Sheismore.
“What else do you remember?” I prod, fully invested that we’re in replay mode.
Summer springs up from the couch and offers her hand to me. “You would dance with me.”
Setting my beer bottle on the side table, I grin. I have no qualms, if she wants a man that will dance with her, then that is what she’ll get.
I smirk as she begins to lead the way, her arms floating as she takes my hands.
“There’s no music,” I highlight that fact.
Her face softens. “I don’t think that matters.”
Taking hold of her hands, I bring them to my chest, causing our distance to close as we both begin to sway with our eyes entranced.
The last few minutes of fun and banter vanish as something profound overwhelms the air, nearly creating a catastrophic tension. It takes no words to acknowledge that.Summer slides her hands around me to hold on as her head lands on my chest.
“You always surprised me. Every time in your arms, I felt more protected than the last.” Her tone is neutral, no longer tipsy and thoughts in her head sobering her up.
Kissing the top of her head, I wrap my arms around her as we continue to barely sway. “It’s still the case, Summer. I just…”Let you go.
“Don’t leave me, too.” With her somber tone, I can’t figure out if she’s asking for a promise or telling me a fear.
My breath catches as I come to terms with a reality that I need to make clear. “I’m not going anywhere, Summer.”
She doesn’t look up nor change her tone. “I forgot that the clock had six weeks on it when it comes to us.”
I begin to rub circles on her back. “Did I not make myself clear at the pumpkin patch? I’m breaking the clock. I’m staying.”
It causes our eyes to find one another like a magnet. “I’ve lost my best friend. He isn’t coming back. But you? I’ve lost once, and I won’t survive twice.”
My hands are quick to frame her face, forcing her gaze to connect with mine. “I promise you. I’m already two steps ahead of you. I won’t let you break,” I promise her.
“I’m counting on that.” The vulnerability is apparent, it’s written all over her body.
“Remember? You’re my puck.” Please bring that smile back again.
She sputters a laugh. “The puck that you fuck. How could I forget.”
It does the trick. I won’t let her wallow or sink down a spiral because she’s sad or scared.
“I said some stupid stuff then,” I admit.
The corners of her mouth sweep slightly up. “And I lovedit. We would laugh a lot… I don’t want us to be a mess of emotions this time around. We can still laugh, every day I see that more.”
“Me too, Summer, me too.”
“Can we go upstairs?”
I don’t answer her, my droll smile is enough.
We head upstairs, and once we’re in her room, there’s a shift.
We both find our way to the middle of the bed, on top of the duvet, on our knees, facing each other but watching our fingertips imprint against one another.
“I think the cloud we’ve been thrown into is beginning to vanish,” she comments.
It doesn’t take a scientist to be aware that this entire situation of how we ended up here was out of our hands, or at least, this chapter of life. Even if I never let her go, my brother would still be gone.
