Indian Summer

by Eve L Mitchell

  Matt nodded to Theo. “You go ahead; I’ll get Ari back to the main lot and be right behind you.” Theo looked like he wanted to protest but then he stooped, hugged me one more time, then turned and headed into the main park.

  “C’mon Bit, let’s get you out of here.” Matt said. He took my bag and didn’t say anything at the weight of it. He looked at me and grinned as we set off back to the main entrance “Why you wearing jeans in this heat anyway?”

  I barked out a laugh, “Because I wanted to be dressed appropriately in case I chose to bail.” I admitted. He laughed out loud.

  “Old habits die hard eh,” he said more softly. I flushed, I had always been horrendous at socialising. Many a time at parties back home I would sneak off with a book and escape the noise only to come back out when either I had been found by one of the boys, or the parties had died down so much I knew by the quiet it was late.

  “You won’t have to hide forever Bit, I promise.” Matt took my hand and squeezed and I squeezed back. We had reached the lot. I grew slightly alarmed as Matt eyed a pizza truck speculatively and made his way over when he spied the young delivery guy getting back in.

  “You heading back into Boulder?” He asked him. The boy paled at the sight of him, to be fair Matt could be intimidating if you didn’t know him. I shook my head, hell even if you did know him, he was intimidating, the pizza boy nodded.

  “Can you give my girl a lift back?” He asked him. The boy looked over at me and I watched as he registered me properly and then eagerly nodded. Matt could see it too. He growled at him, moving forward. The pizza guy shrank back, pressing into the seat in fear.

  “A lift back, you drop her off where she needs to go, no questions, no conversations and no jerking off to her later, got it?” I flinched at the hardness in his voice.

  “Jesus Matt,” I muttered shouldering past him. Matt was unperturbed. He looked at the kid who nodded, he may have been close to wetting himself. Or passing out. Awkward. Matt stared at him for a few more tense seconds, I could see him debating this choice in his head and then he seemed to decide the kid was ok. He turned to me and his eyes were all at once soft and gentle again. He reached and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. He lifted me off the ground and held tight, I held back just as tightly.

  “Missed you Matty.” Came out in a soft whisper. I could feel the tears threatening again as he squeezed again. He set me down gently and pulled my phone from my back jeans pocket. He took out his own phone and quickly programmed in a number. He put his number in my phone under Matt, I had no idea what I would be put in as. I knew it wouldn’t be Arielle that was for sure.

  “Still make blueberry pancakes?” He asked somewhat gruffly.

  “Obviously,” I muttered still trying so hard not to be so overwhelmed by the whole situation. He helped me get into the van and glared at pizza kid again for good measure.

  “Good, I’ll be in touch for some breakfast then.” He kissed my forehead swiftly and patted the side of the truck, which seemed to be a universal signal for all male motorists to take off. “See you Ari,” he muttered as we drove off.

  The pizza kid let out a breath as he looked at me. “Jeez, your boyfriends intense,” he muttered. I grimaced while shrugging in what I hoped was an apology.

  Seriously kid, you have no frigging idea.

  I lay in bed listening to the early morning birds. My room was cool and the overhead fan had done its job through the night to keep the heat down. I let out a long sigh as I reached for my phone to see if I had any missed calls or texts. I had put it on silent around midnight when Robbie’s texts had become more frantic. He was obviously drunk, I hadn’t wanted to deal with him. I quickly scrolled through four or five more from him, all saying the same – he wanted me there, he didn’t like the guys I’d been with earlier, where they friends of my fiancé, how he wished I wasn’t engaged. I groaned, I didn’t need this, I was pretty sure I had set up boundaries.

  I perked up as I noticed I had a text from Matt and this one gave me a genuine smile.

  Matt: Was awesome to see you, you look good Lil Bit, college life agrees with you.

  He’d sent it around 3am, a safe time to text me. The others would have either been sleeping or otherwise occupied. I didn’t want to think about the latter, that opened up a whole can of worms and emotions I had avoided for six or seven months now.

