Summer Fling: Love at First Sight?

SUMMER FLING follows the story of fourteen-year-old Bryn who, for the first time in her privileged life, is ready to experience all the temptations The Cape has to offer teenagers.

Summer Fling:

Love at First Sight?

Maura Rousseau

Chapter 1

“We got the keys to open paradise, yeah paradise
Now let's go walking hand in hand
Come on baby we can hit the lights
Make the wrongs turn right”- Icona Pop

 

Just as she started to drift off to a Taylor Swift soliloquy, that familiar ring let out in her ear. Bryn’s head pounded as she accepted the FaceTime chat. Who else would it be besides her better half? The real love of her life, her best friend: Emily. Her face lay flat on the pillow as Emily smiled in the corner of the screen in her sunglasses.

“Wadd up, wadd up?” Emily asked in her typical high pitched upbeat tone.

“Just dying of boredom,” Bryn replied, half asleep.

Bryn and Emily had been thick as thieves since first grade. Ever since the day Miss Davis moved Bryn’s seat to the other side of the room. Bryn couldn’t help but let her eyes well up with tears and pour out all over her desk. The separation was too much for her to bear, but Emily always seemed to know what to say and was wise beyond her years. When Miss Davis finally let the class take a bathroom break, Emily walked up to Bryn and wrapped her arms around her; promising that they would still be friends and so they still were eight years later. 

“You must be the only miserable b***h sitting inside on a day like this.” No one would have accused Emily of beating around the bush, or of killing anyone with kindness. She had the sort of blunt manner Bryn envied.

“I just got back from the beach. I needed a nap.”

“Sure ya do. What are you doing tonight? Come back home and hangout with me tonight.”

“I wish,” Bryn replied with truth in her voice. The ride home wasn’t long, or shouldn’t be if you didn’t account for the potential hours and hours of long backups that came with any trip to and from The Cape. Emily would spend her summer at her perfect home. Her lazy days were killed laying by the pool and at night she and whoever remained of their friends would gorge themselves on chocolate shakes. The only downside to staying home for the summer was that it felt like everyone else had left. Most of their friends would spend their summers at sleep-away camps in upstate New York, in order to escape the hovercrafts in their houses known as their Jewish mothers. For them, the summer would serve as a time to run free and maybe meet a nice Jewish boy that their mothers would approve of. Of course the boys would eventually dump them before graduating and packing up their bags to attend the Ivy League school of their choice. “What are you doing tonight?” asked Bryn, not really wanting to know the truth, but asking seemed the polite thing to do.

“Babysitting. Lame I know, but my mom and dad have been after me to do something with my life this summer besides lay by the pool. What do they work for if not for me to enjoy the summer, ya know?”

Bryn knew Emily was spoiled beyond belief, but as were all her classmates. Bryn’s summer at The Cape paled in comparison to the rest of their lives.  Most teenagers in Newton spent their Christmas vacations at their homes in the Caribbean and once they had outgrown summer camp, they would spend their summers before college in Europe; learning French, according to their parents, and in reality learning how to French kiss.

“At least you get to hang by the pool. I’m stuck here alone with Rowan for the summer.”

“Why don’t you get out? Normally I wouldn’t suggest anything this extreme, but maybe you should get a job to meet some people, or maybe you could pretend to drown. I bet there are a lot of cute lifeguards down there.” Emily always had a way of making Bryn laugh, but she did have a good point. If she was going to be stuck in this hellhole all summer, then maybe she should get a job. That way she would have some extra money for back to school shopping and she could buy that pair of Tory Burch flats she had been eyeing.

“You always have the most brilliant ideas, Emily,” said Bryn between laughs.

“Obviously. Okay I gotta go. Call me tomorrow.”

“Okay. Love you, bye.”

“Love you too, bye!”

