Remembering Summer

Chapter One

Charlie

         “Is it awesome, or is it awesome?” I asked Sam, Dave, and Cameron as I hop out of the front door of our new van.

         “I see you’re trying to get us killed now.” Dave muttered, looking at the blue van up and down through his glasses.

         “How much did it cost?” Sam asked me as he started lifting up parts of his drum set to shove in the trunk.

         “540.” I smile back. “It’s a pretty good deal in my opinion, and look at it!” I point my arms at the van. “It looks like it belonged to a sixties band.”

         That it did. I could just picture The Beatles driving around in that thing.

         “Yeah, but I’m guessing the mileage freaking sucks.” Sam pouts as he carries more of his drum set into the van.

         “This wasn’t my idea man.” I snap at him. He rolls his eyes, and I smile.

         “We’re headed to Tybee Island!” Cameron shouts, running his hands through his highly gelled blonde hair.

         I grab a few of the duffel bags and shove them into the trunk, and hop up into the drivers seat.

         “Get ready to play, drink, and get laid guys,” I scream as I pull away from Cameron’s house. It’s going to be a long drive from New York all the way down to Georgia.

         I hungrily bit into my cheeseburger, my stomach growling for more. This is the first time I have eaten for eight hours, and I didn’t mind the part of the patty that wasn’t completely unfrozen.

         “So when is our first gig?” Sam asked me, taking a sip from his soda. He looked intently at me, because I am the one who usually knew all of this.

         “Um, I’m not sure.” I said looking down at my greasy burger. I could see brownish limp lettuce poking out of the edges.

         “What do you mean you don’t know?” Dave asked me, slamming his empty cup on the table. “Dude, you were the one who planned this whole trip.”

         “Well, I’m just hoping there will be some gigs once we get there.”  I said smiling a little bit.

         “Why are you smiling?” Sam almost screams. Some people in the McDonalds were beginning to look over at us.

         “Well, you guys are making a big deal about this.” I say seriously. “There will be beach, sun, and girls in bikinis. We’ll be fine.”

         “Yeah, how about the rent to pay for the house we rented?” Sam strains. Sam and me always get into fights about stupid stuff like this.

         “Guys, it’s fine. We’ll figure it out.” Cameron said calmly.

         “Listen to Cameron!” I said, smiling as if I’ve won victory. I stuff the rest of my burger in my mouth, and stands up. “Come on let’s go, we have to get to the house before tomorrow morning.”

         As I hopped back into the van, I gave Sam the freedom to drive and I sat in the back seat. I grab my guitar from the trunk and begin to strum a few chords.

         Soon enough Sam’s tapping a beat on the dashboard, and we’re all singing the lyrics to one of our songs.

         “See guys,” I say loudly. “This summer will be great. And if worse comes to worse, we all can fit in this van.”

Can you feel the love that summer?

Time we're in love are it feels right

Oh now I, I can't wait for the summer

Time stops as we move closer

The sun drops into the water

Now I, I'm falling into summer love