One Perfect Summer

hungry.’
    ‘Cool. I’ll feed him when I get back to the pub.’
    ‘Lizzy called for you,‘ Mum says to me. ‘You forgot to take your phone with you.’
    ‘Oh, thanks.’ I hadn’t even realised it was missing. Too distracted with a certain someone. ‘How was she?’ I ask.
    ‘Good. In fact, Susan’s chemo treatment is going so well that Lizzy said she might be able to come and stay with us this weekend.’
    ‘Really?’ I’m delighted to hear about Susan, but my heart inadvertently sinks as I process the second half of my mum’s sentence. A funny little part of me is reluctant to introduce Lizzy to Joe. It’s strange: she and I have dissected every single crush either one of us has ever had since the age of nine, but for some reason I don’t want to share Joe with her. I’m too frightened she might not see in him what I see. I don’t want her to taint him in any way.
    ‘That’d be awesome,’ Joe enthuses, oblivious to the thoughts racing around my head.
    ‘Wow, yeah.’ I try to sound pleased.
    Joe turns to me. ‘I’d better get back. Thanks again,’ he says to Mum.
    ‘You’re very welcome.’
    I follow him to the gate.
    ‘Walk tomorrow morning?’ he asks.
    ‘Sounds good,’ I say with a smile as he touches his lips to mine.
    ‘I love you.’ He says it out of the blue, almost as though he’s already said it to me a million times. He immediately looks shocked, but I have the biggest smile on my face.
    ‘I love you too,’ I reply.
    ‘Do you?’ His face breaks into an enormous, mirroring grin.
    ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
    Dyson starts to bark at him.
    ‘I’d better get him back for dinner.’
    ‘Okay. See you in the morning.’
    ‘Or later?’ he suggests.
    ‘You really want to walk all the way back here tonight after seeing me all day?’
    ‘You’re tired,’ he says with sudden realisation.
    ‘No, it’s not that,’ I answer hurriedly. ‘I’m thinking of you . I would always rather see you than sleep.’
    ‘I’ll be back later, in that case.’
    ‘Wicked.’

 
    ‘I’m so pleased you’re here!’ I squeal. After my initial, wholly selfish reservations, I couldn’t wait to see Lizzy. And here she is, on the station platform, on Friday afternoon.
    ‘I’m so pleased I’m here too!’ she squeals back.
    We hug each other tightly.
    She fills me in about her mum on the way back to the cottage. The chemo is awful, but the doctors are encouraging about Susan’s recovery, so that’s an enormous weight off my friend and her family’s minds.
    ‘Now tell me about you!’ Lizzy insists. ‘Is that boy still on the scene?’
    Nerves wash over me for some reason. I so want her to understand about him. ‘Joe?’ I try to sound breezy. ‘Yes.’
    ‘Am I going to meet him?’
    ‘I thought we might go to his pub tonight.’
    ‘Cool. As long as you two don’t snog each other’s faces off in front of me.’
    ‘Gross!’ I try to laugh.
    ‘I don’t want to feel like a gooseberry,’ she adds, and I can tell the thought has been worrying her. I’d be the same in her situation.
    ‘I promise you I won’t, and, anyway,’ I say, ‘his parents will be there.’
    ‘Well, hopefully there will be some hot boy talent for me.’
    ‘Hopefully!’ I reply, even though I haven’t seen any other nice guys so far. Then again, I’ve only had eyes for Joe so I can’t say I’ve been looking.
    We go to the pub at six o’clock, after an early dinner with my mum. Dad had an important meeting this afternoon, so he won’t be here until nine, which is why Lizzy opted to catch the train rather than hitch a lift with him.
    We decide to walk across the field to the pub and I’m surprised and slightly disturbed by how far it actually is. I can’t believe poor Joe has walked all this way to and from the cottage twice a day, not to mention the extra further distance to Dancing Ledge which we do together. No wonder he’s so fit . . . Oh, I so hope Lizzy agrees!
    I’m wracked with tension by the time we arrive. We go inside to order, and he’s there, pulling a pint, at our end of the bar. He looks up and sees me and – POW! – that feeling again, like the very first time I saw him. Magnet . . . Metal . . . My heart cartwheels. He grins at me and then at Lizzy.
    ‘Hello,’ I say shyly, as we reach the bar.
    ‘Hi,’ he replies fondly. ‘You must be Lizzy?’ He smiles at her and I turn to see her nod. Is she . . . blushing ?
    ‘Nice to meet you,’ she says.
    I notice Joe’s