The girl stepped out of her house and winced at the bright sunlight. She slammed dark shades onto her surprisingly pale face and made her way to her car. Backing out of her driveway, she flipped on the radio, not looking for a song to listen to, but for background noise. Not like she could think about anything other than him at the moment. Her fingers stopped at a station playing a commercial, but suddenly the airwaves went empty, before a calming voice came through the battered speakers.
Here's the day you hoped would never come,
don't feed me violence, just run with me through rows of speeding cars,
the paper cuts, the cheating lovers
the coffee's never strong enough,
I know you think it's more than just bad luck.
There there baby, it's just textbook stuff,
it's in the abc of growing up,
now now darling, don't lose your head
cause none of us were angels,
and you know I love you, yeah.
The girl mumbled a swear word and pushed the black knob, silencing the beautiful song, the song that reminded her of him.
The girls name was Summer. She was everything summer wasn't. She had dark hair, and striking dark eyes. Mixed skin, giving the impression of a year round tan. Her personality was far from flippy, and summer-y. She was moody, she was pessimistic, she was everything her name wasn't.
She hated her name, but he loved it.
He said it sounded so beautiful, and so serene. He said that when he looked at her, he felt tranquil and undisturbed. He said he felt truly happy. Almost like you do in the summer.
His name was Brandon. He was tall, dark and handsome. Everything she had ever wanted, everything she had ever hoped for. They were friends longer than they were together. But she was perfectly fine with that.
They were close, close like best friends. But it was never really official. Again, she was fine with that.
As long as he was in her life in some way, she'd be content.
He had some major drama in his life, and she was always there to pick up the pieces. Always there as a friend to vent to. Always there for everything. She was only ecstatic when he was happy. When he was happy, it felt, to her, like everything bad in the world disappeared and became a distant memory. When he was happy, she was happy.
Summer pressed her foot down harder on the gas pedal and swung a right at the intersection. She drove, not really paying attention, towards the place she had hoped she would never have to go to again.
Summer stepped up to the coffin, her fourteen year old body shrinking away from the corpse infront of her. The corpse had a name. Cindy. She had been Summer's neighbour since Summer was three. Summer became instant best friends with her daughter. She couldn't imagine how she was going to live without Cindy. Her second mom, her best friend's mother, her neighbour.
Summer parked her car and stepped out, her black dress flipping in the wind. She adjusted her sunglasses and clutched at her arms with her nails harder than she knew was possible. She walked up the cement stairs and opened the glass door leading to the funeral home.
Her heels clicked down the hallway as she prepared herself to step into the large room she had been in four years ago. She took a deep breath and stepped inside the doorframe, her heels slapping against the aluminum floor covering way too loudly for her taste.
The other people in the room glanced towards her, and the people who recognized her came over.
"I'm so sorry."
"Summer, I'm so sorry for your loss."
"It's such a tragedy."
Summer nodded polietly and mumbled a thank you, then excusing herself. She took five steps toward the coffin, but couldn't go any farther. It hurt too much.
She turned to leave, and almost bumped into Brandon's brother, Terry.
"Where are you going Sum?" he asked her, knowing full-well she intended to leave.
"I can't be here Terry," she stuttered out, tears threatening to fall. "I love him so much, I can't bear to be here..." she looked up at Terry, her brown eyes filled with crystaline tears.
"I know you do," Terry spoke, putting his arm around her shoulders and swiviling around so she was facing the coffin again. "But you need to do this, or you'll regret it forever."
She nodded silently, and took a tentative step forward, silently asking Terry to go with her.
When they reached the coffin, Summer couldn't hold on anymore. She let her tears fall, the salty taste creeping into her lips.
He looked so peaceful, lying there, dressed in his favourite clothes. Summer pressed herself against the coffin and reached out with her right hand to touch his. Her left hand wiped away the flow of tears and tried to steady herself against the side of his final resting place. She smoothed the skin of the back of his hand, back and forth, wishing that he would move his hand and grasp hers.
It never happened.
She turned her attention from his beautiful face, to what was in his coffin with him. Near his left hand there was his iPod named Tupac, a picture of him, his mom and his two sibilings. Under his right hand was his ring that he wore at all times, for no other reason than I like it. And on his heart-
How could she have missed this before?
On his heart lay a picture of the two of them, that very summer. On his birthday, to be exact. At the time, they didn't know their picture was being taken, and it was the most natural picture anyone had ever seen. They were sitting on a hill, surrounded by trees and flowers, just talking. Brandon was sitting up, against a tree, and Summer had her head on his lap. Their left hands were intwined and Summer was laughing.
It was the best picture in the world.
And upon seeing it, she burst into full-blown, not going to stop soon, tears.
She cried so hard when she saw the picture, because she knew what inscribed on the back.
Summer and Brandon.
June, 08, 2010.
Always and forever.
Never apart, never alone.
Summer's perfect romance didn't last forever. And now she was alone.
Always and forever.
<3
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