One Hot Summer

by Heidi McLaughlin

  I knew my mom would be home, probably sitting in the dark, seething.

  With only a nod, Aiden reversed out of the parking lot and headed back toward his place. He didn’t ask for an explanation.

  I sent my mom a quick message telling her I was staying at Camille’s tonight since Ethan was at a sleepover also. I didn’t wait for a reply before I put my phone away.

  The night seemed ominous as we drove through the darkness. Earlier I’d felt safe and sexy, making out with the hottest guy I’d ever met. Now I felt strange. Unsettled. Cold and hollow down to my bones.

  I was still somewhere dark and lonely in my mind when we pulled up at his house. Aiden turned off the Jeep and glanced at me. “Hang tight,” he said before getting out and coming around to my door.

  I let him help me down, then trudged inside behind him, wrapping my arms around my mid-section.

  Once we were inside the Airstream, Aiden cleared his throat loudly. “You want something to drink?”

  “Um, sure.” My voice sounded foreign in my ears. I followed him toward the kitchen, hoping the sugar would help me feel normal again.

  I stood aside as he opened the refrigerator door.

  “OJ, milk, water, whiskey, or beer?”

  “Juice sounds good.” My mouth was dry and tasteless.

  I watched as he retrieved two glasses from a nearby cabinet and poured OJ out of a carton for us both.

  After we finished our drinks, Aiden jerked his chin toward the door behind him. “The. shower is small but functional. You can borrow something else to sleep in.”

  I glanced at my blood-soaked clothes. God, no wonder Drew’s mom wanted me gone. I was a constant reminder of the pain her son had suffered.

  “I got blood on your clothes,” I said quietly.

  “It’s okay.” He stepped into the other room for a moment then came back with a hockey jersey and more sweatpants. “Sorry I don’t have more clothes out here. Most of them are in the house.”

  “It’s okay. Thanks.”

  Aiden leaned against the counter. “Towels are in the closet. There’s a sliding door.”

  Despite the sugar from the juice, I was still in a fog. The remnants of shock still holding me underwater. I was too exhausted to ask questions, so I mumbled “thanks” again and headed to the bathroom.

  Once I was alone and away from his scrutiny, I felt myself begin to crumble. Piece by piece, whatever had held me together all this time began to break apart.

  I swallowed hard, a futile attempt to keep my emotions at bay. In my entire life, I’d never seen anything like Drew’s battered body lying lifeless in the street.

  Bile rose in my throat and I choked, forcing tears to leak from my eyes. Worried Aiden would hear my breakdown, I jerked the knob in the shower upward until the spray drowned out my sobs. I shed the bloody clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor and stepped into the glass and tile shower, closing the door behind me.

  Fighting the urge to slink down into the floor, I washed my hair. My shoulders wracked violently as I tried to scrub my body hard enough to make the soap lather. While rinsing off, the spray hit my skull and created a mesmerizing steady sound in my ears. I remained still, embracing the numbness it provided for as long as I could.

  The water had turned cooler when I heard the knock. I jumped, snapping back to reality and wondering how long I’d been standing in the shower.

  “Emersyn? You okay?”

  No.

  I opened my mouth to say I was sorry for taking so long but the words caught somewhere between my brain and my tongue.

  I didn’t want to get out.

  I didn’t want to dry off, get dressed, go to sleep, and wake up in this overwhelmingly awful situation. In this world where Drew might not ever be Drew again.

  Where he might not exist at all.

  I opened my mouth and something between a sob and wounded animal noise escaped.

  He could die. He could already be dead. He could be brain dead.

  My sweet Drew who literally never hurt a fly.

  He was such an amazing human being—the perfect mix of witty and sarcastic. Handsome and athletic. Kind. Compassionate. Intelligent. His long, thick eyelashes and freaking adorable dimples made me jealous.

