Forever Yours, Sunshine.

Chapter Two.

When I get back home, Mom and Dad are already home, cooking.

"Where the heck did you guys go?" I ask.

Mom smiles, and dances towards me. She plants a kiss on my forehead, spinning me around. "We just went on an early morning walk. Daddy's at work on the love cakes," she says, swooning over my father.

I pretend to gag. My parents can be so disgustingly sweet sometimes.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to the dark room to develop my film. Sammy and I saw a giant sea turtle today," I say casually.

"Oh, he's probably searching for his lover!" Mom giggles.

"Poor ole' chap," Dad says, reaching for my mother's hand. "Its a sad day when you're not with the girl of your dreams."

Officially suffocated by the love that is taking an obnoxious amount space in my home, I retreat to the basement, a.k.a., the dark room.

Dad turned the basement to a dark room when I was in the seventh grade, right around the time I took an interest in photography. He said it was such a beautiful hobby, and it needed room to flourish. I agree with him, photography is beautiful. It gives me something to do, a reason to forget all about stupid, stupid boys.

I feel around for the lightbulb chain, until I finally reach it. Red light illuminates the room, and my photos hanging from the wire beckon my critique. They're pictures of Sammy's horses, Sammy, and of a lonesome crab on the beach, without a buddy to trade shells with. There's only one picture of my parents, but it speaks volumes about their relationship.

My dad is sitting at the piano, with my mother standing at his side, her hand on his shoulder. His mouth is open in song, and her eyes are closed, swaying to the sound of his love for her. I might act like my parents disgust me with all their open love, but the truth is, they always made me feel safe, secure. They made me feel like that whatever trouble I was into, I could count on the both of them, together, to give me support. Lately, its just been a little much. Love is a tricky thing, and if you give it away to the wrong person, well, you end up bitter, scared, and a little untrusting.

Kind of like me.

I develop the film, taking the old pictures down. I flip through the dried ones one last time, and after turning the light off, head back upstairs. My parents were sitting at the counter, eating love cakes together. Love cakes are just pancakes in the shape of a heart, by the way.

I get myself two, and go back to my room. Sitting at my desk, looking at the waves, I feel very lonely, very lost. Ripping the love cake in half, I nibble on it. I rip the other one in half, too, just for the satisfaction of it. That's what my heart looks like. Ripped in half, and nibbled on a bit. I laugh a little bitterly to myself. Date? Yeah, right. When pigs fly.

:)                               :)

Summer in Riverton has always been simple. You eat at Crazy Tim's, swim at the beach, shop at Fashion Boutique, and hopefully avoid getting sunburnt really bad. I had planned on spending my summer doing exactly that, until I decided I wanted a car. In all honesty, I didn't even need one, but I wanted that liberating, free feeling of being able to just drive, drive, drive.

That's how I landed a job at Fashion Boutique.

I trace circles on the countertop with my finger as girls browse. You'd think that with a little shop, it wouldn't take long to find clothes, but girls can spend hours in here. Its a unisex store, but guys typically shop elsewhere. I don't care though, because out of sight, out of mind.

So when I look up to a shirtless guy leaning on the counter, I'm in shock.

"Hello, welcome to Fashion Boutique, may I help you?" I say for the millionth time, straightening up.

"What's your name?" he asks, his voice low, and smooth. He has this chesnut brown, curly hair, and oh my gosh, his eyes are probably the greenest I've ever seen.

"I'm wearing a name tag, Casanova," I say, trying to sound wary.

He chuckles, and winks at me. "You're cute, Sunshine. Is that your real name, or does everyone just call you that because of your radiant smile?"

I try to suppress the heat rising up my neck. "Its my real name. Is there anything you would like to purchase, sir?" I emphasize "purchase".

"Well, is your love on sale?"

Okay, now its starting to smell like cheese in here. "Sir, I don't even know your name, and frankly, this could be described as sexual harrassment."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm not typically this forward. My name's Calvin. Calvin Daniels." He reaches his hand out for me to shake, but I decline.

"Sunshine Collins, pleasure to meet you. Now, are you going to buy something, or shall I have you thrown out for harrassment and loitering?"

"Hmm. Fiesty. You know, that tactic never works on guys like me."

"And what kind of guy are you?" I'm a little nervous, not sure if I just gave my name to a psychopath or not.

He grins from ear to ear. "A guy with passion and drive, who sees something he likes, and pursues it until he has it."

"Well, you sound like you do well in school. I've got to get back to work, Calvin. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah, maybe you will." He winks at me, then strolls right on out of the store.

I gulp for air as I realize, I haven't been breathing the past two minutes. I'm pretty positive that was the boy running on the beach two days ago, and I've never seen him anywhere other than that. Is he new? On vacation? To my deep displeasure, I find myself thinking about his abs, and the nice, toned muscles on him arms and shoulders. He had a very attractive, boyish charm about him.

NO. I refuse to think about this any longer. I turn my focus to a customer who just walked up to the counter with her purchases.

"Hi, did you find everything you need okay?"

Out of sight, out of mind.