• A Hot Summer's Memory<3

    Long hair brushing my face, the sound of the waves in my ear, a hot summer’s memory.
    My friends say I was never really good with words, but when I think of that night, the night when we kissed on that beach, that poem always pops into my head. I knew we were going to be together forever. It was fate; it was just meant to be, it was…
    “C’mon, hit the ball already! We don’t have all day! I have to be home at 7:30! My ma will kill me if I’m late for dinner again!”
    “Alright! Alright! Where’s the ball then Gina?! Hmmmm?”
    “It’s over there! By the water! God Samantha, sometimes you’re as dumb as a donkey! Besta go n’ get it!!”
    “OKAY! I got it! Now, you think I’m as dumb as a donkey? Prepare to eat your words Gina!”
    Gina watched as I spiked the volleyball. I spiked that ball so hard it was like watching lightning strike. The ball went over the net, Gina dove for the ball, she actually hit it, but it didn’t make its way past the net.
    “Haha, what now Gina!? What now?! Guess you couldn’t get THAT one huh Gina?”
    I wink then fold my arms and look at Gina. She raises her left eyebrow up which she usually does when she gets hit with a challenge. She gets up and whips the ball at me.
    “Lucky shot, I’ll admit that, but you need more than luck to beat me. You know that and you know that I’m better than you at volleyball.”
    Gina winks at me.
    “Lets see what you got with those noodles you call arms!”
    I stare Gina down, get into place, and spike the ball as hard as I can. The ball goes over the net, past the court and hits some guy straight in the face!
    “OH! Way to go Sam! Nice job killing a guy JUST for walking down the beach!”
    “Crap! Uh, Uh… SORRY dude!” I yelled, toward the stricken bystander.
    And that’s how we met, me hitting him in the face with a ball. Perfect.
    I run over to the guy, slid towards him and see if he’s okay. All Gina could do was laugh her little head off.
    “Oh my god! I’m SO sorry, are you okay?!”
    Gina keeps laughing.
    “SHUT UP GINA! IT’S NOT FUNNY!”
    “Haha, OH yeah Sam, you’re right, it’s not funny, it’s hilarious! Hahahahaha!”
    If she laughs any harder, the car alarms are going to go off. I just look at her and sigh.
    The guy gets up, and brushes the sand off of his clothes. I look.
    “Oh my god, are you okay? I am SO sorry; I never meant to hit you in the face with a volleyball! My friend Gina and I are so competitive when it comes to volleyball and, and she got me mad, and, and I guess I spiked the volleyball a little too hard and it hit you square in the face, and, and god… I am SO sorry dude!”
    “Haha, it’s alright. Alright? I just really didn’t expect it coming is all. I just got a little freaked there; it’s no big deal at all. Don’t even worry about it. It’s not like it hurt or anything. So you’re name is Sam huh? That’s a cute name.”
    He smiles, I stare.
    “Well my name is Brandon. It’s nice to meet you even if it’s from you spiking a ball at my face. Haha, that’s a funny story to tell our kids someday…, Haha.”
    He laughed, but all I could think of at that point was his swollen face!
    “I’m SO sorry. I’m surprised you’re even talking to me! Look! You’re face is ALL red! This is all my fault! I am SO sorry!”
    “Sam, calm down! Haha, I said it’s alright. Alright?”
    “Yeah Sam, calm down, he says it’s alright. So stop apologizing already! You’re really starting to get annoying! Now I know if that was me you hit in the face with a volleyball I would totally like KILL YOU! Guess he’s alright with you using his face as a little punching bag. Aw, poor guy. I know if that was me, I would…”
    “Giiiiiiiinnna!”
    “Yeeeeeees?
    I hit her in the back of her head with my hand, but not too hard.
    “OWW! What the hell was THAT for Sam!?”
    Gina rubs her head.
    “SON OF A b***h…!”
    “OH, you know what that was for Gina, you can never keep your big mouth shut, and you make everything a bigger deal then it has to be, and, and, and…!”
    “LADIES!” Brandon said interrupting me. “Calm down, alright? We’re all friends here, no need to fight. Alright?”
    Both of us nod.
    “Alright, now, you guys were playing volleyball? May I play?”
    Before I could even SAY anything Gina pushes me out of the way and goes up to Brandon saying,
    “Suuuuuure, you can play! We could always use one more person! Maybe this time Sam won’t totally kill you with the volleyball!”
    Brandon walks over to the court; Gina grabs me and whispers into my ear.
    “Cool guy? Don’t cha think? Not a bad looker either, in fact, he’s kinda cute, huh? Sure glad I didn’t hit him in the face with a volleyball.”
    She winks at me then flips her hair and skips her way over to the court. GOD! She gets me so mad when she’s like this! She’s always like this in front of guys! It always gets me so pissed off that she has to play a little act every time she’s around a guy! But I do agree with her, he is easy on the eyes. We start to play, and Brandon’s keeping score until the next game. Gina spikes the ball.
    “Crap! It’s 7:20! I gotta go Sam!”
    She tries to walkover to me, but trips over her bag on the way there.
    “OW! GOD DAMNIT! That freakin’ hurt!”
    All Brandon and I could do was laugh.
    “HEY! Shut up! It’s not funny!”
    I say sarcastically, “Oh, you’re right, it’s not funny, it’s “hilarious!””
