’ll never get as big as he will.” He said, pointing to
Jordan.

“I don’t
want to look like a gorilla; I just want to look good without a shirt on.” I
argued.

He smiled,
although he tried not to.

“You’re not
finished growing either, so I suggest you do boot camp.
 
A friend of mine takes it.
 
They meet mornings at Northport Park.
 
He’ll work your core, amongst other
areas.
 
He’ll put you through your paces
boy.” He suggested.

“Work my
core?” I asked incredulously.

“Believe
me, it’ll kill you, and it will change your body in ways that you want.” The
trainer argued.

Jordan had
sat down on the carpeted floor throughout the exchange, and now he stood up,
brushing his shorts off.

“Would it
be good for me too?” he asked the trainer.

“Sure...
you into football?” the trainer asked him.

“Yes sir.”
Jordan replied.

“Then it
would definitely be to your advantage.” The man offered.

Turning
back to me, he continued.

“When you
stop growing, you come back to me and we’ll start you on the weights.” He
stated.

“Jordan
already does weights.” I said.

“He’s a
completely different body type.” The man reasoned.
 
So I nodded and got the details of the boot
camp guy before Jordan and I left.

Summer.

When I
stepped into the house I could tell something was wrong.
 
I could feel grief coating the air.
 
I walked around downstairs, but nobody was
there.
 
Max and Debbie’s house was a
really beautiful Californian bungalow styled home.
 
Wood floors throughout, alongside the ‘old
world’ color scheme, gave the house a decidedly rustic and comforting
feel.
 
Pictures lined the walls, and as I
progressed up the stairs, I was observed climbing them by all the graduation
and school photos of the four girls that had dominated this family home.
 
I was very proud to be counted amongst
them.
 

Making my
way to the bedrooms upstairs, I narrowed in on Sally’s room.

“I’m
scared.” I could hear her through the door.

“We don’t
know yet if anything will show up sweetie.” Debbie answered.
 
“Let’s stop putting the cart before the horse
and wait for the results.
 
All this worry
is probably for nothing.”

What were
they talking about?
 
Sally’s results for
college were back ages ago, and they were amazing.
 
I struggled with whether I should enter my
sister’s room or not.
 
I wanted to, but
perhaps I shouldn’t.
 
Debbie had it
covered.

I walked
instead into my bedroom, and sat down on my queen sized bed.

Green was
my favourite color, and my room relayed no exception.
 
The walls were a sage green; the trimmings,
ceiling and windows were white.
 
The
polished floorboards complimented my recycled timber furniture.
 
The handmade quilt on my bed was made in
shades of green, creams and white.
 
My
curtains were a crisp white, as were the roman blinds behind them.
 

On all
surfaces I had collections of green Depression glass alongside a couple of
leadlight glass lamps.
 
In addition to
these I had some pretty fairy’s made from pewter and glass.
 
My desk in the corner was the only exception
to my decorative rule, with a dark grey Toshiba 19in laptop the sole modern
addition on display in my room, alongside a collection of more fairy’s and
another lamp.
 
I loved my room.
 
Most of the objects were mine... presents
from my new parents and their older daughters, Elspeth and Phoebe, who were in
their early thirties.
 
I didn’t have any
posters on the walls; I just had a huge mirror over the head of my bed, which
made the room look awesome.

I heard a
muffled cry from my sister’s room, a room which was a carbon copy of my own,
except her chosen color scheme was a burgundy color with cream trim; and she
chose to display many more modern additions; in addition, she preferred white
‘stressed timber’ furniture.

Debbie’s
voice cut through the cry, “Honey, please don’t stress yourself more than you
have to.” She reasoned.
 
“Do you want me
to call Doctor
Bardon
?” she asked.

I don’t
know what Sally’s reply was to the suggestion to calling her shrink, but I
decided I needed to get in there immediately.
 
I walked through our ensuite and opened the door to Sally’s room.

Sally.

I was
kidding myself.

Everything
had been sailing so smoothly until now.
 
Surely things just couldn’t keep travelling so nicely.
 
Something bad had to happen... soon.
 
It was going to be my blood tests... they
were going to reveal that I was infected with something that would not only
ruin my projected career, but would see me lose Henry.
 
I had been expecting it for years.

That
fucking drug addict definitely had some disgusting disease he passed on to
me... his body fluids were all over me... in me even.
 
Some diseases and viruses take months to
develop; I hadn’t been checked since I came to live here.
 
Debbie didn’t understand.
 
If it all went to shit now, I would lose the
tenuous hold I had on reality.
 
It was
the final hurdle.
 
Why wouldn’t I be
anxious?
 

I kept my
insecurities to myself... the relationships I had with others
were
what defined me and held me together... I was so broken
inside that I had to feed off the strength of other’s to appear healed.

