A Summer to Remember
4
“Patrick,” I groaned and rolled over, “Patrick, honey wake up, its noon.” I mumbled some curse words, “Okay I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and go and get a bucket of water.” I shot up really fast. She wasn’t lying about the whole bucket of water thing. I remember the first day of senior year Natalie came over in the morning and asked for me. My mom told her that I was still sleeping so she went upstairs with a big squirt gun full of ice water and started squirting me, just another one of those good times that I’ve had with her.
“Alright, I’m up, I’m up. Why do I have to get up anyway?” She went and let the sunlight shine in through the windows by opening the blinds. “Pat, I can’t believe you forgot that the Vaughn family is coming over today!” Oh yeah, right I forgot about that, joy. “Oh sorry Mom,” She laughed, “I know you’re not that excited about this but it’s going to be a good time with old friends, m’kay?” I rolled my eyes and went and got in the shower.
By the time I was completely ready it was 1:00 in the afternoon, only an hour before the Vaughn family and the newlywed Smith family would be joining us in the backyard for a quaint party. You might have already guessed but I wasn’t that excited for this party. I mean usually I’m a party animal but not this party. “Pat can you go help your sisters set up the tables please?” I yelled down back to her, “Of course Mom, I’ll be right down.” I slowly made my way down the stairs to the backyard, making sure to stop first at the refrigerator for a Bud. Jessica and Jackie were setting up the table and chairs while Erica had been sitting on a lounge chair by the pool getting music selections.
“Mom sent me down here. Do ya need me for anything?” I said monotonously.
“No,” she gave a sympathetic smile, “I know how much you are going to hate tonight so why don’t you go and ‘help’ Erica with the music.”
I shrugged my shoulders, “M’kay, easy enough.” I walked around the tiled edge of the pool, “Erica you need my help?” She poked her eyed out from behind her Chanel sunglasses before putting them back, “Nah, just go sit down and pretend like your helping me.” Ya know if this was what actual work was I would always want to help out back home. But it’s just they all know that tonight is going to majorly suck so it’d be a lot easier on me and the family if I just didn’t do anything. So my official job for party set up was ‘don’t get in the way and sit there and drink your beer,’ Jackie called it. And that was exactly what I did.
One beer turned into two beers, two beers turned into three beers, three beers turned into four beers, and four turned into five and after the fifth one I passed out on the chair by the pool. The last time I checked the clock it was 1:30, and that was when I fell asleep. So when 2:00 came around I was shaken awake by Erica. “Pat wake up, they’re here.” She stood me up, I was still a little buzzed from the beers I had. She had gotten me steady just long enough to fix my hair and my clothes that we all wrinkled from my half hour nap. “Now, I know you don’t like Tyler any more but just be sorta respectful to him, please?” I shooed her hands away from my hair, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s go meet the lovely couple.”
Erica held me by the shoulders as we walked back into the house to see everyone. Natalie’s mom came over and gave me a hug and told me it’s been too long since I’ve seen her while I gave her husband a handshake. Natalie came over and gave me a hug before retreating back behind Tyler and with a handshake Tyler gave me a protective look. I shrugged it off as we all went to the backyard.
I took my regular spot on a lounge chair near the pool. I continuously looked over and saw Natalie on the porch swing hand in hand with Tyler, and I couldn’t help but remember being in his place but I put aside the memory and took a swig of my beer. I’m pretty sure I was on my 6th bottle. Or was it 7? Eh, I don’t care other than the fact that I’m starting to get dizzy. I know what can fix this, a quick swim in the pool. I stood up from my chair setting my bottle down and grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt about to remove it. “Patrick! Dinner,” my mom called from the deck. Damn. I picked up my beer and went and joined the group for some hot dogs and burgers. When I got myself a plate my mom whispered to me, “Why don’t you stay up with us on the deck, Mrs. Vaughn is starting to get worried about why you’re not with us.” I nodded my head and sighed, and down at the porch swing inside the circles outside.
