The Summer I Found Myself - By: Michelle Stone (world of reading .TXT) 📗

and outside of this Pizza Parlor he took my hand and kissed me. I felt an electrical current run through my body. I looked up at him as his eyes slowly opened and a smile played along his lips.
We walked into the Pizza Parlor and ate. Afterwards we started walking along the beach as the sun started to set over the horizon.
“So, what’s your favorite board game?” he asked.
“I don’t really like board games but if I had to choose I think it would be Candy Land.” I laughed.
“Really” He said deep in thought.
“Hey, are we going to see the fireworks Tuesday? After all, the fourth of July only comes once.” I stared over the vast ocean ahead of me.
“Well, I guess we could. The only thing is Dylan’s dad, my uncle, is throwing this little cook-out. Would you like to come for a little bit? It might be a little weird, though.”
“I don’t mind. I would love to come.” I smiled and we both sat down on the sand and watched the sun slowly sink over the horizon.

***

I woke up that Tuesday morning with great expectations. I got ready and decided to wear a pair of Capri’s and a halter top. I curled my hair and put on a little bit of make-up.
I Drover over to Mike’s and he was there on the front porch waiting for me. He waved and walked over to me. I could see in the backyard there was a lot of people milling around.
“Hey, are you sure you want to enter? I think everyone is pretty much drunk or tipsy.” He laughed.
“I think I’ll survive.” I said.
“Alright, well let’s go.” He grabbed my hand.
We walked out into the backyard and Mike waved at Dylan who had some girl I remember from the grade under me hanging all over him. He guided me over to a guy with a button up shirt on and khaki shorts handling the grill.
“Hey Don, this is Macy.” I smiled at him and shook his hand.
“Where did you find this one? Do you go to school with Dylan?” Don asked.
“Yea, we had a few classes together in ninth grade.”
“Did you get held back or something?” he laughed.
“Actually, no, I started taking AP classes in tenth grade.” I said.
Disinterested in what I was saying he asked “Been to any of the football games to see him play?”
“I’m not really one for sports. I went to one game but to be honest, I had no idea what was going on.” I said forcing a smile.
“Oh,” he said “Well, where did you meet Mike at?”
“I met him at…” I caught Mike out of the corner of my eye shaking his head, eyes wide. Don, noticing that something was going on turned to look at Mike but He stopped in time. “I met him at a friend’s bonfire.”
“Oh, well it was nice to meet you.” He turned his attention back to the grill.
Me and Mike walked over to the patio and sat down at a picnic table.
“Sorry, he can be a bit overwhelming.” He said as he wrapped his arm around me.
“It’s okay. So, what exactly happened that you moved here?” I asked.
“It’s kind of a long story.” He said looking away from me.
“It’s fine, I think we have time.”
“Well, it all began when I met this kid in school. He was a drug dealer and told me he could get me fast cash. At that time I was so ready to move out of my dad’s house. He was prone to random freak outs and we fought all the time.” He paused for a second to make sure I was still listening. “Well, he told me he knew this guy who could give me a job but I had to talk to him first. When I met him he told me he needed a guy to boost cars for parts. And I told him that I could do that because I knew how to hot-wire.”
“Wait, what does boosting a car mean?” I asked confused.
“It means steal.” He chuckled a bit before starting back up.
“Where did you learn how to hot-wire a car?”
“I learned from this other kid I knew from school.”
“Gee, where did you go to school at?” I asked mortified.
“I went to Whittier High School. Anyways, it started out fine the first couple of weeks. I was making a lot of money from this guy. I boosted around 25 cars. It became almost like an addiction. I was always thinking about how much faster I could be and what car I was going to boost next. I would set a quota for myself, each one more intense than the last, until I ran into the cops. The picked me up trying to unlock this red cavalier until an alarm went off. I got so big headed that I didn’t even bother check if there was an alarm. Next thing I knew, I was cornered.
“They picked me up and put me in the holding cell and called my dad. He kicked me out and I called my uncle. He didn’t even want me to live here. He said I would be a bad influence on Dylan’s football career, and that having me here would take his eye off the prize. If that even makes sense.” He said laughing a little bit.
“I’m glad you told me this.” I said squeezing his hand.
“Yea, It’s pretty easy to talk to you. Usually I have my guard up with everyone.” He said smiling.
We walked around and talked to a few people and ate and listened to music. It was a nice Fourth of July with the sun beating down.
“Well, the fireworks are going to start in about an hour or an hour and a half. Where do you want to watch them at?” Mike asked me.
“I think we should go to Fort Raine. The beach and the ocean is so beautiful over there. I think it will be perfect.”
“Alright, well I’ll follow you over to your house so you can drop off your mom’s car and then we can head out there. How does that sound?”
“It sounds great.”
I drove back home and, just as he said, he followed behind me. I dropped the keys off inside and put them on the hook and went outside. I saw him sitting in his truck and I couldn’t help but feel so lucky. He turned toward me and the sun was setting in the background blanketing him in a warm orange glow. Excitement overwhelmed me as I felt so in love.
“You are looking very beautiful today.” He said as I climbed up in his truck.
“Thank you. You always know how to make my day.”
We headed out to Fort Raine. As we started entering the city limits their were cars everywhere. Along the shore fires dotted the horizon. Families milled around with bored disaffected teens trailing behind. We parked the truck and followed the crowds of people up towards the beach. We sat down and watched as the sun sunk into the ocean.
After waiting and watching the stars appear overhead dotting the sky, the fireworks finally started. The splashes of color stretched over the boardwalk and beach. The bang had people cheering from all over. The beaches were packed with couples leaning into each other and families. Some were roasting marshmallows over the fire and some were lighting off their own sparklers. Someone had a radio nearby blasting the star spangled banner.
We stayed sitting on the beach watching the art work being painted into the sky for a while. I was sitting between his legs leaning back into him. He ran his fingers up and down my arm giving me goose bumps. I looked up into Mike’s eyes as the colors blue and red reflected off his face. He looked down at me and kissed me. I felt my heart stop and excitement run straight through me.
The fireworks ended with a loud continuous bang and colors. We got up from the sand and walked back to the truck. The traffic was so bad. Horns were being honked and people were walking everywhere. We finally got out of the city limits and back to my house. Me and Mike sat in front for a long time kissing when I finally told him goodbye and walked back up to my house so happily in love.