Now it was time to get serious about that nap. Maybe if she could shut her eyes and think for a minute, Bryn could come up with a place to work that wouldn’t make her want to gag every time she heard her alarm clock go off in the morning. All Bryn wanted to do was close her eyes and think of Matt. Matt probably never thought of Bryn, but that never stopped her dreams. She dreamt of the days and the nights they would spend together next year when they would both be freshmen in high school. She would make the cheerleading team and he would be a shoo-in for JV football, an honor not bestowed upon every freshman. One day, maybe in math class, he would gaze around the room and finally see what he never saw before. The girl with impossibly shiny blonde hair, long legs that stretched past most of the other girls, and eyes so blue people would stop midsentence to comment on them. They would spend the school days sharing lunches and the cold fall nights under blankets in his basement. Matt had been the object of Bryn’s affection since sixth grade. His freckles and brown eyes were irresistible to her. He flew under the radar to most of the girls since his quiet nature couldn’t compete with that of his boisterous friends, but Bryn saw what the others couldn’t; a boy who made jokes at the perfect time, who didn’t have to yell out in the middle of class to grab her attention, who never cut anyone in the lunch line, and was just cute enough to eat with the boys every other girl loved. Matt was meant to be her first boyfriend and her first kiss.

 

Chapter 2

“I threw a wish in the well
Don't ask me I'll never tell
I looked to you as it fell
And now you're in my way”- Carly Rae Jepsen 

Blinking repeatedly, to restore moisture to her eyes, Bryn headed down to the kitchen. Of course she never thought to take her contacts out before her naps and she always paid dearly when she woke.

“Nice of you to join us,” Bryn’s mother called out. As Bryn rounded the corner, she found her mom as expected; sitting in front of the fireplace with a glass of Pinot Grigio in one hand and a book in the other. The only surprising aspect of this scene was that Bryn’s mother didn’t appear to be her usual fifth glass deep by night’s fall.

“I needed a nap,” Bryn quipped back.

“Dinner’s in the fridge.”

 And so their conversation ended. Bryn grabbed her salad out of the refrigerator and headed out to the empty deck. Her father and little brother Rowan were undoubtedly in the basement playing cards or board games. Here Bryn would find relief in the quiet of the night. The only sound outside would be of children playing basketball down the street and crickets chirping. The only light for her dinner would be provided by the lantern on the picnic table and the fireflies in the yard.

Just before dozing off, Bryn had been struck with a brilliant idea. Two of her favorite things about the summer were working on her tan and eating ice cream. Luckily for her, her fourteen-year-old metabolism didn’t let the latter impact the former. Why not get a job at an ice cream shop this summer? God knows you can’t throw a stone without hitting one in this town. As Bryn finished up the last few bites of her salad, she decided she would pull her bike out of the garage and head downtown. Knowing she had to move with haste before she lost motivation and courage, she dropped her plate in the sink and yelled out, “Bye Mom. I’ll be back before ten.”

“Okay just bring your…” Bryn was out the door before she heard her mom yell “phone.” It wasn’t every day that she was willing to put herself out there and talk to people she didn’t know, but she knew her acting skills weren’t up to par to fake a drowning incident. Thank God her dad had taken the flower basket off her bike before they left for the summer. It seemed to Bryn as if it was a task on his to do list that he had been avoiding; the basket was one of the last artifacts that remained of the little girl who was now a teenager. It would only be a couple of right hand turns off dune bordered roads, lit by streetlights and headlights of cars headed home from lobster dinners, before she would reach the center of town. Although the trip was quick, it was a beautiful one. By daylight one could see the beautifully manicured lawns, which lay before the modest cape houses and no businesses where to be seen till Bryn reached the downtown area. The town felt sleepy and quiet till she pulled up to the main road, which was littered with art galleries, souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, and the arcade. Hyannis is just a short drive over the Bourne Bridge, which serves as an official transition point between The South Shore and The Cape. The town’s people are a mix of the very wealthy who live in colonial styled houses and the middle class who typical reside in ranches or cape styled homes. Those who live right on the water have jobs, which bring them to Boston or New York City on a regular basis. Sometimes these houses stand abandoned from the fall through the spring, except for the occasional family trip for a Cape Cod Christmas. Hyannis is a town which stays busier year round than those which surround it, but when the summertime hits, the semi-sleepy area transitions into a Mecca for all those who reside in Massachusetts. This June would mark her family’s third summer in Hyannis. It had become a sort of home away from home for the rest of the MacIntyre family, but Bryn always found herself missing her true home: Newton.

