7 summers

one

Madeleine's POV:

I grew up in a small town outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. I have had a love for it for the longest time. In the spring, I played a bunch of softball, in the summer I would go fishing on the lake, most of the time I spent was down by the river.

The river is a place where not alot of kids know about, it's kind of only for those way out country kids. It's more of a secret spot no one really knows about at school. This summer I spent alot of my time down there. One weekend me and some of my friends were down there. I met this blue eyed, long hair boy. He took my breath away. He was a flirt though, so I could not tell if he was actually into me or just playing around.

He was over in the grassy area passing baseball with another one of his friends he brought, Ernest. I really only had one best friend, sure i have others friends, but she's my best friend, her name was Stephanie Riggs. Stephanie has long blonde hair and blue eyes just like me. People always confuse us as sisters at school. I met Stephanie in the sixth grade in band class. We were both in the percussion line, and both crushing on the same boy, long story short the boy never found out we had a crush on him, and neither of us ended up with him.

I was sitting on a bench by the river, listening to the speaker blasting some American country song and sipping on a drink with coke and some whiskey in it, which we called a southern comfort. Stephanie comes up to me and says she has to take her brother to a basketball open gym, which would explain why Steph wasn't drinking today.

There's not much to do in this small town, other than drink, have a bonfire with your friends, and cruise around town. Our little group of friends made our hangout spot by the river. Stephanie says her goodbyes then leaves. Meanwhile now it's just me, Ernest which I knew because he played baseball with my brother. The other blue eyed boy was familiar though.

I was sitting near the river still on the bench now listening to Eric Church at a low volume, then i'm startled to see the blue eyed boy sitting next to me.

"aye you got good taste in music huh?" he says. "not good taste, i was just raised right," I reply.

"that's what i'm talking about, my names Morgan Wallen, but you can call me Morgan." He introduces himself.

"Madeline Wright, but you can call me Maddie" I say with a smile on my face.

"You're a senior right?" he asks me. "in the fall I will be." "same here," He responds.

"I feel like i've seen you around," I softly speak. He sorta smiles and lets out a little laugh, "yea you probably have, I play baseball with your brother, so you've probably been to some games."

"yea that's probably why you look familiar, my family is always at the baseball or softball fields," I say with wittiness.

"I get that, my parents are always at the ballpark watching me play, or we're watching baseball at home. it's like i can never escape that game, even though I love it."

What he said really hit me, cause I get it. I get the feeling of never escaping a game. Even though i loved it so much.

"I get what you're saying, but is it something you want to do, or is what your parents want you to do?" I ask him.

"Yea I love baseball and all, but then again I feel this pressure of having to play."

"I understand what you're saying Morgan," I respond sympathetically.

The sun was setting over the river, the sky was painted in purple and pink, reflecting on the river while me and Morgan had our first real conversation staring over the riverbank and looking at the sky. It was getting late and I had to ride my bike home, I didn't really want to leave. Everyone else had left including Ernest, it was just me and Morgan. It felt so peaceful. It was a perfect scene, and I thought the blue eyed boy sitting beside me was pretty cute.