Forever and a Day

Golden

EXTRA LONG CHAPTER!!

Don't get me wrong; summer starts when I can throw my school bag in the hallway closet and shut the door for good. But summer BREAK starts when the Colben's RV parks right in our driveway at 7am sharp, the breaks screeching like they do every year.

The sound usually wakes me up, but today I am laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Contemplating the numerous summers before this one is kind of like a tradition at this point, but I usually do it over the phone with Ezra.

Ezra Colben is kind of like the reincarnation of an otter. He's talkative, loves attention, and can be found in the water pretty much all of the day.

His hair is black and his eyes are blue, and he has the tiniest freckles sprinkled across his nose, which accentuates when he laughs.

He's the kind of guy who still kissed his mom goodnight even though, theoretically, he's too old for it.

Ezra surfs the waves I'd never even dare to touch, and he is on the national junior Paralympic swimming team back where he lives. He was born without the entirety of his left arm, but that doesn't stop him from doing what he loves.

And that quality might just be one of the reasons why I love him most.

The reason why I'm laying here and I'm not pressing a phone to my ear to soak in all the details of his voice is because my parents took my phone away.

For the whole summer. And what's even worse is that they talked to Ezra's parents about it and they agreed to do the same. So we're two phoneless teens this summer, I guess. Not that I can't have fun without a phone— because trust me, I can, but it just takes my whole virtual world away.

How am I going to contact Maddy when she's all the way in Barcelona on a spa vacation? I guess I just won't.

    But even without a phone next to my pillow and a certain boy's voice cracking through it I can still feel the excitement of this summer day.

It's the same sensation you get when you wake up early on your birthday; the jitters of something you know is annual, yet it's important enough to look forward to every year. And today is that special day I used to make countdown calendars for when I was little.

I am laying on my back, hands on my stomach as I stare at the ceiling. Wisps of the sun dance through my white curtains, creating a magical reflection on my wall.

I've been checking the clock on the wall every thirty seconds, and now I'm forcing myself not to look at it by trying to focus on something else. The light in my room is pretty. My bed covers are all messed up.

    I groan and drag my eyes over to the clock, which reads 6:30 AM. Another thirty minutes of sweaty palms and drunk butterflies in my stomach until summer starts. I need summer.

    I push myself up using my elbows and throw my legs over the side of my bed. My feet find the worn down flip flops like magic; the ones I've worn for three summers in a row now.

I walk over to my closet where my new summer dress is already draped over the side of the door, and I pull it off. It has the prettiest detailed bodice with a flowery pattern. In all fairness it kind of looks like my grandma's wallpaper,

but vintage is all the hype right now.

    It takes me two minutes to put it on and five other minutes to run to the bathroom, brush my hair, wash my face, and apply some light makeup.

Every now and then I slide my fingers in between the drapes just to see if maybe, just maybe, they've taken a shortcut and gotten here earlier.

    "Ollie?"