That summer. (ON HOLD/TO BE RE-WRITTEN)

Week 1

Callie's Diary 

I saw this boy today; at the lake where my grandmother lives. I haven't written anything in my diary lately because not much has happened and I spent most of my time doing schoolwork. I visit her every summer, I know everyone in this town but I've never seen him before. I noticed him right away; he was standing on the pier where I usually spend my mornings. He was just looking; staring at the lake. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice me. Struck by the change in my routine, I wasn't sure how to react or what to do. I just stood there silently breathing and staring at him, unsure of whether he was aware of me. I wasn't sure what to do, should I go tell him to leave? Should I join him? I decided to find myself a new place to hang out.  As I started walking away I heard footsteps but I didn't turn around to see if he was following me or not. I wandered off looking for a new spot. I felt uneasy and almost annoyed! That was my spot! I've spent nearly every summer morning of my 18 year long life here. Who does he think he is? My heart even skipped a beat when I saw him there. Who was he? Why was he there? And most importantly, why had he stolen my spot? MY spot! I tried to forget about it and relax in the sun. The great thing about this town is that it's always quiet and always sunny so I stopped thinking and closed my eyes to enjoy the sun. 

--

My grandmother is getting ready for church. No matter how busy, she has always found time for God. She always dolled up in her pretty church dresses, does her hair and even her make-up. She's always been a very graceful, elegant woman. I remember looking at her while she got ready to go out with my grandfather. She always told me 'a lady should look her best at all times, even when the lady herself isn't at her best'. To me she was a goddess. And I was her little angel. I remember bows in my hair and neat white socks, I remember her rosy cheeks brushing mine when she kissed me gently before I went to sleep. My memories of Grandmother Rose aren't vague like my other memories. They're vivid, like a dream I have every night. Cookies on the windowsill, her perfume on her clothes. Her essence is captured in all of my senses. That's why I return every summer; to escape from reality to my dream. Where everything is sunshine and nothing is night. These summers mean the world to me and that's why this summer is so important to me because grandmother is sick and I don't know how much longer she has, I want to enjoy every minute of this summer. I'm staying here to take care of her but the summers are sacred, I don't know what it will be like to live here permanently but I don't want my grandma to be alone.

--

His eyes. Oh my god. That's what I noticed when I saw him again today. I had decided to return to my pier. I've tried other places these last few days but I didn't like them as much. I've tried the swing behind our house, the picnic benches near the playground, even the library! So I went back; and there he was. He just said hi. Hi.. How someone can make a phrase, -not even a phrase, a word- that is so insignificant sound like it was crafted by god itself. I'm not even exaggerating, even the way he said it was amazing. Ok I might be exaggerating. He just caught me off guard, it seemed like I had been staring at him for ages. Lost for words, but apparently I hadn't been because he just kept smiling at me. "I'm Cassie" I said, with more enthusiasm than I thought was even possible. "Hi Cassie, I'm Daniel, but you can call me Dan" There was something familiar about him, like I felt at home. Safe. Which was weird because I had just met him?  I sat down next to him and I watched the water, also his cheekbones and hair, did I mention he's extremely good looking? Because he is.

--

The thing with me moving here is, I don't know that many people. Of course I've met most (well probably all) people in this town but that doesn't mean I can go knocking on their doors to see if they want to hang out. Luckily it's July so that means the summer crowd is here -usually that would include me but I can stay as long as I want now that I've graduated-. I know a few of the regulars, like my friend Roxy, we don't hang out as much as we used to, but we were inseparable when we were kids. I even had a crush on her big brother Sam -who is still very hot might I add-. I ran into her at the supermarket today, she looked amazing. She was really glad to see me and we decided to get something to drink one of these days. I hadn't seen her in two years and apparently a person can change A LOT in two years. She grew her hair out - she used to have a cute little bob- and lost some weight. I started feeling a bit self-conscious about my appearance. It's not like I'm ugly or anything, I do look okay. But I haven't really been looking out for myself lately, I just finished high school so these last few months I have been stuck inside my room studying or writing papers for my college admissions -which I won't be sending in because I'm staying with grandma-. So I'm as pale as a tictac and I could probably use some exercise. I looked at my cart and started putting all the unhealthy stuff back in the shelves. I replaced everything with vegetables and fruit and I bought a new bikini so I could get a tan -I stupidly forgot my old one back home-. I decided to start working on my appearance a little bit, it wouldn't hurt and I have way too much time on my hands anyway so I was glad I had something new to do.