  I put the phone down. College life did agree with me. I was away from all drama and everyone I had ever cared about. Or so I thought, I reminded myself ruefully. I kicked my legs out in annoyance and the sheet went flying. Growling in frustration, I got up. My cotton shorts and tank top were damp with sweat. I had just changed the sheets a few days ago, stupid summer heat. My central air was out and I was waiting for a repair man to come and fix it. I had picked this school for the great creative writing programme that it had, but it also had the benefit of being in a part of the country that had four distinct seasons and summer was supposed to be bearable not scorching. Indian summer indeed, I was not impressed.

  I went into the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on, before heading back to strip the bed. Passing the mirror, I paused. I was not a vain girl, never had been, in fact I had been a tomboy growing up, more climbing trees and digging ditches than hosting tea parties with stuffed animals.

  Looking at my reflection, steady grey eyes stared back. My eyes were steel coloured with slight flecks of blue round the iris’s. My eyes were inherited from my Gran and my aunt. My hair was currently a frizz bomb with the heat, plus I had just woken up.

  I knew I was slightly under average height, but I still had longish legs, long and gangly I thought to myself. Although all the cycling I had done since coming to Boulder was paying off. I had received enough comments to know that boys weren’t put off with my legs or my height. All in all, I thought to myself, I was far from perfect; but I didn’t think I was a write off either.

  Mum would always lament that if only I had been taller, I would have been beautiful. She would have hoped I would have been a model; however, I wasn’t taller and wasn’t a model, therefore by default, I wasn’t beautiful. I smiled as I gave myself a final once over, my tomboy ways were probably all mum’s fault. That made me grin in defiance and then as it always did, thoughts of my mother made me sad and angry at the same time.

  My attention shifted quickly from the mirror and swept over my bedroom. I had bought this apartment from money left to me when dad died. I needed to make sure I accumulated no college debts. I had just enough left to pay my tuition, so the apartment though pleasant, was sparse in decoration. God dammit for adulthood and responsibility. I really needed to find a job, just to secure some extra income. I had managed to secure a summer job when I moved here, however, a few weeks spent in retail, emphasised what we all already knew – I really wasn’t a people person.

  I reached for the phone again and reread Matt’s text to cheer up. I held my phone to my forehead as I sighed. I couldn’t believe I had seen him and Theo yesterday. My head was still reeling. Of all the luck, Colton decides to change schools and out of all the schools in this country he picks this one. I had purposefully picked this one as it was nothing to do with any of them and no one knew I had ever considered here as a possibility.

  I started hauling the sheets off my bed as I thought of Connor.

  Of the good times, before everything had gone sour at the end. He’d asked me out on my fifteenth birthday. I had been at a party which was so unlike me, but my lab partner, Susie Black, in Chemistry had learned it was my birthday earlier that day and in a moment of insanity, on her part, had insisted that I go to Matt Landers’ party at his parents’ house that night.

  His parents were in Europe and word got out that Matt was throwing a party. Matt probably hadn’t had much say in the matter, but he wouldn’t have cared. He was best friends with the Dawson’s. Connor Dawson happened to be in my Chemistry class and was what I termed as totally dreamy. Connor had been sitting in the front row in full peripheral of
the teacher, who wasn’t fooled by the twinkle in his eyes or the one dimple in his left cheek. Nor was he impressed with the wealth of the Dawson’s.

  Connor was considered disruptive, so he sat in the front and pretended to be on his best behaviour. My lab partner suggested we go to the party, as it was my birthday. Susie had turned to me and asked what I thought. I had been struggling with an answer when a shadow had fallen over us. I had looked up right into Connor’s face. I’m pretty sure my jaw had dropped. I had definitely heard Susie squeak beside me.

  “So, Elle, you taking Susie up on her offer and coming to Matt’s later?” He asked. One eyebrow had been raised in expectancy.

  “What?” Yes, that was my fantastically intelligent reply. He had laughed as he backed from the table grinning at me as he winked.

  “See you there, Elle.”

