Summer Love

I wake up with the sun rising. I squint my eyes, looking around, only to remember that Asher and I fell asleep on the beach last night after finishing the bottle of vodka and making out a lot.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes, enjoying the beautiful red, orange, yellow, and purple sky. I take a deep breath, letting the sea air fill my lungs.

I hear Asher groaning before he mumbles a morning and sits up.

“Did we really sleep on the beach?” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes and then the sand out of his hair.

“Yeah,” I whisper, still looking out at the horizon.

“Whoa,” he breathes out, finally taking in the view.

“Sunrise is always way prettier,” I whisper.

We sit in silence as we watch the sun move up further into the sky, the colors changing. Once it’s fully up, I move over to rest my head on his shoulder.

“What are you doing today?” he asks as he rests his arm on my bare thighs.

“I might go to my secret hideout,” I answer without thinking.

“Secret hideout, huh? Where is it?” he teases.

“It’s a secret for a reason.” I smirk, lifting my head up.

“Aw, come on. I’m the new guy. You should be nice and show me around,” he laughs, throwing his head back.

“HAZEL!” I hear my mom’s voice yelling. I turn around and see her standing on the edge of our property. “HAZEL!” she calls again.

“I better go,” I mumble, watching as Mom begins moving forward.

“Me too,” Asher agrees.

“I’ll see you later. Maybe even at your secret spot.” He winks before walking off.

I watch as he leaves before I grab the empty bottle and run toward Mom.

“Mom!” I call out and throw my arms around her.

“Whoa. What’s all this?” she laughs, hugging me back.

“I’m just happy,” I tell her as we walk back toward our home.

“Anything to do with that new Asher boy?” she teases, bumping her shoulder against mine.

“He’s so cute,” I groan, stopping to throw the bottle into our trashcan.

There are two things good about the people of this town: they never leave the beach trashed, and they always make sure everyone is okay.

If you pass out, someone will move you to the recovery position, so you don’t choke. Saved both Hayes’s and Zeke’s asses a few times.

“Did you? You know?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows up and down.

“Mom! No!” I screech, knowing what she’s asking.

“Oh, come on. Give me something before I go,” she whines, winking at me.

“We just kissed a little,” I whisper because Zeke is sitting on the sofa pouting.

“I knew it!” she squeals.

“I swear you’re more of a teenager than I am,” I joke.

“What are you talking about?” Aunt Kim comes in holding a small overnight bag.

“Oh, nothing interesting.” Mom smirks and sends a wink to me. Mom and Aunt Kim will talk about this the whole trip home. They gossip more than me. And I’m the teenager!

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” I ask Mom, grabbing hold of her hand.

“Of course I am,” she reassures, patting my hand. “I’m going to wake Hayes up. Then we’re all going to have breakfast before we go,” she states before leaving the room.

I can’t explain why, but I feel a bad feeling about her trip in the pit of my stomach. I almost feel like when I say goodbye to her will be the last time I see her.

After eating a large home-cooked breakfast, we say our goodbyes to Zeke and Aunt Kim before standing in the living room with our mom. Hayes and I are both silent, not knowing what to say.

“I’m going to be fine,” Mom breaks the silence. “I just need to do this. I need to get away and spend some time with Kim,” she continues with a sad sigh at the end.

“I get it,” I mumble, playing with the knot in my shirt.

“I love you kids so much. I know I probably don’t have much time left, but I promise you I will make it until you start college. We’ll spend the rest of the summer just like we used to.”

She makes an empty promise. No one knows how much longer she’ll last.

“I love you, Mom,” I whisper, throwing my arms around her frail frame.

“I love you too, Hazel Bazel,” she whispers, kissing my cheek before pulling Hayes into a tight hug and kissing him too.

Hayes and I follow Mom outside and help her into Aunt Kim's car. After another round of I-love-yous and hugs, she’s gone. We stand together in our driveway, watching the car until it disappears around the corner.

“I call first shower!” Hayes yells before sprinting back inside.

“Asshole!” I yell, running after him. No way I’m letting him have the first shower. I easily catch up with him. He didn’t even make it inside. I grab hold of his tank top and pull him backward.

We wrestle on our small front lawn for a little before Hayes pins me down and sits on my chest, crushing me with his fat ass.

“Get off me!” I yell as I squirm, trying to get free. “You’re so fucking fat!”

“Oh, come on, Bazel.” He smirks before farting on me.

“You’re so fucking disgusting,” I scream, wriggling my arms free to punch him. But before I can hit him, he’s on his feet and running inside. God, I hate him sometimes. Actually, most of the time.

“Well, that was interesting,” a familiar voice laughs, making me spin around to face him.

“He’s your friend,” I huff, crossing my arms over my body.

“But I met you first,” Asher laughs.

