Summer Lovin'

Chapter Six

"There's Sleeping Beauty," Jesse said as a rumpled Summer came out of his room.

Her hair was tousled in curls and her eyes were still dark with sleep. Her shorts and tank top were wrinkled. She rubbed her eyes and slid on the couch next to Dana.

"What time is it?" she finally asked sleepily, her head leaning on the soft cushion of the back of the couch.

"About seven," Dana answered.

"Seven?! Why didn't you wake me?" Summer exclaimed sitting up, suddenly waking up in a panic that she had wasted so much time.

"It's okay. You were tired."

"I'm sorry," Summer said glumly, brushing her hair absently with her fingers.

"Summer, it's fine. It gave me time to finish packing. Now, I can spend time with my two best friends before I leave," Dana said, patting her on the knee.

The doorbell rang and Jesse got up and went to the door. A delivery guy handed him a couple of bags and Jesse handed him some folded up cash.

"We ordered Chinese. I remembered you like General Tso's chicken and combination fried rice, right?" Dana said to her.

"Yeah. Thanks," Summer replied appreciatively and followed Dana into the kitchen. Dana took out some plates.

"Can you grab some drinks from the fridge?" Dana asked her.

"Sure, what you want?" she asked, opening the fully stocked refrigerator of soda and beer.

"Coke," Dana answered. She walked into the living room and set the plates on the coffee table.

"Jess?" Summer asked, turning to look at him.

"Ah, it's Jess now," he said with a grin, setting the bags on the kitchen table.

She blushed. "Jesse. What do you want to drink?" she asked, grateful that his back had been to her, so he hadn't seen how flustered she was.

"Coke's fine," he answered, taking the cartons out of the bag. He turned and stepped close. "And Jess is fine too," he said, quietly in her ear.

He gently squeezed her shoulder then quickly turned to go back to his job of getting the food out of the bag.

"Dana, why'd you bring the plates in there every time, when we load up the food in here, and then go in there?" he asked annoyed, while continuing to pull the cartons out.

"Because it bugs you," she answered with a smile.

He shook his head.

Summer took a couple deep breaths, trying to hold down the electrifying sensations traveling through her body that Jesse's voice in her ear and hand on her shoulder had caused. She was sure he hadn't meant anything by it. He was just being friendly. And he hadn't shown any reaction that he felt the same tug of awareness between them.

The phone rang startling Summer out of her thoughts. She glanced at Jesse as a strange expression flashed across his face as he dug in the bag. She raised an eyebrow as he cursed and fought with the take-out bag.

"I'll get it," Dana called.

"Hey, Julie. Yeah, I'm leaving tomorrow. Thanks, I will. Want to talk to Jess?" Summer heard Dana saying.

"Tell her I'll call her back," Jesse called to her.

Summer stepped forward. "Do you need help?" She gestured to the bag as he continued to struggle pulling something out.

Jesse lifted his gaze to hers, his mouth opening to reply.

"Talk to your sister," Dana said, ramming the phone between his ear and shoulder. His hands were still stuck inside the bag.

"Dana!" He hissed, but Dana had moved back into the living room.

"Hey, Jules," He said into the phone. "That's really great. Yeah? Great. But look, really, I have to call you back. Why?! Because my hands are covered in Chinese food right now that's why. Yeah, thank you," he said frustrated."Dana, get the damn phone."

Summer took it off of him and hit the power button to turn it off. Dana entered the room and took the phone from her.

"Thanks," Jesse said, pulling his hands out of the bag. They were covered in sauce. Dana and Summer laughed.

"You're both evil. Pure evil," he told them wincing.

Summer quickly moved to the sink and turned on the faucet for him.

"Well, just Dana, then." He moved to the sink and washed his hands.

"It's funny," Summer said to Dana after Jesse left the room to use the bathroom.

"What?" Dana asked, picking up the dirty plates and taking them to the sink.

Summer followed her, carrying their empty soda cans. "You and Jesse."

"What do you mean?" Dana asked puzzled.

"You guys act like you're brother and sister. Not like friends...or a couple..."

Dana laughed. "We're definitely not a couple. Trust me that will never happen. We are like brother and sister. We met when we were, like, three. His parents practically raised me. My parents were never around. I pretty much grew up at his house. His family took me in as part of the family. His parents are my parents, his sisters are my sisters, and he's my brother."

"So, you guys never, like, hooked up?"

"No. Never. Well, we kissed. Sort of. Twice. Once we were twelve and just wanted to see what it was like to kiss. It was like kissing a family member. Then once again when we were about sixteen when everyone thought we were a couple, so we figured, well maybe we should be, so we tried it again. Same reaction. So, we carried on as we always did and people just learned to live with it."

Summer absorbed what Dana told her. "Must be nice to have a friend that's like a brother."

"It is. We fight more than regular friends, I think. Just because he's a guy and I'm a girl and we see things in the way a guy and girl thinks. But we live through the hard times and we get back to normal again."

"What do you fight about?"

"Living with a guy is like being married, whether you have feelings for the guy or not. You argue about the seat being up, the dishes in the sink, the bills..."

They sat up late, Dana and Summer talking about old times and laughing and Jesse pretending to be looking at his remodeling catalogs for his house.

Jesse watched Summer when he thought she wasn't looking. He loved the way she absently brushed her fingers through her hair. The way she'd blush when their eyes would meet.

All the feelings Jesse had felt for her over the years rushed back at him. He had been in love with her for years despite not having met previously in person. Their phone conversations had often turned personal and he had fallen for the person Summer truly was. The fact that she was gorgeous was just an added bonus.

Eventually, he couldn't take watching Summer anymore and he excused himself to go to bed.     

Author note:

What do you think of Dana and Jesse's relationship? Do you think she is telling the truth that they are only friends?