A Summer to Remember

by Jessica Gunhammer

  you made it home safe.

  Can’t wait for tomorrow ;)

  I smiled when I read this. The memories of last night and the kiss we shared before we left ran through my head. I replied back:

  Me either. You better have a

  pretty great plan in mind…

  you only get one chance to

  impress me ;)

  His response was quick:

  Oh don’t worry.

  You won’t be disappointed.

  Dress to impress babe.

  I laughed and replied:

  I always do :)

  I set my phone down on the nightstand. Right when I reached for my remote, the phone buzzed. I picked it up and saw Jason’s name across the screen. I hesitated for a minute, debating whether or not I should answer and just get our little chat over with or not. I slid my finger down the side of the phone and hit the ignore button. Not today. Maybe tomorrow when I had more energy to deal with him. I decided to lie down and catch up on some sleep. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was out.

  I was woken up hours later by the sound of my bedroom door creaking open.

  “Hey, Ava. Dinner’s ready if you’re hungry.” I couldn’t see any of her features, I could only make out her silhouette from the hallway light behind her. Wow, I must have been really out of it.

  “Thanks, Mom. I’ll be down in a couple minutes.” I picked up my phone and glanced at the time. I laid around for a few more minutes before I went downstairs to join the family.

  Everyone was in their usual seats, Mom and Dad at each end of the table, my brother on one side, and an empty seat for me on the other.

  “It smells delicious.” I slid into my seat and began dishing myself up. I love my parents’ cooking. Tonight we were having stuffed cheese pasta and salad.

  “Thank you,” my mother said with a proud grin. “Oh Ava, Jason called for you a few times today. Are you two still—”

  “Yes, we’re still broken up.” I cut her off. I didn’t mean to sound rude, but I was so sick of hearing and talking about Jason. “I actually met a really nice guy this weekend.” I kept my eye on her to see her reaction.

  “Oh really? Where did you meet him?” She focused on me, hungry for details.

  “He’s a friend of a friend,” I lied. I knew if I told them I met him at a frat party then spent the weekend at the lake with him, they wouldn’t be too thrilled.

  “Does he go to your school?” she asked.

  “He goes to Brant.” My dad and brother looked at me, waiting for more details. They were both super protective over who I dated. Neither of them were fond of Jason, but they knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t try and pull anything stupid. After a small silence, my dad started with the questions.

  “Is he a freshman?” he asked, looking rather serious.

  “Actually, I’m not sure. We haven’t been able to talk about much, but he’s taking me out to dinner tomorrow night.”

  “So are we going to be meeting him tomorrow, then?” My brother chirped in.

  “We’re just going to dinner, guys! I don’t want to scare him off yet.” I looked at my mom for some kind of support, but she just smiled at me, clearly amused with what is going on.

  “Well, if he’s coming here to get you, we might as well meet the guy.” He and my brother looked at each other and nodded in approval.

  “Okay, but just for a minute before we go.” I swear those two had these little talks all planned out. After dinner I helped clean up and put the dishes away, then went back up to my room. I picked up my phone and noticed I had another text from Adrian:

  Everything is set for tomorrow.

  See you at 7 :)

  I replied back:

  Sounds good. I’ll be waiting.

  Be prepared to meet the family.

  Don’t worry. They won’t be

  too hard on you ;) lol

  My phone beeped a few seconds later:

  I’m not worried.

  Parents love me :$

  I jumped into bed and caught up on a few of my shows. I’ve always been a sucker for reality TV. Before I knew it I was ready to get some more sleep. As I closed my eyes, I couldn’t help but daydream about my date with Adrian. This was the first “first date” I’d had in years. I was a little nervous but excited at the same time. Where would he be taking me? What would he be wearing? I hope he’ll wear something like that gray t-shirt he wore at the cabin. It fit so snugly around his body. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow!

  Chapter 11

  After I finally got around to taking a shower the next day I searched through my closet to find something to wear on my date. Of course I came up empty handed. I looked at the clock and it was just after two. Okay, good, I had plenty of time. I picked up my phone and pressed Lily’s name.

  “Hello darling!”

  “Hey! What are you doing today?”

  “Um, nothing really, just hanging with Steven. Why? What’s up?”

  “You want to go to the mall with me? I have to find an outfit for my date tonight.”

  “Of course I do! I’ll swing by and pick you up in about twenty minutes.” I could always count on her to ditch Steven for shopping.

  “Great!”

  Almost exactly twenty minutes later Lily’s car pulled up outside my house and her horn beeped just a few seconds after. I told my parents goodbye, grabbed my purse, and walked out to her car.

  “So you sounded pretty excited about this date you have tonight.” She started interrogating me the minute I got in the car.

  “Well, maybe I am.” I really was pretty excited, but I didn’t want her to know that.

  “Of course you are. Adrian’s hot! So have you talked to him since your steamy kiss before we left the cabin?”

  “No, not really, just a few texts. I’ve been trying to recuperate and get my thoughts in order from the weekend.”

