2011

August| Chapter 3| Delilah

It was the day before the last day of summer. I couldn't believe how quickly the last three months had flown by. It felt like just yesterday I was doing a happy dance as I watched my brother board a one-way flight to Los Angeles. My parents traveled quite a bit for work which meant with David gone I would have the house to myself. Of course that meant inviting my best friend Ada over. We stayed up late every night that she stayed over-watching movies and eating any junk food we could get our hands on! On the days I wasn't with Ada I was either competing at a swim meet or with my boyfriend Nolan. Nolan and I had started dating at the end of April. We met at a swim meet; our teams were actually competing against one another. Nolan walked right up to me and introduced himself. Honestly, I was used to attention like this from boys. Usually I ignored them but something about his cool demeanor pulled me in. After we traded numbers, he asked me out on a date, and I accepted. Now here we were a few months later still together. We spent a lot of time at his family's lake house. We would spend the day on the boat or racing around on jet skis. Today we did just that and then we spent the evening scarfing down a large pizza and watching a movie. It was actually pretty late when I realized the time, I was leaving Nolan's house.

"Bye babe." Nolan kissed me on my cheek as I stood in the front door. His blonde locks were all tousled and his green eyes looked tired.

"Bye." I smiled as his soft lips left my face. I spun around on my heels and shuffled down the steps.

The summer air was actually pretty dense, sometimes the humidity was almost too much. As I walked to my car, I tried combing through my hair with my fingers, but my tight curls were no match for my small hands. I tugged at my dress and pulled at the straps as they kept falling down. I made it to my car and gave one quick wave to Nolan before I climbed in. But he was already inside and had turned the porch light off. Whatever.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello." I answered my phone as I twisted the key in the ignition.

"Hey, are we still hanging out tonight?" Ada asked from the other line. I had completely forgotten about our plans.

"Oh yeah, I'm actually hopping into the shower." I lied. Let's just say Ada was not a fan of Nolan so I typically held back from telling her anything about our relationship.

"Okay cool, well just let me know when it's cool for me to head over."

"Okay I will." I tried to sound like my usual upbeat self.

As I drove home, I found myself zoning out. The music that played through my speakers faded into the background no matter how loud I turned the volume up. I looked at the clock on my radio and it read 10:30. How could it have been so late already? I pulled into my driveway around eleven. As soon as I did, I texted Ada to let her know it was okay to head over. Surely this would give me enough time to get changed and clean myself up.

The house was quiet as I walked in through the front door. Every light was turned off aside from the hallway light I had left on before I went to Nolan's. My mom and David would probably be home soon, back from the airport. When my mom asked me to go with her to pick up David I kindly obliged. I had no desire to see my brother, he probably felt the same way about me. And if I knew him as well as I think I do he would probably walk through the gate high out of his mind. It annoyed the heck out of me how he just consumed any drug or drink he came in contact with. I myself had never as much as touched an empty beer can. It was disgusting to even think about putting a toxin like that into my body. Plus, it would have me kicked off of the swim team in an instant.

After I rushed upstairs, I tossed my clothes from the day into my laundry hamper. I rushed into the shower running water over my hair to give off the effect like I really had just stepped out of the shower. After I toweled off, I changed into one of my bikinis. I knew for a fact Ada would want to spend our last summer night swimming in the pool. I raced downstairs after I heard the doorbell ring. I pulled the front door open and greeted Ada as she walked into the foyer. She stood with an overnight bag in her hand and laughed when she realized I was already wearing my swimsuit.