Our Last Summer DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Prologue

 August 24

The Main Street Cafe appeared as it always did; quaint, friendly, small and smooshed between the glass displays of the old toy store and the old heritage bank. You could call the small, cozy town of Eden, hick all you want, Charlotte Grayson thought to her herself, but I love it here. The whole street looked as if it were designed as a set for a movie taking place in the nineteen forties. The old stores and diners were clustered, hanging baskets full of summery yellow and red flowers from the old brass street lights, and there were no cars on the cobblestone streets, only pedestrians or bikers, Eden was a tiny town-only one high school and one public school and a single shopping plaza that could barely pass for a mall. Only one thousand people lived in Eden total, but it was a town that could proudly say it was home to these people, not just a place to live.

Charlotte brushed back her long blonde ponytail from the back of her neck, silky strands already matted with sweat. The past few weeks had been swallowed up by the heat of the sunlight, no one went outside without lathering sunscreen, not even the superficial teenage girls who loved being a dark, bronze-amber shade. It was late August, just two weeks before her return to high school. The very thought put a knot of dread in Charlotte's stomach. There had been a time, not too long ago, when school had been a breeze for Charlotte, not just something mandatory, but something to look forward to.

Charlotte was smart, she always had been, and she always had her nose in one book or another. She had a ninety-three percent average, and won numerous school awards, from her perfect record of punctuality, to her excellent writing skills. Not only that, but she had friends. Lots of them.   Not any friends, the coolest friends in her school. They were the most popular, the prettiest, the wealthiest, the most fashionable. They got invites to the coolest parties and went on dates with the hottest guys, wore the latest trends and had the best pictures on their online profiles. Charlotte had been one of them, and it was a taste of heaven. She had no worries at all, her friends had her back and no one would dare bully her; her grades were perfect, her family was perfect, her life was perfect.

How had things unraveled so quickly? It all started with the day her parents sat her and her little brother, James, onto the leather sectional, her father's hands clasped together, her mother's eyes watering and ruining her mascara, explaining as kindly as they could, why Dad couldn't be living with them anymore. It all ended the day charlotte darted home, crying, forgetting to pick up her brother, forgetting to bring home her backpack. Crying and sobbing and kicking on her bed, wondering how the group of girls who were her friends, could have betrayed her so badly. Between the backstabbing buddies and unfaithful parents, Charlotte believed she would never be able to trust another human being again. Until she met Calvin Neilson.  

Just the thought that on the other side of the glass doorway, not five feet away, at their usual table, sat Calvin, waiting for her, made her heart hammer in her chest. She made a halt outside, her cute golden retriever walking ahead until her leash pulled her back. "Here" She handed the leash to her nine-year-old brother, James. James was a really cute kid, a lot like Charlotte. The same build, blonde hair, and grey eyes that almost looked violet. James had taken the news of the divorce ever so bravely, better than Charlotte would have if she didn't have Calvin to confide in. She patted his short, combed hair and reached into her mini purse. She grabbed her white leather wallet and pulled out a five dollar bill.  

"Thank you, Charlie," James was the only person who still called Charlotte by her childhood nickname, and she would have corrected anyone else. Her little brother gratefully accepted the money and ran towards the confectionary store, her puppy speeding behind him.  She watched him until he had the doggie's leash tied to a lamp post and ran into the store to buy white chocolate and sour gummy worms, as usual. Then she eagerly entered the coffee shop. She tried not to seem too excited after all, she was "just Calvin's friend." She had worked so hard on seeming like his innocent companion; she wasn't willing to blow it all now. But when she saw him, seated at the two-person table they always sat at, she couldn't stop her manic grin from taking over her entire face.   Calvin wasn't the type of guy who would be into Charlotte, not even enough to simply have a conversation with her. Or at least that was the way he looked. Charlotte knew the truth about him, and that was something few people would ever know. Calvin had hair that fell into his handsome face, silky and dark brown. He had the sort of rugged, masculine features you would find in an outdoorsy ad for camping supplies, beer or barbeques. He had high cheekbones, thick brows, full red lips and olive skin. His eyes sort of ruined the manly, mature features of his face. They were more silver than grey, shining no matter what he wore or how he felt, fringed by long, dark lashes. The smile that split through his face also ruined the pouty male-model effect he had, showing off boyish dimples and donning a set of teeth white enough to be in a commercial for electric-powered toothbrushes.