  I closed my eyes and pictured him over the years. He was a pudgy twelve-year old when he’d moved to town, but he had grown into a gorgeous man. And with all of his gifts and talents and abilities, even being the star of the lacrosse team, my precious Drewskie remained one of the humblest people I knew. He was the only upperclassman that stayed after lacrosse practice to work with the freshmen. His dad dying overseas when he was young had forced him to grow up quickly and he took amazing care of his mom and Stacy, never grumbling about taking out the garbage or mowing the grass or cleaning the garage.

  He was going to make an amazing husband someday.

  Someday.

  God, please let him make it to someday.

  It was that thought that sent me hurling over the edge to the inconsolable place where Aiden found me. Sitting in his shower hugging my knees to my chest, letting my tears fall freely.

  8

  Emersyn

  -SUNDAY MORNING-

  Sunlight streamed in through the blinds, landing in stripes across my face. I blinked myself awake and tried to pinpoint my surroundings.

  Unfamiliar walls, unfamiliar bed. I glanced down and saw that I was wearing a faded green and white hockey jersey from Riverside High, my high school’s rival.

  When I realized that’s all I was wearing and that I wasn’t alone, I sat up, panicked.

  Aiden lay next to me in a navy T-shirt and dark green flannel pajama bottoms. Before my mind processed that I was technically in bed with a man I barely knew, the events afterward came back to me. I’d lost control in the shower. He had dried me, dressed me, and cuddled me to sleep. Because I couldn’t function like a normal human after I saw what happened to Drew.

  Drew.

  I needed to check on Drew.

  I reached for my cell phone and saw half a dozen missed calls from my mom. Then I saw the text I’d been praying for.

  Drew’s mom saying he was awake, vitals were good, and his doctor said he was in stable condition.

  It was as if I’d held my breath for the last eight hours and could finally exhale.

  I threw the covers off and leapt to my feet.

  “Aiden,” I said as gently as I could manage. “Aiden,” I repeated louder when he didn’t budge.

  His eyelids flickered and for a brief moment, I savored the peaceful, beautiful image of him in bed.

  “Drew’s awake. I need to get to the hospital. Please.”

  He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “He okay?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Okay. That’s awesome. I’m glad he’s okay. Let me just…” His gaze landed on me and he inhaled audibly.

  I let my eyes dart to the side, away from his intense scrutiny. “Um, thanks for last night.” That sounded like I meant the orgasm, which I was grateful for, but not the focal point of the moment, so I clarified. “For staying with me at the hospital, and um, letting me crash here.” I was a babbling idiot, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.

  He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “No problem. I was glad to do it.”

  I pulled on my jean shorts that were folded in a chair beside the bed. He’d washed my clothes.

  “Would it be okay if I hung onto this?” I motioned to the jersey. It was silly, but I wanted something tangible I could keep to remind me of our time together before I likely never saw him again. I doubted he’d want to hang out much once he found out how old I was and that I wasn’t technically a college student.

  “Yeah, of course. You can have it.”

  After we both brushed our teeth, we made our way to his Jeep. He insisted on buying me a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from a drive through on the way. I ate about half of it, which was all I could manage with my stomach in knots.
I just wanted to get to Drew.

  “So…last night was…eventful,” I began after I’d eaten all I could.

  Aiden glanced over at me. “You could definitely say that.”

  I gestured to the jersey in my lap. “You saw me crying. And naked. Naked and crying.”

  “I also saw you trying to help carry a man twice your body weight. Most people I know couldn’t have held it together as well as you did.”

  “Doesn’t feel like it.” I put the half of my biscuit I couldn’t finish back in the bag. “Feels like lost my mind a little.”

  Frowning, his eyebrows dipped then raised. “Under the circumstances, I think that’s understandable. In all of my twenty-four years, I’ve never known anyone to be a victim of a violent crime.”

  Somewhere my brain registered that he was older than I’d thought, calculating the six or seven years between us. Not that twenty-four was old. I was almost eighteen. But I would’ve guessed twenty-one or twenty-two at most.