While getting ready, Bryn had been so tired that she never bothered to brush her hair or change out of her bathing suit. She could only be bothered to throw on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a plain white t-shirt, which perfectly showcased her tan. She pulled over and left her bike leaning against one of the small shacks local artists use during the summer to sell their work. In two blocks alone, there were two ice cream and one frozen yogurt shops. Bryn never understood people who wasted their time with fro yo. She knew enough to know she only ever wanted the real thing. The only question now was which shop she would approach first: “The Scoop” or “Sweet Delight”? Somehow “The Scoop” sounded more dangerous. Bryn walked straight through the door, up to the counter, and requested to speak with the manager.

“That would be me. How may I help you?” replied a twenty-something-year-old man with shaggy brown hair, a beautiful white smile, and red glazed eyes. His name tag read “Bobby”.

“I was wondering if you are hiring,” said Bryn, blushing. Her confidence and determination were starting to fade.

“Well, usually by now we’re all set for the summer, but lucky for you Sean quit last night and we could use a cute blonde. I’m Bobby. What’s your name?” Bryn couldn’t decide if Bobby was comfortable being so inappropriate around someone her age, or if he was under the impression that she would be someone he could pursue for the summer and conquer without serving jail time.

She smiled nervously. “I’m Bryn, so when could I start?”

“You’re a go-getter, Bryn. I like that. I’m a little busy tonight.” Bryn took account of the patrons in the store: a mother and daughter sitting by the window eating their ice cream and two couples on a double date in line being helped by a strikingly handsome guy with sandy blonde hair. “Why don’t you come back tomorrow around eleven in the morning? That should work for me.”  Bryn may have been a little on the naive side, but she knew from Emily’s older brother that it was more likely that Bobby and the sandy haired guy wanted the shop empty, so they could add another shade of red to their eyes.

“Okay sure, I’ll see you then!” Bryn returned to her bike, a little mad at herself for not asking for an Oreo sundae to go, but there would be plenty of time for that later, or maybe she should think about cutting back if she was going to have any chance of being noticed by Bobby’s dreamy assistant.

 

Chapter 3

“And we could be together baby, as long as skies are blue”-Calvin Harris

Rowan running up and down the stairs had become Bryn’s morning alarm clock. He had a hard time containing his excitement and during the summer their mother never forced him to swallow his A.D.H.D. medication. Bryn rolled over to check the time on her phone. When she brushed the sleep out of her eyes, she was stunned to see that it was already almost ten. This wouldn’t leave enough time for her usual waking up routine: check Snapchat, check Instagram, and check for any potential missed texts. “What do you know? No missed messages,” she muttered under her breath. Not wasting anytime, Bryn headed toward the bathroom she would be forced to share with her little brother for the next few months. She turned the hot water on in the shower and stood staring into the mirror until she couldn’t see herself through the steam. Even in the heat of the summer, Bryn couldn’t resist a scalding hot shower. A quick shampoo, a run of her razor over her legs, and she shut off the water before heading back to her room. Rowan had moved his morning parade out to the yard, so the house was still for a moment. A hot pink polo and her cutoffs seemed like the easiest thing to throw on before she grabbed her sunglasses and flip flops. Normally she would have liked to have worn a dress, but it was almost impossible to be ladylike on a bike with her short hems. Bryn jumped on her bike and headed into town. Back to see her new “boss” Bobby and hopefully her new co-worker. Too bad she didn’t have a name to attach to the guy with the flawlessly sun highlighted hair. She couldn’t catch his name without being too obvious last night. He looked like maybe a Nate or a Garrett.

It didn’t take Bryn too long before she was back at The Scoop. Glancing in the shop, she could see that all the lights were out and she was about five minutes early. She sat down on the wooden steps growing more and more nervous as the minutes passed. Bryn could handle Bobby creeping on her a little bit, but the idea of even having to say hi to Garrett or Nate or whatever his name was would be enough to make her want to run around the back to throw up in the bushes. Before she knew it, she had been sitting there for half an hour. Bryn had started to resign herself to the idea that Bobby had probably thought she was an illusion and wouldn’t be showing up anytime soon. A quick stop by Dunkin Donuts on her way home seemed like a much more tempting way to spend her morning. Just as Bryn was about to stand up, she heard the shop doors open behind her.