Natalie sat down next to me; she had come outside with her plate but without her husband. “Where’s your husband?” I said a little rudely taking a bite of my burger. “Inside talking to your dad,” I looked though the screen door and saw him talking about some new cars on the market. The chair started to sway and that was one of the only sounds coming from outside other than the crickets of our conversation. “Do you remember sitting here basically every summer? Watching the sun set.” A smile came to my lips, “Of course, one of the best moments of summer,” it was silent again as I sat up and put down my plate, “and then I’d throw you into the pool.” She laughed, “Oh ye—AH!” She shrieked as I picked her up and brought her to the tile edge of the pool. “Patrick! Don’t! Please!” I started swaying back and forth, now she was starting to worry. “Patrick! Put me down!” She wasn’t laughing anymore as she gripped to my body with all of her strength. “Patrick! Put me down now!” I finally gave in and let her slide out of my grip. Then another awkward silence as we made our way back to the table, Tyler and the rest of them had just came back outside.
I had changed seats so that the love birds could be together. Everyone was having a good time, talking about whatever came to mind about the past summer. Tyler could not keep his mouth shut for basically two seconds so when he did I rejoiced in silence. Until he started again, “Everyone, Natalie and I have an announcement.” He wrapped his arm over her shoulder. I put my plate down for this one and crossed my arms over my chest. “Natalie and I are having a baby.” Everyone was so excited except for my sisters and me but they faked it. Right when he said it she looked right at me with a sympathetic look in her blue eyes “Oh, congratulations! When’s the due date?” My mom asked. Her eyes were still on me but with half a smile she said, “November 19th,” That was the killer. The baby is going to be born on my birthday. “Oh Pat that’s your birthday, so we’ll be celebrating two birthdays that day!” I faked a smile and took another drink from my beer. “How pregnant are you?” Another question was thrown at her. “2 months,” her eyes never looked away from me. I felt my face get hot so I went out to the pool for a swim.
Removing my shirt I threw it off to the side and jumped in. I let the cold water cool my skin as I started to come back up to the surface. I looked over for a quick second before I saw Natalie book it back inside the house. I ran my fingers through my wet hair as I went back under and thought about things. If I was still with her would that be my baby inside of her? Would she be running away from the party after we told everyone? No of course not, because I fucked up this party.
Coming back up to the surface all eyes were on me. Erica came over and sat down on the edge and slid her feet into the water. She smiled at me sympathetically. “Sorry I ruined your party.” She shook her head, “You didn’t ruin the party Tyler did. But all I came over to say was that Natalie doesn’t look as happy as I think she should be, ya know?” I nodded my head and got out of the water, “Yeah I’ve noticed.”
I went inside the house and walked past the couple straight up to my room to get dried off. I put on a fresh shirt and some dry jeans and went back downstairs with my wet hair. All the problems seemed to have subsided by the time I had come back downstairs, but before I made it back outside a hand gripped my shoulder. “Pat we need to talk.” His voice seemed aggressive, but soft. “About what Tyler?” I sounded oblivious to what had just happened. “You know exactly what.” He continued to talk through his teeth as I spun around to face him, “Listen, you have to get through your thick fucking head that Natalie and I are together and in love, so back off.”
I started to get a playful smirk on my face, “You seriously believe that you and Natalie are in love? Because after the performance that you both had tonight I think you are mistaken. She still has feelings for me asshole so I’d just give up if I were you.” I said using a little bit of the liquid courage that was inside of me. He got up into my face, “Alright fuck face, you need to understand that she’s carrying my baby, that means something. Besides she broke up with you didn’t she? He had a smirk on his face and I was tempted to remove it personally. I didn’t say anything. It was true, she broke up with me five years ago when our relationship was at full bloom because of some homesickness. “Aw, is Patrick gonna cry now? Why don’t we go get a bottle from your mommy baby Patrick, we both know who the real man here is anyway.” Oh now he’s being personal, and immature. It’s going to go down.
Right then and there, that smile that was on his lips was punched off of him. I’m not usually a fighter on the ice but I guess off the ice I’m getting pretty good at it. I had one swift hook to his left jaw. After the first smack was heard everyone rushed in to see what was happening. “Patrick Timothy! get off of him!” At this point I had thrown him to the ground and was on top of him giving him quick punches to the face. My dad had to come over and get me off of him. By the time I could get a good look at what I had done his face had been red and puffy with blood pouring out of his nose. Natalie just stood there in total shock of the situation. Her husband was on the ground in a puddle of his own blood and her ex-boyfriend had been the one to kick the shit out of him, fantastic.