I was
crying into Debbie’s arms.
 
We were
sitting on the bed.

My heart...
my main reason for living all these years and hanging on, chose that moment to
walk in the door.

Summer had
grown into a beautiful young woman.
 
She
could seriously be a model if she wanted.
 
But she had no desire for that.
 
She was sweet, funny, loving... and absolutely devoted to her family and
friends.

“What’s
going on?” she asked, looking at me with ‘that look’ that melted me inside.

I couldn’t
talk now... I began to cry in earnest.
 
So she came to sit beside me on the other side, opposite Debbie, and she
kissed the top of my head.
 
She began to
push my hair off my face and trail her fingers through it.

“Talk to me
Sal.” She pleaded.

I looked up
to Debbie, I couldn’t... I implored her to.
 
I knew Debbie didn’t think
Summer
should know
or continue to go over this stuff.
 
I
knew that she thought
Summer
should move on and not
have to drag this stuff back up, but she also knew our bond, so, hesitating
only a little, she explained.

“Sally had
blood tests done today.” Debbie began.

“I know.”
Summer replied.

“She’s
concerned about the results.” Debbie explained.

“Why?”
Summer asked, innocently.

Debbie
sighed, took a breath and ploughed on.
 

“Because they asked her whether she’d ever engaged in unprotected sex;
amongst other things.”
Debbie stated, grimacing.

“Oh.”
Summer replied.

“And of
course, well, you know...” Debbie trailed off.

“I know.”
Summer replied.

There was
silence for a brief moment.

“Well,”
Debbie continued, “Some viruses don’t show up for a while, like HIV, and she’s
worried that she has something... like that.” Debbie finished on a sigh.

“Not gonna
happen.” Summer announced confidently.

“You can’t
know that.” I whimpered.

“Of course
I can!” She said.

“You can’t
Summer, but we can be supportive of Sally and help her until she knows for
sure.” Debbie stated.

“Look,”
Summer
started, “You have to be okay, and I feel really,
really certain of it!” she said.

Debbie
sighed.
 
I felt hopeful; she had a
positivity around me that made me hope.
But still...
I
felt like shit too.

“How... how
can you be so certain?” I asked her.

“Because,
if that asshole... sorry Debbie, but that’s a mild word for him... If that
asshole managed to get you sick with something like that, or anything for that
matter; utter chaos would ensue, and he would have to rise from the dead so
that I could have the pleasure of killing him myself.
 
And since that stupid shit only ever happens
in lame sitcoms and B-grade movies, then you’re gonna be fine.
 
Sorry Debbie for swearing.” She reasoned.

Wow, that
was... weird.
 
But for some reason it
made me smile.
 
She noticed my smirk, and
leant forward, touching her forehead to mine.
 
Debbie loosened her hold, but remained with me.

“I love you
Sal.” Summer said.

“I love you
too, chicken.” I replied.

“I kissed
Blake today.” Summer said out of the blue, closely looking me in the eyes so it
looked like she had one big eye instead of two.

What? Did she just say she kissed Blake?
 
Her best friend Blake?
 
Did I hear her right?

I jumped
back and looked directly at her again.
 
How random for her to say that, just... say that like it meant
nothing... I turned to look at Debbie who looked equally as confused, and then
I returned to look at her.
 
She was
grinning.

“What do
you mean you kissed Blake today?” I asked incredulously.

“As in I
had my first real kiss with a boy today, and it was Blake.” She said and color
rose in her cheeks and her eyes fell to the floor.

If she
wanted my focus to shift, she managed it effortlessly.

I looked at
her, imploring her to offer up more information.
 
She wasn’t offering.

“Don’t say
that and leave it there.” I whined.

“Are you
going to cheer up a bit if I tell you what happened?” she bargained.

I smiled, I
couldn’t help it.
 
I fed off of her
emotions.
 
Debbie smirked too, and
covered her smile with her hand to hide it.

Summer
looked up and saw my face and broke into a huge grin.
 
God, she was so beautiful.

“Okay, I’ll
tell you.” She said shifting on the bed so her body was facing me, and one leg
was bent up on the bed beside me.

“I got to
the
Starbucks
down on Fort Salonga
road, right, and Jewels and Jordan, her boyfriend, were plastered to each
other’s face, and no matter what Blake and I did or said, it
 
wouldn’t make them stop... so we started to
flirt and talk outrageously to each other, you know... the way we do,” she
said.
 
I nodded; I knew what she was
talking about.
 
So she continued.

“Then we
kind of talked each other into actually going through with kissing each other
to show those two up. So we did, right there in front of them... the other
patrons and staff too.
 
We just sort
of... went for it.” She finished, chuckling at herself.

“So you
like kissed, like... kissed,
kissed
!” I announced,
pleading for confirmation and more information.