  Connor turned to Susie, nodded and said “Black” and then was gone. Susie had grabbed my arm and started jumping up and down on the spot; I had shaken her off, but she hadn’t cared. She was babbling excitedly.

  I smiled as I picked up a pillow and started fluffing it, I could remember that day so well.

  I didn’t play sports, I didn’t try out for the cheerleading, but I also wasn’t a geek. I wasn’t really a pigeon holed kinda person. I also wasn’t that bothered about clothes – jeans, shirt and sneakers usually did it for me. When Susie had asked what I was going to wear to Matt Landers party – she’d screeched that part – I had looked at myself and shrugged. I had just been about to tell her pretty much what I was wearing when I had looked at her and seen she had already reached that horrific conclusion herself.

  I had been dragged, almost literally to her friend Candy’s locker, which was where the whole Connor Dawson asked Elle to Matt’s party on a date rumour had begun. I had protested. I had tried to make sure all those eavesdropping knew Connor had most definitely not asked me on a date. It was like talking to the lockers. To be fair I may have got more sense out of them.

  Candy had done the whole screeching and jumping on the spot thing Susie had. I had been taken by each arm and dragged to Candy’s boyfriend’s car. He was to take us all to Susie’s to get ready for my date. I had seriously wanted to die. Ben had smiled at me in a kind of ‘I have your back and you have my sympathy’ way. Ben and I could be great friends, I decided there and then.

  He’d dropped us off and promised to be back at eight thirty. Susie had bounded into her house like a puppy on steroids with Candy racing behind her. I had seriously contemplated running at that point, but puppy number one had bounced back out and grabbed me again. I was going to bruise. Her mum had fed us sandwiches and snacks whilst laughing at my expression as short skirts and skimpy tops had been flung at me.

  I laughed to myself as I finished making the bed, about how exited they had been and how totally out of my element I had been at the time.

  I think Susie’s mum had been close to adopting me when I offered to wash up. At that point I would have offered to make the plates, anything to get away from the pink glittery thing Susie was waving at me. Thankfully Mrs Black had taken charge and ushered Susie to the shower to give me peace. She had told Candy to go downstairs and phone her parents to let them know where she was and where she was going. I’d already texted my dad.

  Mrs Black had then selected a black short skirt that settled mid-thigh on Susie, but on me, would be just above the knee. It flared out slightly from the hips that gave me room to move. She handed me a black tank top with a subtle silver thread running through it and then wrapped a thick black belt round my waist. It completed the outfit and kept the skirt on my hips.

  My own black jacket had already been deemed appropriate for outerwear, as had my black flats. Susie emerged from the shower, screeched again and demanded my hair and makeup be left to Candy, who was apparently a genius. When I informed them that I didn’t wear makeup, Candy had almost fainted. We agreed on some mascara and some lip gloss before I was finally allowed to sit back and breathe.

  My hair which at the time was shoulder length had been brushed to a natural shine and left alone. I was still chuckling at the memory as I scooped up the bed linen from the floor and headed to the washer. As I thought back on that day, even though I had been so out of my comfort zone, it had been nice to be included like that.

  The girls had taken ages to get ready which was bewildering as they had their outfits planned. However, when Ben had turned up at precisely eight thirty, both looked great. Candy had the whole natural beauty look going which had taken an hour and a half to achieve. Susie looked equally good but had gone for smoky eyes, bright lips and a faint blush to the cheeks. Ben had whistled when we went out to the car. Before I knew it, I was staring up at Matt Landers’ house with a solid knot in my stomach.

  Reluctantly, I had entered the house only to be ushered to the back pool area where the party was in full swing. The pool was shaped like a kidney and was lit up. I noticed some of the older girls from school had bikinis on and were lounging like swimwear models on the pool furniture. Susie mumbled something to me and darted off. Candy was hanging onto Ben’s arm trying to see further back in the garden. I remember I felt his approach before he spoke.

  “Arielle! You are looking HOT!” Connor had shouted. I had turned around and glowered at him.

  “Arielle? You know it’s just Elle.” I remembered demanding to him, bristling at the attention from onlookers.