“Hey, it’s Bryn right?” she heard a coy young male’s voice behind her.

Bryn paused for a second. She was ready to run to her bike and stay hidden in her room for the rest of the summer. Too bad he already knew her name, or she could have been the mysterious girl that ran like a freak from her first day, but she couldn’t chance a story like that getting out with her name attached to it. Instead of running, Bryn chose to ignore the hundreds of butterflies in her stomach; she stood up and turned around.

“Yeah, it’s Bryn,” she managed to choke out with a smile.

“Cool, I’m Jay.”

In that moment it was almost as if Matt had never existed. Before her stood the most gorgeous guy she had seen all summer, all two weeks she had been in Hyannis that is. If she thought he was cute last night, Bryn was not prepared for how he would look in the light of day with clear eyes and arms free of fudge. His green eyes knocked all the feeling out of her knees and his smile was crooked enough to differentiate him from the rest of the guys with pearly whites.

“Why don’t you come on in? Bobby’s not great at showing up places on time, so I usually open,” said Jay.

“Okay, sure.”

“So, where are you from?” asked Jay.

“Newton,” said Bryn.

Jay replied with the usual response she got when she answered that question: “Ohhh,” meaning “Ohhh you must be a spoiled brat.”

“I’m here with my family for the summer and I really just wanted a job to get out of the house and save up some of my own money,” Bryn said, trying to explain away her parents’ wealth while earning Jay’s approval. She feared that he was all too used to girls like her; girls who worked when they didn’t have to and who would forget all about him the second they returned home.

“Cool, let me show you around,” Jay said with his infectious smile. He gave her the tour of the back office and showed her where to find the dingy employee bathroom. On the brief circuit, Jay explained that he was one of a few locals that helped keep Bobby’s business above water. As it turned out, Bryn was the only summer resident Bobby had on staff. Apparently he liked to hire one each summer to mix things up a bit. “Now comes the fun part, the highlight of our tour.” Bryn could only hold her breath and hope that Jay would pull her in close in the middle of the store and kiss her before anyone else walked in. “Time to try all the flavors. Bobby doesn’t have a lot of rules, but he insists the employees are familiar with the product.”

“Of course,” Bryn responded with a laugh and only a smidge of disappointment in her voice. After all, she never met an ice cream flavor she didn’t like and there were worse ways to spend an afternoon than testing flavors with Jay. There the two stood, tiny pink spoons in hand, trying all thirty flavors.

“I just think it’s important to make sure I retest them all every couple of months, so I can make sure I make the best recommendations.”

“That only seems like good business. You’re very dedicated, Jay.” Jay, she loved the way that name rolled off her tongue much more smoothly than Nate, or what was the other option she came up with?

“Oh man, I’m so sorry, Bryn,” called out a voice from the backroom. Out popped Bobby’s head through the door. “I just lost track of time and it was a late night.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” said Bryn.

“Has there been a day you haven’t lost track of time, or a night that didn’t go too long?” Jay asked, teasing Bobby.

“Ah man, you know how it is,” was the only retort Bobby could manage through his hangover. “Let’s get all your paperwork started Bryn.”

“Thanks for all your help, Jay,” said Bryn as she walked to the backroom.

“Anytime!”

Bryn could only hope that Jay would keep staring at the back of her jean shorts as she walked away, but she knew it was more likely that he would relish in his sugar coma.

Bryn showed up to her second night of work, hoping that Jay would be her shift-mate for the evening. When she saw her schedule for the week, she should have known right then and there that they wouldn’t be crossing paths, at least for this week. Jay was typically scheduled for the morning and it seemed like a fortunate twist of fate that he was there the night she walked in asking to speak to the manager. Bryn had imagined spending her nights mixing flavors with Jay and creating their own inside jokes. Instead she and Cameron had spent their shifts avoiding Bobby’s casual sexual advances. Lucky for Bryn, Cam took the brunt of Bobby’s ploys. Cameron would be a junior this fall but, compared to Bryn, she looked like she could have been in college. She was almost as tall as Bryn, but had dark brown hair that cascaded half way down her back and bright brown eyes to match. One of the best things about working with Cameron was the sea of local guys who would pour in to say hi and ask her what she would be doing after work. It never seemed like there was a shortage of parties on the beach for her to attend and Bryn hoped beyond hope that Cameron would turn to her one night and ask her if she wanted to come along. By the time Bryn left work, her mom would have been passed out for an hour and her dad was too clueless to ever assume that she would be doing anything other than spending some extra time readying the store for the next day.  The only downside to working with Cam was that Bryn worried that Jay had found her as beautiful as she did. Did Cam work the nightshift specifically to avoid Jay? Maybe Jay was in love with Cam and Cam, being an older woman, wanted nothing to do with him. When there was no one there for Bryn to scoop ice cream for, she let her mind wander to this dark place.