    We laughed even harder; Gina looked like she was going to kill me, as she usually does. She gets up; all of us start to calm down, the only reason why she did was because she has to be home right now, so she can’t do anything, her ma would kill her if she’s late again! Plus she can’t negotiate with her or say “******** you! I’ll come home whenever the hell I want!” to her mother; she’ll get kicked out again or worse, her ma’s such a b***h. Anyways, she whispers in my ear.
    “Good luck dude.”
    She walks away while I’m standing their confused out of my mind. I run up to her and ask her why she’s letting me have him. She usually goes by the whole “I saw him first” thing.
    “Oh my god! Are you blind Sam? Really? Are you? He’s all over you! That’s why I’m giving him to you, duh! I’m not going to go after a guy when he’s all over my best friend like that! And besides, you know for a fact that I’m into that Chad from school! He’s awesome.”
    All I could think was Pffft, yeah, you think he’s “awesome” alright, the only reason why you think he’s awesome is because you guys only like each other for looks, nothing else. You two are the same in every way; they’re absolutely perfect for each other.
    “Oh yeah, Chad? From school? Yeah, he’s pretty cool. Well good luck with that! Call me later on to night alright? Bye!”
    “Alright, bye Sam, and byyyyye Braaaaaandon. Hope you two have aaaaaaa lot of fun together!”
    She grinned, winked, and then walked away. Brandon was in shock, I had my mouth wide open, and I can NOT believe she SAID that! Now it’s obvious that I do like him. Well I don’t really like, like, him. I just met him, I can’t decide that yet. He is kinda cute though…
    “SO! Where were we?” Brandon said nervously.
    He grabs the ball as if nothing had even happened.
    “You still wanna play? Don’t you?”
    “Haha, of course I still wanna play! Volleyball’s my game!”
    I’m such an idiot! I’m so surprised that he even WANTS to play with me, just an hour ago I hit him in the face with a ball, and now he wants to hang out with me?
    I plopped down on the grounded and laid back watching the waves hit my feet. Brandon dropped the volleyball and laid right next to me. We talked for hours, which would seem like we were talking about nothing, but to us it was everything.
    We talked about our likes, dislikes, our fears, our accomplishments, our families, our music, our lives!
    The sun started to set along the ocean view, the clouds were orange, pink, and purple, and the sand line was bright and sparkling just like the chemistry between Brandon and I.
    He put his hand on mine and started to mumble something. I didn’t know what is was, but he kept mumbling it.
    “What?” I said.
    “Oh, nothing Sam.”
    “Oh, no, too late Brandon! Now you gotta tell me, you already said it once, say it again.”
    “Your long hair, it’s brushing across my face, haha.”
    “OH! I’m sorry.”
    I push my hair back.
    “No, its fine, I was just thinking.”
    “Thinking about what?”
    “This poem, the poem that I’m making. I’m thinking about that.”
    “How does it go?” I say. Wondering what it could be.
    “Well, I’m not really done with it; it’s just a little something I put together. From the beach and the waves, and you; you inspired it.”
    “I did?”
    “Oh yes, you did Sam, but it’s not really good and it’s corny you wouldn’t like it.”
    “Oh well, you’re gonna tell me if you like it or not! What do you have so far Brandon?”
    “Ugh, fine. It goes a little something like this. Long hair brushing my face, the sound of the waves in my ear... and that’s all I got so far, see, it’s not even good.
    “Well if I do say so myself I think it’s alright, just needs a little work, that’s all.”
    “Well I told you I wasn’t done yet. I just can’t think of a perfect ending to it, I’m starting to get frustrated.”
    “Don’t, haha, it’s really not that bad. Here, let me help.”
    “Well alright, what do you got?”
    “Well, a little something, how about for an ending we puuuuut, Just another hot summer’s memory!”
    “It’s good, but let’s try to make it shorter.”
    “Shorter? Okay, then whaaaat abooout… A hot summer’s memory?”
    “It’s awesome!”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah Sam, I like it a lot. It’s…perfect.”
    “You really think so?”
    “Sam, of course I think so. Like I said, you inspired it…”
    I blushed. He stands up, then pulls me up, looks deeply into my eyes, then kisses me! It was just…perfect! Until…
    “Awwww! How cute! You guys are kissing! Hahahaha! Isn’t that pleasant! See I knew if I left you two loooove birds alone something like this was bound to happen!”
    “What the hell?! How did you even GET here Gina?” I yelled, blushing like crazy.
    “Oh, I snuck out! And look what I find, little miss Juliet kissing Romeo! That’s cute SO cute!”
    “Haha, so what? It was just a kiss.” Brandon said.
    “Ohhhh, just a kiss? Didn’t look like JUST a kiss. It looked like more of a…”
    I threw the ball at Gina.
    “Well, you’re here aren’t you? Let’s play. Or are you too scared that you’re gonna loooose to me again?”
    “Pffft, lose? You never won to begin with, lets play!”

    Long hair brushing my face, the sound of the waves in my ear, a hot summer’s memory.

    My friends say I was never really good with words, especially Gina, but when I think of that night, the night when we kissed on that beach, that poem always pops into my head. I knew we were going to be together forever. It was fate; it was just meant to be, it was… love at first sight.

    By: Christina M. Pasieta <3