Was I proud of what I did? Nope, I’m not usually that mean about things but Natalie is someone that I really truly care about so if someone had to start bleeding for this guy to understand that I’m not giving up that quickly. So be it. But in all honesty, if i could turn back time i would do it again in a heart beat.
“Alright, I’m up, I’m up. Why do I have to get up anyway?” She went and let the sunlight shine in through the windows by opening the blinds. “Pat, I can’t believe you forgot that the Vaughn family is coming over today!” Oh yeah, right I forgot about that, joy. “Oh sorry Mom,” She laughed, “I know you’re not that excited about this but it’s going to be a good time with old friends, m’kay?” I rolled my eyes and went and got in the shower.
By the time I was completely ready it was 1:00 in the afternoon, only an hour before the Vaughn family and the newlywed Smith family would be joining us in the backyard for a quaint party. You might have already guessed but I wasn’t that excited for this party. I mean usually I’m a party animal but not this party. “Pat can you go help your sisters set up the tables please?” I yelled down back to her, “Of course Mom, I’ll be right down.” I slowly made my way down the stairs to the backyard, making sure to stop first at the refrigerator for a Bud. Jessica and Jackie were setting up the table and chairs while Erica had been sitting on a lounge chair by the pool getting music selections.
“Mom sent me down here. Do ya need me for anything?” I said monotonously.
“No,” she gave a sympathetic smile, “I know how much you are going to hate tonight so why don’t you go and ‘help’ Erica with the music.”
I shrugged my shoulders, “M’kay, easy enough.” I walked around the tiled edge of the pool, “Erica you need my help?” She poked her eyed out from behind her Chanel sunglasses before putting them back, “Nah, just go sit down and pretend like your helping me.” Ya know if this was what actual work was I would always want to help out back home. But it’s just they all know that tonight is going to majorly suck so it’d be a lot easier on me and the family if I just didn’t do anything. So my official job for party set up was ‘don’t get in the way and sit there and drink your beer,’ Jackie called it. And that was exactly what I did.
One beer turned into two beers, two beers turned into three beers, three beers turned into four beers, and four turned into five and after the fifth one I passed out on the chair by the pool. The last time I checked the clock it was 1:30, and that was when I fell asleep. So when 2:00 came around I was shaken awake by Erica. “Pat wake up, they’re here.” She stood me up, I was still a little buzzed from the beers I had. She had gotten me steady just long enough to fix my hair and my clothes that we all wrinkled from my half hour nap. “Now, I know you don’t like Tyler any more but just be sorta respectful to him, please?” I shooed her hands away from my hair, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s go meet the lovely couple.”
Erica held me by the shoulders as we walked back into the house to see everyone. Natalie’s mom came over and gave me a hug and told me it’s been too long since I’ve seen her while I gave her husband a handshake. Natalie came over and gave me a hug before retreating back behind Tyler and with a handshake Tyler gave me a protective look. I shrugged it off as we all went to the backyard.
I took my regular spot on a lounge chair near the pool. I continuously looked over and saw Natalie on the porch swing hand in hand with Tyler, and I couldn’t help but remember being in his place but I put aside the memory and took a swig of my beer. I’m pretty sure I was on my 6th bottle. Or was it 7? Eh, I don’t care other than the fact that I’m starting to get dizzy. I know what can fix this, a quick swim in the pool. I stood up from my chair setting my bottle down and grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt about to remove it. “Patrick! Dinner,” my mom called from the deck. Damn. I picked up my beer and went and joined the group for some hot dogs and burgers. When I got myself a plate my mom whispered to me, “Why don’t you stay up with us on the deck, Mrs. Vaughn is starting to get worried about why you’re not with us.” I nodded my head and sighed, and down at the porch swing inside the circles outside.
Natalie sat down next to me; she had come outside with her plate but without her husband. “Where’s your husband?” I said a little rudely taking a bite of my burger. “Inside talking to your dad,” I looked though the screen door and saw him talking about some new cars on the market. The chair started to sway and that was one of the only sounds coming from outside other than the crickets of our conversation. “Do you remember sitting here basically every summer? Watching the sun set.” A smile came to my lips, “Of course, one of the best moments of summer,” it was silent again as I sat up and put down my plate, “and then I’d throw you into the pool.” She laughed, “Oh ye—AH!” She shrieked as I picked her up and brought her to the tile edge of the pool. “Patrick! Don’t! Please!” I started swaying back and forth, now she was starting to worry. “Patrick! Put me down!” She wasn’t laughing anymore as she gripped to my body with all of her strength. “Patrick! Put me down now!” I finally gave in and let her slide out of my grip. Then another awkward silence as we made our way back to the table, Tyler and the rest of them had just came back outside.