--

I always get up early when I'm with grandma, not only because she's a morning person but also because I want to make her as comfortable as possible, as soon as possible. I've started making breakfast and cleaning the house. She doesn't like me doing it but I can see she's too tired to do it herself. She isn't that ill yet but her illness is starting to take its toll, that's obvious. So today I got up and went to get fresh eggs outside -grandma loves animals so she even has chickens.- I made us some sunny side up eggs and fresh orange juice. When grandma came downstairs she was looking at me funny.  She told me I reminded her of my mother when I'm in the kitchen. It's very strange hearing her speak about my mother, they aren't on the best terms because my grandma didn't approve of my father. Nobody here did, or anywhere really. And he met up to their expectations; he left me and my mom when I was only 5 years old. My mother doesn't visit very often because it reminds her of my father, they met here and I even lived here until I was about 3. That's a big part of why I felt so responsible to come over here and care for my grandma; my mother would hate it here and she has no one else besides me and some cousins that barely ever visit her. I think she would love for my mom to visit her, especially now because she knows she's very ill, even though she won't admit it. We had our breakfast and I decided to stay with her today, she showed me how to bake an apple pie and we looked at old photographs, I could see it hurt her; looking at pictures of my mom and dad. But in a way she likes it because it reminds her of happier times. I love staying here with my grandma but this time it's different, because it might be my last summer here with her. 

--

Roxy called me this morning, she asked if we could hang out today and catch up. Grandma was going on to play bridge with her church friends -she is TOO adorable-. So I had the house to myself and I wasn't really feeling it, so I grabbed my bag and keys and got my old bike out of the shed. Normally I would walk everywhere but now I wanted to get there faster. We arranged to meet each other at Sally's Diner, which is basically the only place you can go to sit down and talk. We have a juice and snack bar and Luigi's which is a fake Italian restaurant owned by a guy named Jim. When I walked in she was already sitting in a booth by the window. I waved at her and went over to the booth. She had already ordered us some drinks. She got me a Skinny vanilla latte right, the fact that she remembered the way I like my coffee made me smile.  I hugged her and sat myself down across of her. She told me she'd missed me and that surprised me a lot, I didn't know she still thought about me. Roxy told me she'd be here until school starts, she'll be going to college not too far from here so I could visit her whenever I wanted. It's reassuring to know that I won't be here alone when summer ends. I went home and grandma was still with her friends so I decided to clean my room. I hadn't even unpacked all of my bags yet. I cleaned out my closet, unpacked my bags, decluttered my drawers and took all of my old posters and pictures down and put them back up on one wall to make a big collage of all my summers. It made me happy to see all those memories on one wall. 

--

I gathered up the courage to go back to the lake today, I had kept myself busy most of the week but I was starting to miss my spot on the pier. So I gathered my notebooks and pencils and went over to the pier. I was expecting Dan to be there but I was still a bit surprised to see him again. When I saw him last time we talked for a few hours and sat there at the end of the pier but I still felt nervous walking down that pier again. He had already noticed me and had scooched over to make room for me. To me that was a sign to me that we could possibly become very good friends. I plopped myself down next to him and instantly took of my flip flops and dropped my feet in the water. I noticed he had done the same thing. He spotted my notebooks in my hands and asked what they were. I explained to him that I like drawing and he immediately grabbed one of them but before he opened it he stopped and looked at me and asked me if it was ok to look at them. I was completely startled, I hadn't expected him to care about my feelings that much, he could've just opened it without asking. I told him he could open it. He smiled and opened it. I noticed he had taken the one where I draw people in. I'm not one to brag but when it comes to drawing I can say I have a bit of talent. I notice people's features and I like to capture their facial expressions. I love drawing people when they're not looking so my notebook is a bit like a candid photo album. People in their natural habitat. He asked me to draw him so that's what I did, I drew him and then he was immortalized in MY notebook. I liked that.