  There was a lot we didn’t know about each other. And we were out of time to do anything about it.

  Aiden pulled into the front parking lot at the hospital and moved to shut off the engine. I placed my hand on his.

  “You don’t have to go in today. You’d probably just be stuck sitting alone in the waiting room forever.” And Drew’s mom or sister was likely to ask which high school he went to or how we knew each other, both of which would reveal more than I wanted to.

  He frowned but left the Jeep running. “I’d like to at least make sure you get inside safely. What about a ride home?”

  “I’m sure people have heard what happened by now. My mom knew already, and she hardly leaves the house. Camille’s dad is the local sheriff. He was there last night. She’ll probably be here, and she can take me home.”

  The lines deepened in his forehead. “Camille as in the friend who ditched you and failed to bring you home last night?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Go inside. Check on your friend. When you’re ready, call or text me and I’ll pick you up and drive you home.”

  He’d already done so much. I bit the inside of my cheek. “I don’t have your number.”

  He reached for my phone, probably to put his number in my contact list, but I hesitated.

  “It’s just a phone number,” he said quietly, visibly wounded by my behavior.

  “Okay.” I opened the screen to the add contact page and handed it over. “I’ll text you later and let you know I’m home safe. That work?”

  Without removing it from the headrest, he rolled his head to the side and locked his gaze on mine as he took my phone. “It’s not my first choice. Honestly.”

  “I’m sorry,” I replied quietly, taking my phone back when he handed it to me.

  “So now what?”

  I resisted the urge to sink my teeth into my bottom lip. “What do you mean?”

  What looked like a smile tugged at his lips. But it was off. Not a happy expression, more like an amused and slightly annoyed one. “I mean, do you ever want to see me again?” Before I could answer, he huffed out a strange sound. “Sorry. This is new for me, Emersyn. I’m just wondering how not to fuck this up. Or if I already have.”

  I gave in and let my teeth pull at my bottom lip. His eyes fell to my mouth.

  “You haven’t. What you did for me, staying with me at the hospital, taking care of me last night, you definitely haven’t fucked anything up. I think…right now…I really just need to focus on Drew. It’s all so much and I’m struggling to process everything at once.”

  I prayed I didn’t sound like a dumb kid making him wish he’d never spoken to me at the carnival last night.

  He nodded. “That makes sense. I’m sorry. Promise me you’ll text me and let me know how he’s doing and that you got home safely?”

  I nodded. “I will. And thanks again, for…everything.”

  I forced what half-hearted version of a smile I could manage at him before closing the door and heading inside the hospital’s emergency entrance.

  It wasn’t until I passed through the hospital doors that I realized I’d left the hockey jersey behind.

  After I updated my mom, who was angry as expected but did muster up some genuine sounding concern for Drew, I messaged Mrs. Anderson, who said Ethan could spend another night. She said the boys were having a blast camping in their backyard and my entire body heated thinking of the camping I’d done with Aiden.

  According to the nurse at the ER registration desk, Drew was no longer in the ER, but had been moved to the ICU, which I knew from my mom’s visits meant Intensive Care Unit and was not an ideal place to be.

  After stopping at two more nurses stations and taking one long elevator trip, I found the waiting area for Drew’s family. His mom wasn’t there but Stacy stood to greet me as soon as I arrived.

  “Hey, Em.” She wrapped me in a hug, and I squeezed her back. Her hair was shorter and her previously bleach blonde locks were dyed a more natural shade of brown. Apparently, she’d made some changes while away at college. In all the chaos, I hadn’t noticed last night.

  “Hey, Stace. How is he?”

  She gave me a sad smile. “Awake but still kind of out of it. They’re keeping him sedated due to some swelling on his brain. They said tomorrow they’ll ween him off the sedation. His vitals are good and strong, though.”

  The weight on my chest became a little lighter but didn’t go away completely.

  “Do they have any idea who did this?”

  “So far, no. But none of us know the password to his cell phone so we can’t figure out who he was with. You don’t happen to know it, do you?”