I had changed seats so that the love birds could be together. Everyone was having a good time, talking about whatever came to mind about the past summer. Tyler could not keep his mouth shut for basically two seconds so when he did I rejoiced in silence. Until he started again, “Everyone, Natalie and I have an announcement.” He wrapped his arm over her shoulder. I put my plate down for this one and crossed my arms over my chest. “Natalie and I are having a baby.” Everyone was so excited except for my sisters and me but they faked it. Right when he said it she looked right at me with a sympathetic look in her blue eyes “Oh, congratulations! When’s the due date?” My mom asked. Her eyes were still on me but with half a smile she said, “November 19th,” That was the killer. The baby is going to be born on my birthday. “Oh Pat that’s your birthday, so we’ll be celebrating two birthdays that day!” I faked a smile and took another drink from my beer. “How pregnant are you?” Another question was thrown at her. “2 months,” her eyes never looked away from me. I felt my face get hot so I went out to the pool for a swim.
Removing my shirt I threw it off to the side and jumped in. I let the cold water cool my skin as I started to come back up to the surface. I looked over for a quick second before I saw Natalie book it back inside the house. I ran my fingers through my wet hair as I went back under and thought about things. If I was still with her would that be my baby inside of her? Would she be running away from the party after we told everyone? No of course not, because I fucked up this party.
Coming back up to the surface all eyes were on me. Erica came over and sat down on the edge and slid her feet into the water. She smiled at me sympathetically. “Sorry I ruined your party.” She shook her head, “You didn’t ruin the party Tyler did. But all I came over to say was that Natalie doesn’t look as happy as I think she should be, ya know?” I nodded my head and got out of the water, “Yeah I’ve noticed.”
I went inside the house and walked past the couple straight up to my room to get dried off. I put on a fresh shirt and some dry jeans and went back downstairs with my wet hair. All the problems seemed to have subsided by the time I had come back downstairs, but before I made it back outside a hand gripped my shoulder. “Pat we need to talk.” His voice seemed aggressive, but soft. “About what Tyler?” I sounded oblivious to what had just happened. “You know exactly what.” He continued to talk through his teeth as I spun around to face him, “Listen, you have to get through your thick fucking head that Natalie and I are together and in love, so back off.”
I started to get a playful smirk on my face, “You seriously believe that you and Natalie are in love? Because after the performance that you both had tonight I think you are mistaken. She still has feelings for me asshole so I’d just give up if I were you.” I said using a little bit of the liquid courage that was inside of me. He got up into my face, “Alright fuck face, you need to understand that she’s carrying my baby, that means something. Besides she broke up with you didn’t she? He had a smirk on his face and I was tempted to remove it personally. I didn’t say anything. It was true, she broke up with me five years ago when our relationship was at full bloom because of some homesickness. “Aw, is Patrick gonna cry now? Why don’t we go get a bottle from your mommy baby Patrick, we both know who the real man here is anyway.” Oh now he’s being personal, and immature. It’s going to go down.
Right then and there, that smile that was on his lips was punched off of him. I’m not usually a fighter on the ice but I guess off the ice I’m getting pretty good at it. I had one swift hook to his left jaw. After the first smack was heard everyone rushed in to see what was happening. “Patrick Timothy! get off of him!” At this point I had thrown him to the ground and was on top of him giving him quick punches to the face. My dad had to come over and get me off of him. By the time I could get a good look at what I had done his face had been red and puffy with blood pouring out of his nose. Natalie just stood there in total shock of the situation. Her husband was on the ground in a puddle of his own blood and her ex-boyfriend had been the one to kick the shit out of him, fantastic.
Was I proud of what I did? Nope, I’m not usually that mean about things but Natalie is someone that I really truly care about so if someone had to start bleeding for this guy to understand that I’m not giving up that quickly. So be it. But in all honesty, if i could turn back time i would do it again in a heart beat.
