A Summer to Remember - By Jessica Gunhammer Page 0,10

a week and park our cars in a little gravel lot and walk about forty-five minutes to spend the afternoon cliff jumping.

“He said cabin twenty seven, right, Jesse?” Steven asked.

“Yeah. Take the next right and it should be down at the end of that road.” Jesse pointed Steven in the direction of the cabin.

Jesse was right, a few miles down the road we saw a large cabin in the distance. I could feel the butterflies multiplying in my stomach, only this time it was more like anxiety. What if I just imagined the feelings I had last night? What if I really was crazy and I was just some girl he met at a party? Heck, he could just be a man whore and I was his next prey.

While all these thoughts were racing through my head, we pulled up to the front of the cabin. There he was, standing on the front porch, beer in hand, waiting for our arrival. Well, there wasn’t any turning back now. Everyone got out of the car but me. I took more time than the others, hoping my nerves would settle a little.

“Hey! I’m glad you guys found the place. Let me give you a hand.” He set down his beer and helped Jesse and Steven unhitch the boat and unload our things. Lily and I waited impatiently on the front deck while Adrian admired Steven’s boat. Steven made sure to tell him every little detail, including the custom paint job.

“Where do you want me to set up the tents?” Jesse asked.

“Bro, look at the size of this place.” He gestured to the cabin. “There are plenty of rooms in there for you guys. It’s only me and two of my buddies and their girlfriends staying here.”

“Damn, all right. Where can we put our stuff?” Jesse grabbed his things and headed toward the front door. Adrian took my bags and the rest of us followed him into the house. After a short tour of the house we all had our own rooms. Well, except Lily and Steven, they were sharing a room, of course. I decided to unpack some of my things before going downstairs to join the others.

“Hey.” I looked up to see Jesse standing in the doorway. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

“You going to be okay staying in here by yourself? The room I’m in has two beds if you’d feel more comfortable in there.”

“I’ll be fine in here.” I smiled at him. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“If you need anything, I’ll be down the hall.” I could hear the protectiveness in his voice. Jesse had always been a good friend of mine, kind of like a brother to me. But the last few times we’d been around each other, things had started to get a little weird. I was hoping we weren’t going to have to have a conversation about this.

“Thanks.” I gave him one last smile before he walked out the door.

Adrian’s friends had come back from spending the day out on their boat, and decided to start a little pit fire in the back of the cabin overlooking the lake. It was dinnertime and everyone was clearly hungry, so while they were inside getting things ready to grill, I sat out by the fire and watched the sunset. I’d always loved the outdoors, there’s something about it that gives me peace of mind.

“It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?” Adrian walked up behind me.

“Yes, it is. I love coming up here. We come here every summer, but we’ve never really stayed long enough to watch the sunset.” I scooted down the log bench and he sat down next to me.

“Yeah, I’ve been coming up here with Brian’s family since we met in sixth grade. It was cool because my family didn’t do a lot of things like this, but Brian’s family took me in like I was their second son. So sitting out here watching the sunset brings back good memories for me. It was one of the only things that let me get away from my problems at home as a kid.” I could see the look in his eyes like he was a kid all over again.

“You guys ready to eat or what?” Brian came out with a tray of burgers and hot dogs ready to be cooked.

“It’s about time. I’m starving!” Adrian jumped up and grabbed some burgers to put on the grill.

After dinner, we sat around the fire and reminisced about coming up here during the