Summer Forever

21.

Last Summer

Everett had to leave at some point.

He always did.

Except this time, I had an extra few days—this time, we'd be driving up to Sydney together. He was going to help me move in with River.

Maybe I could convince him to stay too.

Except, I knew NYU was waiting for him back in America. He never spoke about it much, but I'd seen enough movies to assume it was a pretty famous university. He'd be mad to leave it behind for some girl.

I hugged my knees closer to my chest, watching the waves wash over the shore—wash over Everett's body, a dot on the horizon.

He'd gotten better at surfing with all the time he was spending at Shellside Bay. Pride swelled in my chest every time he managed to catch a wave, even more when he suggested surfing himself.

It was like I'd given him a part of me, and he'd accepted it happily. He'd taken that piece of my soul and connected it to his own. Surfing had become our thing.

He waved at me from the distance, and I grinned, waving back.

Beside me, someone fell to sit on the sand, and I turned to find River, still scuffing out a cigarette in an empty can of soda.

"Don't tell me you're sooking about leaving for Sydney in two weeks."

I shrugged. "I always thought it was what I wanted, but now that my room is half packed and the others are already buying new work uniforms... I don't know. It feels..."

"Wrong."

"Different," I replied. I would never admit it, but wrong was exactly what had popped into my mind at first. "It feels different."

"It feels like we're growing up," River replied.

I stared straight ahead. Of course, he was right. It didn't mean I had to like it. Everett was standing on his board. A wave hit and seconds later he was falling back into the ocean. The sun had begun to fade already, turning the ocean darker. Everett would have to come back to shore soon.

The day would have to end.

"Shellside Bay isn't the reason you're upset though, is it?"

I turned at River's voice, frowning. He looked at me for a moment before sighing, looking back at the water. Everett was beginning to swim back to shore, but I knew it wasn't him that River was looking at.

Connor's head bobbed beside his surfboard, just metres away from Everett.

"I know," River said. "It won't be the same again."

I could only sigh in response.

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When I woke up deep in the afternoon, he was gone, leaving an Everett sized dent in my mattress and a sweater that smelt of his cologne.

I bolted upright, my eyes searching the room for his familiar smile and his messy morning hair. But he had held true to his promise. He'd vanished in my sleep, taking his bag and my heart with him.

I frowned, stretching in the empty bed before reaching for the sweater he'd left me. It was one I only recognised from blurry video calls; the letters NYU embroidered along the chest. I held it to my face, breathing in his scent, silently praying that it'd stick longer than it usually did.