Chapter 6

I woke up the next morning feeling so happy. I bounced downstairs and grabbed a granola bar and walked out in the backyard to sit in the gazebo. I don’t now how long I was sitting there but all of a sudden Shelly came back there and looked at me.
“Hey, Do you want to go to the beach a little later? I think I need some girl time.” As she said that her phone vibrated indicating she got a text. She read it than immediately started texting back.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“Carter wants to go to the movies tonight but I told him I haven’t hung out with you in a while so I decided today would be all ours. I told him this earlier this morning, I don’t know why he is still persisting to go.” She shrugged.
“Well, that’s fine with me. I’d love to have a nice girl day out.” I said.
“Alright, well you have to go and get ready.” She smiled at me.
At one point in my life I would have wondered what was wrong with what I was wearing but I now understood there was so much more than putting on a bathing suit.
I got ready and packed up a bag full of things to do while we were there. I looked into the mirror and slapped a bit of make up on. I stood back and when I decided I looked good enough to be seen by the public I walked downstairs to where Shelly was waiting for me. We walked out to her car and rode to the beach over in Fort Raine.
We were laying on our backs listening to the waves come in and go out when all of a sudden a Volleyball smacked me in the foot. I looked down perplexed when I saw Ayden (The Funny Pick-up Line Guy) standing over me, blocking my sun.
His smile was pure white.
“Hey there, I haven’t seen you in a while.” He said.
Shelly then opened her eyes at him and they both made eye contact for a second before he turned back to me.
“Yea, well, I was here for the fireworks.” I said.
“Really? I was too but I didn’t see you around anywhere. But then again, it was pretty busy.”
“Yea,”
He stayed standing there for an awkward second before he looked over at his friends who were waving their arms around wildly.
“Hey, what’s your number? I think it would be cool if we hung out.” He said as he handed me his phone.
I put my number in his phone and then he was back running over to his friends.