"Indian Summer"

“Indian Summer”

By Cody Williams

 

1.

It was what they called Indian summer. The breeze in the air felt good as summer was about to come to an end and autumn was about to begin. Stephanie looked up at the sun that was about to set as she leaned up against the fender of Jake’s old rusted out Toyota 4-Runner truck. She began to think about how she got here.

            It was the fall of her senior year in high school. She first met Jake in the spring. He was handsome. She knew that when she first layers her eyes on him when he walked through the cafeteria for the first time. By that point, Stephanie was on the varsity cheerleading squad, a position she had worked her a*s off since she first got into high school.

            Thing remained pretty much silent between the two of them. Other than an occasional “hey”, they didn’t really speak to each other all that much. That was until the week of spring break. Stephanie worked at the local gas station down town at the time. She remembered when he first came into store. How could she forget? He was wearing his letterman’s jacket and a pair of blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. There was a twinkle in his baby blue eyes as he stood at the front door and looked around.

            Stephanie remembered his hair. That’s what first got her. It was a dark strawberry blonde and was neatly combed over to the side. He walked around for a moment grabbing a single red rose from one of the aisles and walked over to the front counter where she was standing reading out of the latest edition of the Rolling Stone magazine.

            “Bon Jovi. Great band!” Jake said as he looked at the magazine and placed the rose down on the counter. He began reaching for his wallet at his back pocket as Stephanie stood there smiling at him.

            “Yeah! They are!” Stephanie replied. It was the only think she could really think of right off.

            “What’s your favorite song?” He asked her as he opened his wallet and leaned down on the front counter. Stephanie grabbed the rose and placed the sticker with the barcode sticker on it up against the scanner.

            “Livin’ On A Prayer!” She replied as the scanner made beep sound and she handed him the rose. “Is this it?” She asked as she smiled at him. Jake smiled back and shook his head. “Okay, that will be four dollars and fifty cents.” She told him. Jake reached into his wallet and pulled out one five-dollar bill. He handed it over to her; she grabbed it from him and shoved it into the money tray of the cash register. “So, who’s the rose for? Anyone special?” She asked him.

            “Maybe.” He said in a flirtations tone. Jake held the rose up against his nose and sniffed it. “So tell me Steph, do you have any plans for Saturday?” He asked her. She smiled at him and placed her hair behind her ears.

            “No.” Stephanie replied simply.

            “Great! So how about we go out Saturday? Say six o’clock?” He asked as he handed her the rose. Stephanie remained silent for a moment before she finally nodded in agreement.

            “Yes!” She said happily.

            “Great!” He said as he scribbled his phone number on a scrap piece of paper and handed it over to her. That’s how it all started. Throughout the entire summer, they dated. They were almost inseparable.

 

2.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Jake asked as he continued to look at the sun slowly lowering over the horizon. He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Stephanie smiled.

            “Yeah. Yeah it is!” She replied looking at the orange colored sky. Stephanie began to think again. She could still hear the girls in the locker room chanting at her. “Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!” They would shout as she wrapped the towel around her bare body just above her B sized breasts and stepped out of the shower after gym class. She always would look around at the girls in the locker room chanting at her. Some were in their bra and panties while others were still wrapped in their towels. They began panting her with the cheep Wet ‘N Wild condoms that were in the silver vending machine on the wall.

            Stephanie gently placed her hand over her stomach as she fell down on the locker room floor. The girls continued to throw condoms at her as Stephanie started to sob. The girls did pay for it, but the harassment didn’t stop. “Hoe or W***e” was spray painted on her locker almost constantly. Jake did what he could without getting himself into trouble, but it didn’t do much good.

            She hated it sometimes. Sometimes she wished that she never slept with him. Part of her wished that was the case. But a much larger part of her wouldn’t change a damn thing.

            Stephanie remembered the night well. It was Homecoming weekend. Jake just threw the winning touchdown pass during the football game saving the team from being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. To celebrate, Jake managed to get a bottle of wine from his dad’s wine cellar and he booked a room at the Vacancy Motel in Little Rock.

            She’ll never forget it. He had rose pedals covering the bed and several candles around the room burning. She kissed him gently and assisted him in taking off his pants and his letterman’s jacket. It’s bitter sweet really. But she wouldn’t change a thing.

 

3.

Stephanie smiled and looked over to Jake. She grabbed him by the hand and gently kissed him on the cheek.

            “I’m leaving Jake.” She told him. Jake looked confused for a moment.

            “What…what do you mean?” He asked her.

            “When you wake up in the morning, I won’t be here.” She replied. Jake paused for a moment and looked down at the ground. He raised his head back up and looked Stephanie in the eye.

            “I’ll go with you! We can leave together!” He told her. Stephanie smiled at him again and then kissed him on the lips.

            “Okay.” She whispered. Jake kissed her back as they looked back up at the sky and the once orange sky turned black.

 

4.

Stephanie looked at her watch. It said 5:04 AM. She sat there on the side of the road and looked at Jake’s Toyota Truck. She smiled for a moment and rubbed her stomach where the baby was “baking”. She looked over at Jake’s bedroom window and smiled again and a tear slowly began to roll down her face. It was the worse she had felt since she lost her childhood friend, Mr. Wagner.

            “Bye Jake! I love you!” She said as she put her white Toyota Camry into DRIVE and drove away into the darkness searching for a brighter future.

Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams

Courtesy of TTP Entertainment

Author's Note

This story is connected to one of my other stories titled "A Childhood Friend". The young woman in this story, Stephanie, is the same little girl in that story. Other than that, I think this story can easily stand alone. But if you want to read the other story, here is a link:

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/Cody_Williams/1380057/

Thanks for reading! Reviews and comments are welcome as always!

-CW

Reviews

[Dayran]

A goodbye tale that leaves unanswered as to why we leave a love we found irresistible. An Indian summer no doubt ends someday ... but while it lasted it no doubt created an impression and left something for the future. I know what Groucho Marx would have said on such an occasion ... ' Don't name the baby after me.' Nice ...

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[Nia Hope]

It's quite different from what you normally write but I enjoyed it very much :)

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Ankara!

-CW

[Coyote Poetry]

A sad story. You described how people can be cold and heartless. You set-up a place and situation. The ending was sad. Leaving and escaping without a proper goodbye. Thank you for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Coyote!

-CW

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome.

[Sami Khalil]

Something is missing dear poet but I like it. We might have to read the other story as readers to get the full scoop. I did not feel you usual punch lines or the surprises that you slap us with...Excellent...:).......

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Sami! I may go back and take a look at this one as well. There will be a few more stories connected to this one and the first one...I just don't know when I will get around to writing them.

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

Ok. You are welcome...:).....