A Summer to Remember

Facebook stalking people, and it always made for a good source of entertainment when we didn’t have anything better to do.
    “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
    “It’s not like he intentionally kept this girl a secret from you. You never asked.”
    “True.” I picked up my phone and admired my screensaver, a picture of Adrian and me before our dinner at the Rooftop Terrace.
    “So what are you going to do about what happened with Jason?” Lily asked delicately. “Are you going to tell Adrian?” I felt my stomach churning.
    “I have to. If the situation were flipped, I’d want to know.” The thought of losing him sucked, but the thought of losing him and him possibly going back to Sam was unbearable.

    After my discussion with Lily, I decided now would be a good time to sit down with Adrian and talk about our past relationships. I texted him and he agreed. We decided to meet at a steakhouse for dinner. It seemed like a good neutral zone for such a touchy subject.
    I wasn’t stoked about the whole thing and I thought about backing out every five minutes, especially when I thought about the whole Jason fiasco, but I didn’t. When I walked in the front door, I saw Adrian sitting in a small booth across the room. I thought again about turning around and leaving, but he looked up and saw me standing near the hostess. A grin started to form on his face but stopped half way and he looked apologetic. I slid into the seat across from him.
    “Listen, Ava, I’m really sor—”
    “It’s okay.” I cut him off. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s not your fault she was there. I should have known we would eventually run into someone you had a past with.”
    “I should’ve told you about her, though.” I could tell he was actually feeling guilty about not mentioning her before.
    “I wish I would have known about her, but neither of us have brought up the subject of our exes. If I wanted to know, I should have asked.” I paused and took in a deep breath. “I have something I have to tell you.”
    “Okay.” I could tell he was suddenly nervous, and that made me even more nervous.
    “Last night after Lily came and picked me up, we went to a house party and Jason was there.” I took a second to get my bearings. “I made the mistake of having him show me where the drinks were and he kissed me.” Adrian stared at me with no expression. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or sad or what he was thinking. “As soon as I realized what was going on, I ran to Lily’s car and we left.” That wasn’t exactly how it went down, but I was feeling extremely guilty and the silence was killing me.
    “Did you feel anything?” he asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean do you still have feelings for him?”
    “Of course not. That’s why I ran out. Jason is safe and familiar, but he’s not what I want in my life. I need something new and unfamiliar and not so safe. I need you.” That wasn’t what I was expecting to say at all, but it was right, it was what I felt.
    “Okay.”
    “Okay?” That surprised me. “You’re not mad?”
    “I’m kinda upset, of course. But I think that’s what you needed. I don’t think you had any closure when it came to Jason, and maybe that kiss is what you needed to realize what you really want in life.” I sighed with relief.
    We took a minute to order our food and drinks. As he was giving his order, I took the time to praise myself for not walking away. I really thought this relationship could be something special. I knew it wouldn’t happen over night, and this had taught me that we still had a lot to learn about each other. If he was willing to work for it, so was I.
    “So, I guess there’s no better time to have this talk than now,” I said after the waitress walked away.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until we get home?” he asked, looking around at the people sitting next to us.
    “If we wait till we get home, then we’ll have all this tension over dinner and neither of us will be able to enjoy our meal. I’d rather just get it over with.” I wanted to make sure everything that was bugging me was done and over with after this dinner so I didn’t have to worry about it anymore.
    “Okay, well, where should we start?” he asked.
    “I don’t know. Who was your first serious girlfriend?”
    “I dated a girl in high school, her name was Kim. We dated for about six months before she broke up with me because she thought I was too involved in