Every Summer: Book One In The Love Through The Seasons Series

Chapter 9

"Ha, ha, ha! You should've seen your face!" I shout to a pouty Jeremy. He sticks up the middle finger and I just laugh at him even more. 

"Whatever, Petro. But, you can't call me a pussy anymore."

"We'll see," I counter. 

We're sitting on the rug in front of a weak fire in the west wing family room. On our way here we ransacked the kitchen, knowing we'd be here- as far as possible from Pa- until late the next day. "Can't believe you made me do that." Jem picks up a chip and throws it into his mouth dramatically, shooting it into the air first. I clap enthusiastically and grab a bowl of trail mix.

"Well, believe it, Remy." I scoot back on my butt and launch a pretzel into his mouth. "I'm just an unbelievable kind of guy."

"I believe that," he says smartly with a crooked smile. 

"You'd believe anything."

"Whaddaya mean?" Jere asks, exactly like that, too.

"You're gullible." I snort and pop some snack down my throat. Just as my latenight snack buddy opens his mouth to reply, I start choking on the kernels lodged in my throat.

"Davey, are you o- wait. I'm not falling for this. Nu-un." Jeremiah is giving me a look as if he just decoded my Facebook log in. I return with a look of pure panic, my hands motioning for my throat. As I stuggle for air and fight the tears stinging my eyes, both because the kernels are piercing the walls of my throat and this is a really pathetic way to die, Jeremiah's eyes expand as it dawns on him that I'm not joking at all. "Dave...Dave, oh my god, David are you dying?" I frantically shake my head, using up the last few bits of my energy. My back comes closer to the floor and I realize that I'm fainting. I've never fainted before. I'm seeing spots in my vision when Jere's worried face creeps into view, his bangs hanging down and the fire lighting the side of his face like an angel. One more beautiful memory to take with me before I die. "What do I do? What do I do?" I can barely feel my hands as I guide Jeremiah's over my chest, lightly applying pressure to them. "Press you," he says, confused. I would roll my eyes if I wasn't stuggling to keep them open. "Oh, wait, push your chest. Um, okay. Here I go." I mentally shout 'do it', and probably in the knick of time, J complies. 

In uneven attempts, Jeremiah whacks his large hands over my heart, sometimes taking more breath than giving. I can feel my face draining and going limp as he tries to bring me back to life. 

Oh, the humanity. 

He's full on punching me on the chest now, almost succeding in dislodging the popcorn pieces from my esophogus. When I finally believe I will never see the sun again, or my family, or Jem, he brings his elbow down just between my collar bones. 

"Umf," is the sound my chest makes up. Several saliva covered fragments of food shoot from my mouth. But, still, when my chest is kernel-free, I don't start breathing again. It's like my throat has stopped working for so long, it can't reboot. Jeremiah is looking down at me like 'What next?' when all I can do is lie there like a dead body- which is a way too accurate comparison. He presses his ear to my chest listening for my heartbeat, which I'm guessing is pretty feeble. "Okay, don't kill me for what I do next." I want to ask him what he's going to do next, but of course, I'm technically not alive, so... 

Jeremiah's face comes closer, blocking out more of the firelight- like a solar eclipse, but in this case the moon is a beautiful blue eyed blonde with an amazing jawline and golden stubble. I feel as if I'm totally prepared for what comes next, but, turns out, I'm not. Because, when our lips touch, my mind totally disregards that in seconds this guy could either save my life or let me die. No, I think how unrealistically soft his lips are and how I hope he doesn't stop.

My priorities are so fucked up.

After the fourth blow of air, I'm already recovering. And, I swear to their own accord, my left hand begins slipping up my savior's arm coaxingly. Jeremiah visibly tenses, but doesn't stop me as my hand makes way for his shoulder. We both seem to be wondering how far I'm going to take this and how far he's going to let me.

I grip the side of his neck, gently guiding his face downward. My confidence grows as I feel him straining to remain on his arms, but his eyes keep flicking to my lips. Inches away from me, and I realize how much I've wanted to do this since I've met him. The first time I saw him speak so passionatley about carpentry, I just wanted to feel this guys mouth against mine. 

Jeremiah takes one more shuddering breath above me and hesitantly leans all the way in, brushing his lips on mine. There's no sparks, but there's a coursing heat rooting from my stomach into my throat, making me breathless, but not in a deadly way this time. I bend my neck forward, trying to touch are lips together again, wanting the heat to keep travelling. 

But, we're interrupted by the harsh caw of those stupid southern crows and just as quickly, our moment dies.

Jere looks to me in horror and jumps up rubbing his mouth in disgust. I lean up on my elbows, trying to find an explanation, but can't think of any. Afterall, I didn't force him to kiss me. But, either way I try to comfort him. "Jeremi-"

"Don't" he interrupts shakily, a finger pointed out to me as if warding me off. "Talk to me. Just..just stay away from me." I open my mouth and my face flushes in anger, but he's already speedwalking away. But, I can see his hand rested gently on his bottom lip. I can see that he's still blushing light pink and his eyes are wide in shock. I can tell he liked the kiss as much as I did.