A Summer to Remember

Funny thing was, I wasn’t feeling as angry about what had happened anymore, either. Everyone made mistakes, there was no sense in holding a grudge.
    “No problem.” This was the old Jason I remembered, when he was nice and went out of his way to do things for me. It reminded me of why I fell for him in the first place. He stayed close to me and stared into my eyes. I could feel him slowly moving closer. Part of me wanted to turn around and get the hell out of there, but there was another part of me that wanted to stay and see what would happen next, and that’s the part that won.
    “I just want you to know I will never find another girl like you.” He looked down at his cup then back up at me. “We had some really good times together.” He was right. We did. I couldn’t deny that some of my best memories were with him. “I’m not trying to win you back or anything, I really just want you to be happy. I want you to know that I do realize I screwed up, big time. It might have taken another guy walking into your life for me to realize it, but I do.” He moved in so close to me I could feel the heat of his body. “I will always love you, Ava.” I felt his lips softly press against mine, as if he was waiting to see what my reaction would be. I didn’t move, so he continued to kiss me. I couldn’t help but kiss him back. He’d never kissed me like that before, not even the first time. This time it was different, it was so passionate I could feel it through every inch of my body. My heart ached as I thought of how many times I’d wanted him to want me like this. It felt safe and familiar, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that it didn’t feel right. I pulled back suddenly.
    “I’m sorry. I can’t do this again.” I headed for the gate.
    “Ava! Wait!” At this point we had everyone’s attention. He caught up to me when I reached the side of the house. “Please, give me one more chance.” I stopped and looked at him. We just weren’t the same people anymore. I’d changed. I wanted different things in my life now that I realized I deserved better.
    “I can’t.” I pushed the gate open and he didn’t follow.
    “Ava!” I heard Lily call when I finally reached her car. “What the hell was that about?” I knew she was pissed at me.
    “Can we just go home?” I begged as tears trailed down my cheeks. “Please?” Lily looked at me, and her pissed off look turned to sympathy. She came around the car and gave me a hug as I broke down.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER 23

    T he next morning I woke up before Lily. I went straight to her bathroom to take a shower. I had a long night last night and I wasn’t ready to face the reality of it all just yet. I wasn’t sure where today was going to take me, but I had a lot of thinking to do before I made any decisions.
    “How are you doing?” Lily asked as I walked out of the bathroom.
    “Okay.” I sat next to her on the bed.
    “He called again while you were in the shower.” I picked up my phone and saw I had seven missed calls from last night and one from this morning. All were from Adrian. A text message popped up on the screen.
     
    Please call me. I miss you.
     
    I set my phone back down on the nightstand. I bet I would have cried if I weren’t so worn out from all the crying I did last night.
    “Are you going to at least call him?” Lily asked.
    “I don’t know if I’m ready to deal with him yet.” I rubbed my hair with the towel. I was more confused then ever. First Sam and now the kiss with Jason, I had no idea what I was going to do.
    “Have you guys ever talked about who you’ve dated?” I shook my head.
    “Not really. He kinda knows about Jason, but that’s it.”
    “You’ve never been curious?” she asked, sounding surprised.
    “Well, I have been, but I just never brought it up.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t know. I guess a part of me thought that if we didn’t talk about it, then I’d never have to accept the fact that he has dated other girls before me.” That sounded a lot better in my head than it did when I said it out loud.
    “Okay, I guess I get that, but you know that’s not true. You’ve both dated other people before dating each other. We live in a small town. You could have run into one of his ex-girlfriends anywhere. You should at least know what to expect or who to expect. Let’s face it, Facebook stalking your boyfriend’s exes is always fun.” I laughed. That was true. Lily had always been good at