  I didn’t, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t give it out without Drew’s permission, even under the circumstances.

  “I don’t. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Mom has been beating herself up all morning for not knowing more about his life, his friends, his, um, romantic interests.”

  I arched a brow.

  She made a face. “We’re not blind, Emersyn.”

  “You know then? That he’s…”

  Stacy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, since he was in like fifth grade and tried to steal my entire Twilight DVD collection.”

  “Team Edward?”

  “Yeah, I was. Pretty sure Drew is still Team Jacob. Like all the way.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” I glanced around the waiting room. “Can I go back and see him?”

  “Only two people are supposed to be back there at a time and both Camille and my aunt Linda are in there with my mom now. You know we’re rebels. They should be coming out soon though. I need to run home and shower and grab Drew some clothes for whenever they let him come home.”

  I hated to ask her, but I needed a favor. “Um, is there any possible way you’d be willing to run by my house and check on my mom? I stayed at a friend’s place last night and haven’t been home.”

  “Of course.”

  I’d just finished giving her the code to our front door when the doors opened, and Camille came out with red eyes. Drew’s mom followed close behind her.

  Camille hugged Stacy, then me. As she did, she broke down in sobs all over again.

  “I didn’t know,” she mumbled over her tears. “Last night when you were calling looking for him, I had no idea. He told me he had plans and that was it.”

  I nodded. “That’s more than he told me.”

  His mom hugged me and then spoke quietly with Stacy for a few minutes.

  “I’m so sorry about last night,” Camille said, wiping her eyes. “Derek and I got into it. I looked everywhere for you but then the carnival was closing, and I couldn’t get through to your phone.”

  “It’s okay,” I told her. Thanks to Aiden, it truly was. “I found a ride.”

  “Did you drive here? Drew’s mom said you were with a guy last night, and um, those are the same clothes you had on yesterday.”

  A blush crept across my cheeks.
“I ran into a guy from one of the classes I took at Southeastern this summer. He drove me here last night and today.”

  “Do you need a ride home or is he here somewhere?”

  “I had him drop me off. A ride home would be awesome.”

  Stacy gestured to us and told me I could go back and see Drew now. His aunt joined us in the waiting room and she and Drew’s mom began another round of sobbing and hugging.

  Stacy gave me her visitor’s badge and I stuck it on my shirt. “Pass through the double doors then go right. It’s laid out like a square with the nurses’ station in the middle. He’s in the back right corner.”

  Following her directions, I made my way to the curtained off room with Drew’s name on the dry erase board. Just as I started to enter, a petite nurse with close cropped dark hair stopped me.

  “Sorry, hon,” she said. “Visiting hours are eight to ten and one to three in ICU. He’s about to head down for an MRI anyways.”

  The words seized my heart like a fist. I checked my phone. It was half past ten. “Um, okay. So, I can come back at one?”

  She glanced around as if making sure no one was listening. “It’s supposed to be family only back here. You his girlfriend?”

  I shook my head before I realized it might have been better to let her assume. Camille being with his mom and aunt probably helped. I mentally berated myself for not getting here earlier. “A friend. Best friend.”

  “Well, best friend,” she said candidly, “I’m about to get off and I can’t promise the charge nurse on dayshift is going to let you back here. Unless you’re a close relative. But I’ll be back tomorrow at eight if you want to come back then.”

  I nodded. “Got it. Thank you.”

  Dejected, I trudged back to the waiting room. Stacy was already gone, and Drew’s mom was on her phone updating someone on his condition.

  Camille stood. “You ready to go?”

  I wasn’t, but if I couldn’t see him, I might as well head home deal with my mom. I couldn’t avoid her forever.

  “Yeah. Guess so.”

  “I really am sorry about last night,” Camille said for the tenth time as we left the hospital. “Derek got into a car with Amberly Mills and I lost control. I followed them, and I know it was dumb, but he always denies everything. I guess I wanted to see the truth for myself.”