When ten o’clock came, Cameron washed her hands and grabbed her Vineyard Vines pullover. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow!” Cameron smiled and waved as she ran out the door. “Bye Bobby!”

“Bye Cam! Don’t get into too much trouble,” he responded. “You can head out too, Bryn. I have some private business to attend to.” By private business Bobby meant that he needed Bryn out of the store, so there wouldn’t be anyone there to witness him blaze up and clean the store from top to bottom. Although Bryn could never stand the smell of weed, she had to give it to Bobby that he seemed to be a hundred times more productive with a joint in his mouth and a broom in hand.

“Okay, thanks, bye. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait one second, Bryn.”

Oh great, was this going to be the point where he would ask her if she wanted to stay and join him in his “business”?

“I almost forgot to ask you if you would mind changing shifts tomorrow. I know it’s supposed to be a great beach day, but Chelsea bailed and Jay needs someone to help get everything up and running tomorrow.”

“Oh sure, I could do that. No problem,” said Bryn.

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t mind,” Bobby replied with a smile.

Was she that transparent that even through Bobby’s haze he could see her feelings? Or maybe it was just that he was used to girls not minding picking up shifts to work with Jay. Either way, she would take what she could get. Too bad she had to wear the high-necked work t-shirt that did nothing to show off her barely there chest. As she biked home, she thought to herself that she would have to compensate with a pair of extra short shorts.

Chapter 4

“Do you remember, 
Or should I rewind, 
To that summer when you caught my eye,”- New Kids on the Block

Bryn reached to tap the snooze on her alarm. The butterflies she experienced while waiting on the front steps of her first day of work had swiftly returned. She had barely slept last night. Lying awake in bed, Bryn had practiced over and over again in her head witty responses to anything Jay would throw her way that day. As she looked into the bathroom mirror, Bryn was disgusted to see the circles under her eyes. Today would be a day for some concealer, mascara, and maybe some gloss for good measure.  She brushed her teeth quickly before heading back to her bedroom to find her work shirts and jean shorts amongst the piles and piles of clothes, which littered her bedroom floor. Why couldn’t she have a cuter uniform? How was she supposed to compete with the girls who would come in with only their bikini tops and barely there shorts? After shoveling a bowl of Lucky Charms down her throat, Bryn hopped on her bike and started peddling into town. It was another postcard perfect day for the city’s tourists and her fellow summer renters to bask in. The week of the Fourth of July was notoriously crazy across The Cape. A typical weekend would keep the Bourne Bridge backed up, but this week all those who dared to make the trip would be forced to surrender; putting their car in park till the one in front of them would move a couple of feet.

The bike ride never took more than fifteen minutes, but today it felt like an eternity. Bryn wondered to herself if she should turn around and go back home to call sick into work. Where had all the courage gone, which she possessed when she marched into The Scoop demanding to speak to the manager? If she couldn’t muster up a piece of that today, she knew she would have to fake it.

Of course Bryn was ten minutes early, as she was for everything. After she rested her bike against the store steps, she sat and waited for Jay to open the door and call her name. Just as she thought to pull out her phone to check for any Instagram updates, she heard the door swing open and the hundreds of butterflies in her stomach rushed up to her cheeks to illuminate them in a bright red shade. “Nice to see you again, Bryn,” were the sweetest words she had ever heard. “Did you get a little burnt yesterday?”

Bryn counted her blessings that she could pass off her nervousness as a sundrenched day’s souvenir. “Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have skipped out on the sunscreen,” she replied as she followed Jay through the door. “What do you need me to do to get things going this morning?”