  “Good. After what you were telling me at the cabin, you needed it! So how’s that going? Have you come to your senses about why you shouldn’t date Jason again?” Oh great, here she goes again.

  “Actually, yes. I’ve decided I’m going to try this date with Adrian and see how it goes, then make a decision. ”

  “Well, don’t mess things up with him. He really likes you.”

  “I know, I know. I wouldn’t ever hurt him. If I don’t think things will work out, I’ll let him know as soon as possible.”

  “Good!” She grinned in approval.

  We pulled up in front of the mall and Lily started scanning the parking lot for a spot. We’d been coming to this mall for years, it isn’t the biggest or best mall I’d ever been to, that’s for sure, but for our small town, it works. I remember in middle school, this is where we would go to meet up with all the boys, and then in high school, this is where everyone worked.

  We walked in the front door, which led straight into the food court. I immediately scanned the tables for people we knew, we were bound to run into someone. When my eyes crossed paths with his, my heart skipped a beat and I could feel it drop into my stomach. Shit!

  “Lily, Jason is here.”

  “Here, walk on this side of me.” She pushed me to the opposite side of the tables. “Just keep walking and pretend like you didn’t see him.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to be a little hard to do since we just looked right at each other! Great. Now he’s walking this way.” Not now, not before my date!

  “Do you want me to go kick him in the nuts? That should distract him.” I laughed as I grabbed her by the arm. God knows that if I let her go she would actually do it.

  “No. We’ll have to talk sooner or later.”

  “Well, later is better than sooner. Like later after your date with Adrian. Don’t forget about your date!”

  “How am I going to forget about that?” I rolled my eyes and turned my head just in time to see he’d finally reached us.

  “Hey, Ava.” Even the sound of his voice irritated me.

  “You wann
a just go ahead and grab us some coffee?” I asked Lily. I could tell she was a little hesitant about leaving me alone with him. “Just get my usual, please, and thank you. ” I gave her a smile to reassure her that I’d be fine.

  “Sure.” Lily glared at Jason before she walked toward the coffee shop.

  “You think maybe we could talk?” Jason asked, putting on his sad act. As if I haven’t heard that a hundred times before.

  “Listen, Jason. This isn’t the time nor the place to talk about anything.”

  “What the hell do you expect me to do? You’re not answering any of my texts or phone calls!” His voice was filled with desperation. He was getting too good at this playing the victim thing.

  “First off, don’t come over here and yell at me and expect me to want to talk to you. Has it even crossed your mind that maybe I’m not ready to talk to you? Breaking up with me on our graduation day and then sleeping with your nasty ex isn’t exactly immediately forgivable.”

  “You’re right and I’m sorry for that. Can we meet somewhere tonight? Please,” he begged.

  “Actually, I have plans tonight.”

  “It’s not that guy you were with at the cabin all weekend, is it?” He laughed and looked away. Once he realized I didn’t respond, his smile dropped and he looked back at me. “You can’t be serious! You just met the guy!”

  “Excuse me! If I remember correctly, you’re the one who broke up with me, so I believe that means I don’t owe you any sort of explanation about anything, let alone who I do and do not date, thank you very much!” I turned on my heels and walked toward Lily, who was just leaving the Coffee Hut.

  “Ava!” Jason called after me but I didn’t bother to turn around and give him a second look.

  “Damn, Ava, what did you say?” She handed me my coffee. “He looks pretty upset.” She was clearly amused.

  “It doesn’t matter. The only thing on my mind right now is my date tonight. Let’s go find that outfit, shall we?” I could still feel Jason’s eyes watching me as we continued on our mission. I smiled a little, knowing that for the first time in a very long time, the ball was finally back in my court.

  Chapter 12

  After Lily dropped me back off at my house, I had a few hours to spare before my date with Adrian. Perfect, that left me just enough time to get ready without having to rush. I was beginning to get a little nervous and the last thing I wanted to be worrying about during our date was how my hair and makeup looked.

  Around six-thirty, I decided it was time to slip into my new dress. After slipping it on, I admired it in the mirror for a few minutes. It was gorgeous. Royal blue has always looked good on me. It’s sleeveless with a scoop neckline and the hem falls just above the knee. I loved the way it hugged my best features. The low cut back was to die for. I slipped on a pair of black stilettos and I was ready to go. I heard a knock on my bedroom door and then saw my mom crack it open.

  “Adrian is here.”

  “Okay. I just have to grab my bag.” I grabbed my black clutch off my vanity and went downstairs.

  When I got downstairs, I was surprised to see Adrian sitting on the couch across from my dad and brother. Well, he didn’t look too nervous, so it must not be going too badly. He saw me enter from across the room. I tried not to blush when I noticed the look on his face. I thought his jaw was actually going to drop to the ground. My dad and brother both turned around and looked at me.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” I asked.

  “It’s going great! Adrian here was just telling us how he played football for Brant!” My dad was a huge football fan so that was definitely brownie points for him.

  “Oh, is that so?” I raised my eyebrows. “Well, if you’re done interrogating him, I’d like to be on our way.”

