A Summer to Remember

like I didn’t see them. I decided to go with the less violent of the two, so I turned to look the other way.
    “Are you okay?” Lily looked at me and immediately zeroed in on Jason. “Oh Ava, are you going to be okay? We can leave if you want.” She leaned in for a hug, but I pushed her away. I knew if I hugged her, the tears would start again. She turned and glared at Steven. “Why is your brother such a jerk?”
    “I’m okay,” I said quickly. She raised her eyebrows. “Really! I’ll be fine.” I was doing everything in my power not to fall apart.
    “All right, dude, since you’re being a baby, I’ll go cross our names off the list.” Jesse was completely oblivious to the current situation, as usual.
    “No! Wait! I’ll play!” I yelled after Jesse as he turned away.
    “Are you sure?” A grin spread across his face.
    “Yeah. Are you sure?” Lily asked, staring at me with a blank look on her face. I ignored her and turned to Jesse.
    “Yeah, I’m not very good. I haven’t played for a while, but if you’re down, I’m down.” The look on his face told me he was definitely excited.
    “I don’t need you to be good, I’m just in it for the free beer!” Jesse laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.
    “All right! Next up! Greg and Adrian against Jesse and Steven!” a guy yelled over the crowd.
    “Actually, it’ll be Jesse and Ava!” Jesse grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the crowd towards the table. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. I even heard a few people laugh in the background. I’m not a big fan of crowds. I could feel myself get a little nervous.
    “Are you sure you want a girl on your team?” the announcer asked as he eyed me up and down.
    “For all you know, I could be his secret weapon,” I snapped at him before I even realized it.
    He looked me in the eyes. “All right then,” he said. “Let the games begin.” He proceeded to hand me a ball and back away.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason pop out of the crowd and into the front row. Great, just what I need. First, I made myself sound like some badass beer pong player and now I had the guy who could make me turn into an emotional wreck in a matter of minutes standing in the front row. I was going to be the laughing stock of the night.
    I closed my eyes for a second and tried to get my mind straight. I looked up to make eye contact with the guy standing across the table from me, but I froze. It took every muscle in my jaw to keep it from dropping. This guy was gorgeous, all six feet of him! You could see every curve of his perfectly tan, sculpted body through his gray fitted t-shirt. His hair was a chestnut brown that most girls would kill to have. The thing that really caught me off guard were his eyes. He had the most amazing green eyes I’d ever seen. He smiled at me as I’m admired him and my heart literally skipped a beat. He had the most perfect smile and to top it off…he had dimples.
    “Ava, are you okay?” Jesse interrupted my admiration session.
    “Yeah, I’m just concentrating,” I lied. I seemed to be doing a lot of lying tonight.
    “Okay, well I think that’s long enough. You’ve been standing here like a zombie for like three minutes,” he whispered.
    “Oh my God! Have I really?” I was horrified.
    “No, but it feels like it.” I smacked Jesse and turned back to the team standing across from us.
    “Can we start yet?” The green-eyed guy’s teammate asked, sounding irritated.
    I got into position and we made eye contact. We both threw a ball, but mine, of course, bounced off the table and rolled into the crowd while his sunk into one of our red cups.
    “I believe that’ll be your drink.” He looked at me and smiled.
    “Oh, honey, I’m just warming up.” I smiled back at him. Okay, I had no idea where that came from, but I liked it! Suddenly I really had the urge to kick these guys’ asses.
    The game surprisingly continued pretty even until each team had two cups left. Jesse took his place and got into position. He took his shot and sunk it into the back red cup. Everyone cheered.
    He put his hand on my lower back. “All right, Ava, you just have to get it in that front cup and we can end the game. No pressure.” He smirked.
    “Yeah, no pressure at all,” I said sarcastically. I glanced up at the green-eyed guy, smiled, and looked back down at their cups. Okay, all I had to do is make it in that last cup and it’s game over. I took a deep breath, stepped