The Summer Guest

CHAPTER 2

The Grind didn’t seem too busy today as I walked behind the counter to get our food ready. It’s a quaint little café in the middle of downtown Denver. I fried us both up some paninis and topped our plate off with a piece of cheesecake. As I’m heading over to our table Emma is mumbling something to herself. She stops and looks up at me as I take a seat.

“I can’t believe your mom is forcing you to babysit her. This was supposed to our summer to go crazy before I go to college.” Emma was not happy with the news my mom gave me. I’m not thrilled either, but I don’t think Layla will bother us too much. She’s probably too stuck up in her own life to even notice what’s going on around her.

“Me either. Hopefully it won’t be too bad and we can still have a fun summer. Hey! Now we have my house for a whole month to throw epic parties in.” Emma’s eyes glittered at my comment. We’ve always been the ones to sneak into parties, not throw them.

“I didn’t think of it that way.” She propped her head up on her hand in deep in thought with her panini in the other hand. “This prosciutto is amazing.”

“I wouldn’t know.” I jokingly said. I’ve been a vegetarian since the fourth grade. Emma and my mom give me crap for it, but I can’t stand eating something so cute and innocent.

“So, we could totally redo the dock at your house with string lights, potted plants and some cute conversation chairs. Then I was thinking we’ll build a huge fire pit at the shoreline next to your dock with some more chairs that way we can have bon fires at the parties this summer.”

I sighed. Bringing up the parties was a bad idea this soon, but she needed something to look forward to. Emma is and always has been a planner for as long as I remember. She got her contractors license right after she turned 18 with the help of her uncle and she’s going to school for interior design. The natural talent she has for that kind of stuff amazes me. “Sure, that sounds good.” I agree.

We finish up our lunch and head outside. Another scorching day. Great. While unlocking the doors I think about how much I love my little red truck. It’s not much but I’m proud of it because I worked summers and nights for four years to be able to buy it. I wanted to work for something and be grateful for it rather than having my mom just buy it for me. We hopped into our seats and buckled up, headed to the hardware store for Emma’s big plans. She can barely contain her excitement when we walk in, it’s like watching a kid in a candy shop. She’s only grabbing what she needs in her words, but we have two full carts when I have to drag her by the collar to the register. When the cashier rang in the last item and the total popped up, I clenched my chest and thought I was having a heart attack.

“846 dollars and 52 cents.” He let us know with an annoying cheer to his voice.

Emma stepped up with her wallet. “Don’t worry Ash, I got it. We’re going to be charging people for these parties to recollect the cost and I’ve saved up a lot working with my uncle.”

My body relaxed a little at that. I have money saved up, but not to blow on outdoor decorations. I never knew how expensive outdoor decor could be.

When we got back to the house, we worked all night long to get it looking how Emma wanted it which was tough. I swear we rearranged everything about 40 times. s**t, Emma’s rubbing off on me. I pushed the terrifying thought to the back of my mind and forced myself to move my legs and arms and finish up. It’s been a long day but it will definitely be worth it in the end. This is going to be our main hang out spot this summer and we've put a lot of work in to make it the best it can be. On the left side before the dock we built a huge fire pit big enough to fit at least 30 people around it. On the right side we had an awkward concrete patio space with nothing on it so Emma made some light planters and placed some chairs and built a mini bar on it as well.

It was finally quitting time around 10:30p. I had to give her props, it looked amazing out here. Even my mom was blown away by it all. After Emma left, I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready for bed. I was exhausted and tomorrow was the day that Layla was coming over so we had a lot to do around the house as well.

I stepped out of the shower towel drying my hair out and put some pajamas on for the night. As I laid down and closed my eyes I hoped that this summer would be as great as Emma and I had originally planned. We weren't going to let Layla ruin it for us.