  “Of course, we don’t want to keep you guys.” My dad stood up and shook Adrian’s hand. “Nice to meet you. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you.”

  Did I just hear that right? I gave Adrian a shocked look. What the hell happened while I was getting ready? He couldn’t have been down here that long.

  He came up beside me and I hooked my arm through his. We said our goodbyes to the family and walked out to the black truck in the driveway. It wasn’t a new truck but it was nice, you could tell he took good care of it. It was lifted so it was a little difficult to get into with high heels on. Adrian walked me around to the passenger side and held my hand so I could steady myself as I climbed in. As he walked back around to the driver’s side, I took the time to admire him. He wasn’t wearing a tight gray t-shirt like I had hoped for, but he still looked damn good in his button up and slacks.

  “So what was that all about?” I asked as he got in and shut the door.

  “What?” he asked with a smirk spread across his face.

  “You know what! The ‘hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you’ stuff!” I’ve never seen my dad act like that with anyone I’ve brought to the house.”

  “I told you. Parents love me.” He winked at me and I hit him playfully on the arm. “You look absolutely gorgeous, by the way.” I tried to play it off like I get compliments all the time, but I was flattered.

  “Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.” He reached over and grabbed my hand. Just when I thought my nerves had settled, the minute he touched me I could feel them stirring up again. “So, where are you taking me?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Can you at least tell me how far away we are?” I ran through a list of all the nice places in town to eat. They’re all great places but I’ve been to almost all of them with Jason. Crap! Why was I thinking about Jason? Stop thinking about him!

  “We’re about five minutes away.”

  The next five minutes were quiet. Not the awkward kind of quiet, just the kind of quiet where we’re just enjoying each other’s presence. We pulled into the parking lot of one of the nicest and biggest hotels in town.

  “We’re here.” He pulled up to the front door and got out while the valet came over and opened my door for me. Then it hit me where we were going to eat. A couple of months ago, a restaurant opened up on the top floor of the hotel. It was supposed to have one of the best views of the city in the whole town. I remember my dad was telling me he read in the local newspaper that this place was booked three months out. I don’t think I even knew anyone who’d eaten there yet.

  We walked into the lobby of the hotel. I’d been here a few times before, we’d had a couple family members stay here. It looked a lot more elegant at night, though. We went to an elevator that was separate from the other elevators. Apparently they had a whole new elevator installed just for the restaurant.

  “Are we going where I think we’re going?” Adrian pushed the button and I turned to admire the large chandelier in the middle of the room.

  “If you think we’re going to the Rooftop Terrace, then yes.” The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. He pushed the RT button.

  “How did you even get us in? I heard the reservations are like three months out.” The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile. He could tell I was impressed.

  “My uncle is the manager. I talked to him and he was able to fit us in.” The elevator doors opened and we stepped out. He whispered in my ear, “So are you surprised?” I couldn’t manage to get any words out so I just nodded my head up and down. I didn’t even know something this beautiful could exist in our little town.

  The room was extravagant. We were surrounded by floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the entire city. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The lighting was dim and jazz music was playing from the overhead speakers. The ceiling was black and had small twinkle lights evenly spaced throughout the restaurant with a crystal chandelier above each table.

  “May I help you?” a young blonde girl asked us. She was dressed in a black cocktail dress and black pumps. She must be the hostess.

  “Yeah, I have a reservation under Adrian Louis.”

  “Oh! Yes, of course! Follow me.”
She took us away from the tables and down a small hall beside the elevators. “Your uncle told us you’d be coming tonight. One of our VIP guests called and cancelled at the last minute, so lucky for you! You get one of our VIP dining rooms.” We stopped in front of a door on the left as she scans some kind of card and pushed the door open for us. “Here you go.” We walked past her and into the room…both of us were in awe. “Enjoy!” She left the room and shut the door behind her.

  “Wow, this is amazing!” I looked around the room and took in everything. There was a small round table with a half circle couch around it. It faced the window so we could admire the view while we ate. The ceiling was the same as the one in the main dining area. “Now I know what all the hype is about.”

  “Yeah, this place is pretty crazy.” He looked around and admired the room.

  “Is this your first time up here?” I walked up to the window to admire the view and Adrian followed.

  “If you’re asking if this is where I take all my dates, no, you’re the first. I had no idea they even had these rooms.”

  “Sure. I bet this was part of your plan the whole time!” I joked.

  “Oh, believe me, if it was, I would take full credit for it. It was only my idea to come here. The rest of it is all thanks to Uncle Ted.”

  There was a knock on the door and the waiter entered. “Hello and welcome to Rooftop Terrace. My name is Jeffrey and I will be your waiter for the night. If you would like to take a seat, I can go over our specials and take your drink orders.” We both sat down on the couch around the table.

  The waiter handed us menus as we listened to the specials and Adrian ordered a bottle of wine. When the waiter left to get our drinks, Adrian and I discussed what we wanted to eat. After we were both decided, the waiter came back in to take our orders.