“Yeah, but you two talked football, so now you’re BFFs,” I sass back.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I ask, sitting down on the porch step.

“I was walking to the beach.” He shrugs, kicking his flip-flop-clad shoes onto the dying grass.

“Do you have a sister?” I ask, looking up from his feet to his face.

“Brothers.” He shakes his head before an amused smirk crosses his face.

“Are they as big of assholes as Hayes?” I ask, stretching my legs out.

“Bigger. But they’re younger than me, so they’re easy to beat up,” he laughs.

“I haven’t seen them.” I scrunch my eyebrows, trying to remember if I’ve seen any other new faces. But then again, since it’s tourist season, there are a lot of new faces around.

“Benji was at the bonfire. Chase is a bit of a hermit,” he offers, blushing the slightest amount, but then again, it could have just been from the hot morning sun that’s glaring down on us.

“They’re twins too. Identical,” he adds before shaking his head.

“You mean someone has moved here trying to steal my twin crown?” I gasp sarcastically, holding my hand to my chest.

Hayes and I are the only twins in this town. Everyone loved to call us the twins. A lot of the older people don’t even know our names. Just that we’re the “Young Twins.”

“Surely there are other twins here,” Asher asks, apprehension clear in his voice.

“Nope. We’re the only ones,” Hayes’s voice pops out of the open bathroom window.

“Told ya it was a small town.” I nod, standing up.

“I’m not finished!” Hayes yells before disappearing back into the window.

“There better be hot water left!” I yell, stomping inside, leaving the door open to let Asher know he can come in. “Open the door!” I yell as I bang on the bathroom door.

“Never!” he yells back.

“Can you believe this assh—” I cut myself off. Asher didn’t follow me inside. I frown and go back outside, where he’s standing in the same place but talking to Hayes through the window.

“You can come in,” I state, gaining his attention. “If a door is open, it means you can come in around here,” I explain as we walk inside.

“Don’t random people just walk in?” he asks, scrunching his forehead.

“No. I mean, yeah. But it’s always someone who’s welcome.” I shrug.

“This town is fucking crazy,” he mutters to himself.

“Cities are crazy,” I counter, going through the laundry pile on the armchair.

“You haven’t even been to a city.” Hayes smirks as he comes up to the pile in a towel.

“Neither have you,” I snap.

“You’ve never been to a city?” Asher asks in disbelief, looking between us.

“Never even left the town,” Hayes answers, pulling on the tie-dye tank top I had in my hands.

“This is mine,” I say through clenched teeth.

“It’s mine. Look at the size,” he bites back.

“It’s mine! I like baggy tank tops!” I rip the top back.

“It’s a guy’s.” He pulls back.

“I made it,” I snap, pulling it back.

“I brought it!” He pulls a lot harder, so I let it go, making him fall back onto his ass.

“Bitch,” he grumbles, getting back up and readjusting the towel.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I snap, grabbing another tank top and stomping to the bathroom.

Thankfully, Hayes left enough hot water for a quick shower. Once I’m all cleaned, I change into a clean bikini and pull over the tank top.

When I get to the living room, both boys have disappeared. The front door is closed, but the back door is open, letting me know they’ve gone to the beach. I quickly grab my small cross-body bag and head out the door.

I walk down the beach and easily spot Hayes and Asher talking—no, flirting—with two tourists. I roll my eyes and walk toward the cove.

My secret spot is just past the cove. You have to climb over a bunch of rocks to get there, so not many people go there.

In fact, I’ve been coming here since I was twelve and have only ever seen three other people.

One is Aunt Kim. She said she and Mom found this place when they were teenagers and used to sneak off here whenever they needed space. Just like I do.

As I reach the cove, I notice a handful of younger and extremely hot surfers waxing their boards. Normally I would stop and flirt, but at the moment, my thoughts are plagued with my mom.

I reach the rocks that I need to climb over but am stopped when I hear my brother’s laughter.

I crouch down behind a rock and peek out to see him and Asher with the two tourists standing with five other girls who I hadn’t noticed next to the surfers.

I watch as the cute red-haired girl laughs and hits Asher on the shoulder.

I narrow my eyes at him. He was literally making out with me a few hours ago, and now he’s moved on to another girl? I snort to myself and push up and begin my climb.

When I reach my serenity, a small cave that the water comes right up to and fills when it’s high tide, I sit down on the rock right where the waves are crashing.

I look out to the ocean, watching the waves as I think about Mom.

When, not if…when she dies, I don’t know how I’m going to manage. How can you say goodbye to your mother? The woman that raised you all by herself?

Who will I go to when I have a problem? Yeah, I have Hayes, but who will I talk to when he pisses me off?

As a lone tear rolls down my cheek, a hand gently grasps my shoulder.