“Ah, we’re pretty much all set. I just need to get the cash out of the safe for the register. Hold on one second, I’ll be back.”

Not knowing what to do with herself, Bryn used the lone moments to find a stance by the ice cream that seemed sexy but natural. Nothing seemed to fit, so she settled on sitting upon the counter: legs crossed, leaning back, next to the register. When Jay returned, he wouldn’t be able to avoid noticing her long legs.

“Hey, could you flip over the open sign?” Jay called from the backroom. Not wanting to abandon her pose, Bryn jumped up quickly and fixed the sign before running back to her position. She made it just in the nick of time before Jay walked in with a wad of cash. “Bobby never seems to think to organize this before he leaves.” Even when Bryn thought Jay might be showing the least bit of aggravation, he still did it with a smile on his face.

“I’ll help,” she sheepishly responded.

There the two stood organizing the mess of cash before the day’s first customers arrived. It wasn’t until the first ones walked out of the shop with cones in hand that Bryn realized that her butterflies had disappeared. Once it was just the two of them again, the silence was too much for her nerves to bear. Words needed to leave her mouth; otherwise it would be something much less pleasant. “What are you doing for the fourth?” she managed to get out before breathing a sigh of relief. It was a good thing she had a stockpile of questions saved in her head from her sleepless night.

Jay paused for a moment and stared out the shop windows, as if she asked him the square root of 689. He scrunched up his eyebrows and gave the question some thought. “Oh, I know. My friend Kevin is having a party at his house. All my friends are going and Cam will probably be there too.” Damn it! She was right about their tawdry love affair. How dare Cam get to Jay before her! Jay continued, “It’s always a lot of fun. Kevin’s parents are out for the night and they don’t care if we party. His house is right on the water by the lighthouse. We don’t have to go anywhere; we can see the fireworks from his back deck. It’s pretty sweet.”

“Sounds really great,” replied Bryn.

“You probably already have plans, but do you want to come?”

Wait what? Had Jay invited her to a party? Nothing she had dreamt up last night could have prepared her for him to ask her such a question. She imagined it would take at least five more shifts before he would be so bold.  “Ah, well,” Bryn stammered, “I did have plans. My friend Emily was supposed to visit me, but she had to cancel. She got grounded and her parents won’t let her come now.” A lie, Bryn had shocked even herself that she was able to come up with a cover story like that on the spot.

“That sucks. Well good thing you have some new friends that don’t get caught enough to get grounded.”

Even in Bryn’s limited experience with boys she knew that Jay was friendlier and smoother than the rest his age. “Lucky me,” Bryn said laughing.

“So does that mean you’re in?”

“I guess it does.”

Who was this girl? The girl who actually said the right thing at the right time and was successful in tricking a cute guy into thinking she had a life. As if on cue, two young boys walked into the store, leaving their interaction hanging in the air. The next three hours would be busy with a steady stream of customers. Bryn was thankful to have her hands occupied and to have a relief from the clever banter. When the clock struck two, Bryn thought it best to leave on time and on a high note. She quickly scribbled her number down on the back of an order sheet. Once Jay finished making a sundae, she handed him the paper.

“Here’s my number. You can text me and let me know what the deal is for Saturday,” she said.

“Sounds good. It’s time for you to leave, huh?”

“Yeah, I have to go home and get ready.” To do what even Bryn didn’t know, but she knew it was better to act as if she was in high demand.

“Alright can’t wait for Saturday,” Jay said as he reached out for a hug. “Sorry I’m a hugger.”

Bryn couldn’t help but blush as she wrapped her arms around his back. Hopefully Jay would forget that her sunburn had disappeared only to reappear inconveniently at this moment. “See you Saturday,” Bryn said as she regretfully let go.  Bryn was high on cloud nine and practically skipped out the door to her bike without looking back. The whole ride back Bryn replayed every perfect thing she said, but she mostly dwelled on that “can’t wait for Saturday” line. He couldn’t wait. She couldn’t help but smile the whole way back. Nothing could ruin her mood; nothing could stop her from feeling on top. Till one dark thought crept back into her mind: Cameron. 

Author's Note

I would love to hear any reactions, suggestions, criticism, or praise you may have. Love it or hate it I would love to hear what you think and what demographic you represent.