  “Oh my, is this the girl who told the whole school you asked her on a date?” I turned to the Amazonian goddess that stood slightly behind Connor. She was looking at me like I was a bug. I felt myself bristling more.

  Connor had laughed, flung his arm round my shoulders and declared, loudly, that I was his date, and when her mouth dropped, he had laughed and walked away from her...with me.

  We hadn’t gotten far when I had forced him to stop and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was taking me back to hang with his friends, to which I asked him why. He had looked at me like I was an idiot and told me because I didn’t know them. I had narrowed my eyes at him and he had grinned that grin that meant trouble. I didn’t know Connor that well, but even I knew that grin.

  “Because, despite your numerous and loud, may I say very loud, protestations, you are in fact my date,” his smile softened. “I have been waiting to ask you out for ages but you’re so difficult to get hold of. I heard Black earlier and thought this was the perfect time for you to fall in love with me.”

  He had grinned as if the explanation was so obvious that I had burst out laughing.

  We had gone back to meet his friends and of course his brother. I knew of them but had never met them. I remember Colton had just looked at me impassively. Connor had introduced him as Cole. I had nodded in greeting amazed at how bright his eyes were; he had nodded in return, his eyes giving nothing away. He turned to the amazon goddess from earlier. She had whispered in his ear, he had smirked and then took her outstretched hand and walked away.

  Apart from the initial meeting with Colton, we actually got on really well. In fact, I got on well with Connor’s friends and they quickly became my friends. From that night on, we were inseparable, four became five and for those two and a bit years, I had been happy with my lot in life.

  I sighed as I looked up from making the new bed, reminiscing made me sad. My hand ran over the sheet to flatten it and I heard my phone buzz from a text.

  Matt: Pancakes next Sunday?

  Me: Is it safe?

  It felt silly to ask that, the Dawson brothers weren’t monsters.

  Matt: Yeah, Colton and Connor are out of town for the weekend to Aunt Glinda’s wedding anniversary or something.

  Me: Ok, be here for 10:00?

  Matt: Theo?

  I rolled my eyes.

  Me: Obviously!

  Matt: Good one, be good x

  Me: Always x

  I smiled as I put the phone down and a feeling of contentment came over me.

  By Wednesday, I was so nervous w
alking around campus I began to act like a fugitive. I was hugging walls when I walked to and from classes, keeping my head down, my feet fast and my hoodie up at all times. It was really getting completely ridiculous. The heat hadn’t lessened and a girl wearing a drawn up hoody only drew attention to themselves. Plus, CU was huge. I genuinely think it would have been impossible to just run into one of them. However, four times I had been close to telling Matt that Sunday was off, my nerves where going to give me an ulcer.

  I was in my kitchen, I always came home to eat, plus the cycle back meant I could eat guilt free. I was a fussy eater and it was better to eat at home. I flicked the TV on and saw myself staring at a picture of Colton, Connor and their father on the local news. I turned the sound up and realised they were at some film premiere. The picture was old, taken some months ago, God they looked amazing. It’s true what they say, all men look handsome in a really, really, good suit and these suits screamed designer. They fit perfectly, all three men looked resplendent, even their horrid father looked handsome.

  I studied the picture closely, Connor’s eyes had a little less sparkle to them, shadows were barely visible under his eyes. I forced myself to look at Colton. I heard myself gulp. His dark hair was cut fashionably, close to the back and sides and slightly longer on top. It was styled perfectly, not a hint of gel in sight. I knew not one hair would move. He had slight five o’clock stubble and I was very grateful both brothers had chosen not to pursue the beard trend that had been all the rage.

  Colton’s eyes were an amazing emerald green and I had heard the whispers over the years that they were coloured contacts, but I knew they weren’t. He was smiling a 1000-watt killer smile but his eyes were empty. Their dad was in the middle, it was obvious he was their dad, both sons had something of him in their characteristics. Connor’s bone structure, Colton’s nose and jaw and as always, whenever Dawson Senior was looking at me, he seemed to be staring into my soul with his black eyes.