#teamjelly

My favorite moment of the entire year wasn’t the first day of school. It wasn’t the last. It wasn’t Christmas, or my birthday, or even the family trip we took to visit my grandparents in France.

My favorite moment of the entire year was the day my parents would pack our bags into the backseat of our Jeep and start our journey towards Cousins Beach.

Every year since my mom was four years old, she would drive down to Cousins, exactly two days after her school had ended. When my dad showed up, they kept up her tradition. And when I was born, all my summers were spent at Cousins.

Every year from the beginning of June till the end of August, I was in my own world. The boardwalk games, the daily ice cream. The country club, the parties. And especially the Fisher boys.

I’d known the Fisher family longer than the Conklin family had. My mom had lived through her summers in the house next door to the Becks. Susannah had been her best friend, and then Laurel came along. Laurel and Susannah were inseparable. And all three of them together had adventures to rival ours.

The entirety of my year was spent thinking of summers, until they actually got here. Belly and I had talked about it once. We measured our years in summers, like they were the only part of the year that mattered. Winters were irrelevant, boring, compared to summers. Summers were when we got to do what we wanted, live how we wanted, have fun how we wanted. Summers were with the boys, and summers were in Cousins. Nothing was ever boring at Cousins beach.

I was looking out the window as my dad parked into our driveway. My brother Tate sat in the front with him, and the two were arguing about something that I hadn’t bothered paying attention to. Tate was a year older than I was. My sister Angela, sleeping beside me, was seven. She remembered my mom the least. My dad stopped the car, and the second he did, I threw my door open and headed out. My flip-flops slapped against the concrete and I climbed through the hedges that separated my house from the Fisher home. I could hear Tate following me. The second their front yard got into sight I could see the Conklins as well. Jeremiah and Steven were in their own world as the hugged, and so were Susannah and Laurel. Belly, on the other hand, was climbing out of the car.

“Bells!” I called out to her, causing her to turn around and embrace me as I ran towards her. I picked her up and twirled her slightly, setting her down to look up and down. “You look gorgeous, you know?” I laughed. She did. Her hair was a beautiful dark brown and it had an auburn tint to it. She didn’t have contacts anymore and her eyes had a shine to them that hadn’t been there before.

“Thank you.” she tilted her head down shyly. I smiled at her again before letting her go.

I turned around to see Jeremiah Fisher.

Jeremiah and I have an odd relationship. A complicated one. When we were kids, we were best friends. The kind of best friends that had secret handshakes, and fought over silly opinions, and shoved each other in the pool without regretting a single bit of it. Then one day, he promised to bring me to to the boardwalk, to make up for all the fun I’d missed while going to basketball practice. I got excited about it and everything. We were thirteen.

He stood me up for some girl he’d met the week before.

He promised he’d make it up to me. He said he’d bring me out to the drive-in.

He hung out with Conrad, Steven, and Tate instead, playing video games all night while I waited for him to knock on my door.

It happened all summer. Over and over. Eventually, I got so sick of it that I confronted him about it. I made him walk with me to the docs.

I hate remembering what he said that day. All I’m going to say is that Jere knew all my weaknesses.

I’d slapped him in the face and ran away crying. That had been the end of my friendship with Jeremiah Fisher.

“Hey, Sammy. How was your school year?” Jeremiah smirked, immediately slipping into his little flirty cover. It used to be my favorite thing about him, and now it was my least.

“Shove off, Fisher.” I rolled my eyes, bumping his shoulder to move past him towards Conrad and Belly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tate shove Jeremiah playfully.

Conrad hugged me immediately, didn’t hesitate like he did with Belly. I laughed when he lifted me off the ground, just as a jab towards how tall he was getting.

He set me down. “You got muscles, Sam. You’re probably fitter than me and Jere.” he smiled teasingly. I laughed, swatting at him playfully.

“Basketball requires work, does it not?” I teased, flexing my biceps. Conrad attacked my stomach, tickling me immediately. I giggled, erupting into small fits of laughter. 

“Yo, Connie, quit flirting with Sam!” Conrad rolled his eyes at Steve, pausing his attack immediately. I tucked my hands into the back pockets of my shorts. I was oblivious to their comments after all our summers.

I liked how I’d put myself together that summer. Most my clothes were new, curtesy of my dad’s annual seasonly shopping spree. I was wearing white jean shorts, beige flip-flops, and a sage green tank top with daisies decorating the fabric. My previously bright red hair had turned a deep auburn, and it complemented my dark tan skin. My olive eyes stood out because of my hair as well. Everything had come together that summer. Everything had fit.

I knew I wasn’t as pretty as Belly, or the girls at Cousins that the boys hung out with. But I felt prettier than before. And that was enough for me.

“Hey, hey, hey, guys, guys.” Steven lead Jeremiah and Tate towards Belly, Conrad and I. He started making small shrugging gestures with his hands. “I mean, I don’t know about you, but I-“ he cut himself off, looking down at his naked wrist. Jeremiah mimicked him, and Tate followed the two. “I, well I think, it’s time for a..” 

Jeremiah continued, “For a..” The three boys looked at each other.

“A Belly flop!” Belly backed away slowly and I started giggling. The boys had come up with the Belly flop when we were kids, most likely Steven’s idea. Jeremiah was Belly’s best friend, Steven and Tate were her older brothers, and Conrad, well, we’d never known about Conrad. But they all loved teasing her, Steven especially. So when Steven let Belly slip through his arms as she sprinted, screaming at them, all four boys ran after her, Conrad tackling her first. Jeremiah and Steven grabbed her legs, and Tate helped with her torso. I followed as they brought her towards the back.

Belly was calling for me to stop, and I knew it was a failed attempt. Even with the strength I’d gathered, me against those four? Never gonna work.

I sat behind them on the lounge chairs as the started counting down, swinging Belly back and forth. “One, two, three!” Belly splashed into the water, screaming at the last second when they’d all laughed. She’d given up on crying about it years ago.

“How’s the water?” Jeremiah remarked, staring down at her cheekily. His blond curls were blowing in the breeze and I forced myself to look away.

“Guys, I hurt my ankle.” I stood up immediately after hearing Belly. The boys never would have thrown me into the water. They knew they’d get beat up for it by me, and me alone. “Come on.” Belly held out her hand. Before I could reach for her, Conrad did.

“Yeah, got you.” He gripped her hand, and before any of us could figure out what was happening, she pulled him in with her. I smiled at the two, facing Steven, Jeremiah, and Tate instead.

Steven draped an arm over my shoulder before addressing Jeremiah. “Bro, did your mom get that fancy cheese or whatever?” Jeremiah shoved his arm playfully.

“Yeah, dude, don’t worry. She went out yesterday and got all that.” Tate grinned at the two.

“Jere, your mom picks the best food.” He added. Steven laughed.

“You two don’t even live here.”

Jeremiah faced me, and suddenly his ocean blue eyes were sinking deep into mine and all I could think was, I’m drowning, God, I’m drowning. “You could if you wanted to.” He winked and the moment was over, like it hadn’t even started.

Steven and Jeremiah had gone off into the house somewhere, and I’d dragged Tate back home with me to unpack. When we got over next door all our bags were already inside. I peeked into the living room to see Angela lying on the couch. “Tate, can you?” I  gestured towards her, letting my brother lift her up with a gentleness he’d always reserved for family as he brought her up the stairs. I knew when he thought no one was looking he’d tuck her in.