summer of three

1: arrival

CHAPTER ONE: EMMALAINE

it's been three years since i've seen the crane siblings. the last time i've been with them was a weekend beach visit when i was just 13; young, naïve, underdeveloped...still clutching onto braces and wearing the clothes my mother bought for me. and now here we go again. i pull up in my own car: a bright blue jeep which i saved up for since i was 10. the june air was calm, not completely peltering on my still light skin, but not cloudy and drab. familiar.

there was two things i knew going into that summer. 1: this summer was different. and 2: that each of the crane siblings had my love in some way.

"holy shit emma?!?!" the brunette girl on the porch says as i pull into the driveway and reveal my identity. the coast of rhode island was sacred to mine and the crane family, but two years ago my parents moved to upstate new york, and our family's just disconnected. until now.

"oh damn, what are you doing here em?" adam crane says as i step up onto their sandy porch. i'm dressed in a light blue top and my shortest jean shorts—and feeling amazing. i've spent the past two years becoming who i've always wanted to be, and i don't think either of the two expected that. well, there's three.

"laney, hey." kolourado lightly smiles to me as i'm invited into the kitchen. i've always thought his name was so different from his siblings. brielle and adam are relatively normal, then BOOM! kolourado. pronounced like the state, but spelled completely different. i've always found 'kol' to be much easier. i was always closest to kol, most likely because we were both the same age. i've remembered him as more energetic, not the nonchalant man standing a few feet away from me. still, i return a smile.

"hi." i nod across the kitchen island. this interaction feels odd and he's noticed me the least.

"oh my god this is actually so weird, you look so different!" bri enthusiastically says to me, specifically peering to my body. i guess that's definitely different. "hey don't be a bitch, that's rude, bri." adam corrects her, protectively.

"no, no, i get it. it's been a while." i joke around with the two, since kol seems quite absent despite standing right there. it's around 11AM on a summer monday morning, maybe he's just adjusting.

"so, why exactly are you here?" kol asks me with his two siblings on either sides of myself. it's not harsh, but curious.

"you're parents asked if i wanted to come stay the summer, since it's been kinda long." i explained, which is true. also, they explained how they were gonna be gone for most of the weeks because they're crashing at their friends beach house on long island, but that's just a bonus. so all i can do is hope it'll be me and my three crane siblings this summer. if all goes as planned.

"how's bridgefield?" i ask referring to our high school. or well, the one i would have gone to. adam just graduated, bri's entering as a senior and kol and i are awaiting junior year.

"boring as hell." kol says grabbing a clementine from the table's fruit basket.
"well how's cheer?" i mention.

bri and i did competitive cheer for three years together in preparation for high school cheer—going for varsity in our first year. i made it at my new school, and that's where i made buddies with some of my at-the-time best friends.

"i kinda quit after freshman season." oh. "oh?" i say aloud.  "uh yeah, the girls were just...too much drama." i notice when bri says this adam slightly rolls his eyes.