I think that one of the most beautiful things about her was the way she was so bright. She lit up when she talked about the things she loved the most. She was the greatest adventure that could've occurred in my very small existence. That was what I loved about her most. There's a light in someone's soul that burns when they talk about their passions and there's really nothing more beautiful than seeing someone love something as much as you love them.
But there was something about her. She just shone brighter than anything or anyone else. It was something about her that I've never be able to put my finger on. Even now I try to think about what drew me to her I can't. Or maybe I'm just putting her on a pedestal I can never really tell.
At the beginning of that summer I had two goals. 1) I was going to get a girlfriend. 2) Hopefully get laid. Not that I was one of those guys who all they thought about was when they could get into bed with a girl but I mean honestly I was seventeen. The closest I had come to seeing a girl naked was a swimsuit. Which doesn't really count as nudity.
The end of my junior year wasn't actually all that spectacular we just kind of left like we were going to come back again and again for the rest of forever. Plus all I was going to do with my summer was play video games with my best friend Scott. I didn't think my goals were going to work out so I just kind of held on to the idea of them.
"Is this what the rest of the summer is going to be like?" I groan, pausing our fourth game consecutive of Call of Duty today.
"What the hell else are we going to?"
Scott rolled over on the floor to look up at me on the couch. Scott had curly black hair, dark brown eyes and he had a slightly uneven jawline. Honestly his features were not the best thing he had going for him but maybe that was just because I'm not attracted to him, in a sexual way...
"We're only two days into summer. What aren't we going to do, is the real question?"
Scott doesn't say anything for a long time. I kick him in the stomach trying to make the words escape him. Scott smacked my foot away though and unpaused the game so the room was filled with the sounds of guns and automated yelling.
I sigh and kill some guys that were running towards us. Scott and I settled into a long standing routine of protecting each other's backs. I could hear a racket from around the corner at the front door, and a second later my mom's head popped around the corner.
"Didn't I leave you two like this a few hours ago?" Mom asked slowly, looking over our bag of chips, the TV, and Scott and I splayed across most of the living room.
"Yeah we don't have anything else to do, so we're pretty much just going to be hanging here defeating bad guys sorry, Mrs. S," Scott said not sounding the least bit sorry.
My mom rolled her eyes, and headed into the kitchen carrying her environmentally friendly grocery bags. Ever since scientists had started making a big deal about global warming my mom had started trying to do her part. After Mom had left the room Scott and I unpaused our game and continued shooting at random men that tried to attack us.
"Hey boys," Mom called to us from the kitchen, "Come in here please."
We groaned but heaved ourselves up. At this point Scott's parents and my parents had just accepted that there was no way to get rid of as they put it "the other one". So my mom calling for both of us wasn't anything that was all that new. In the kitchen my mom was preparing to make what looked like cookies. Scott and I exchanged looks of shock. In my life I had probably seen my mom bake, or cook for that matter, all of three times.
"Mom… What are you doing?" "Some people moved in next door and I thought it would be good to welcome them," Mom said breathlessly, wiping her hand across her forehead.
"So you want us to take some cookies over…?" Scott said slowly.
Mom sent us back to our game with a nod. Scott saved our game and turned off the TV and Xbox. We both knew that with a new family next door there was a possibility of there being a classic girl next door scenario. Scott's brown eyes sparkled with the idea of what we might finally get presented with. Scott had been fantasizing about this day since he had discovered what he could do with a box of tissues and his right hand.
"Let's tell your mom that we're going to help them move," Scott said in a secretive voice.
I tell my mom what we were going to do and who knew maybe they actually would need help. Mom didn't saying anything so Scott and I rushed out the door. Next door was a huge green moving truck. I elbowed Scott in the ribs when a woman with red hair appeared from behind the truck holding boxes. She then quickly disappeared into the house shouting.
"Dude I know," Scott said excitedly.
Scott practically skipped to the moving truck and somehow after years of practice I could match my friend's jolty long pace. The woman came out of the house, her look of confusion obvious when she sees the two of us. She was probably worried that we were two sketchy teenagers trying to rob her new home.
"Hey I'm Scott, this is Stiles," Scott introduced us as the woman slowly approached us. Her brown eyes studied us, the woman's hair had been messily pushed back into a ponytail, and she was breathing kind of hard.
"Hi I'm Lucy, do you two live around here?" The woman, Lucy introduced herself.
"Yeah I live right there," I inform her pointing out my house.
Lucy nodded and briskly went by us and into the truck. We follow her to see only a few stacks of boxes, and furniture in the back of the truck.
"Do you need any help?" Scott asked, his voice echoing in the metal truck.
Lucy turned to look at us with a look of relief. Lucy seemed so grateful for the offer that Scott and I climbed into the truck.
"Thank you, my daughter is supposed to be helping but I think she's too busy exploring the house."
Scott shot a grin towards me, and then quickly concealed it by picking up a box labeled "KITCHEN STUFF". I laugh because honestly the chance of this happening was practically one in a million and Scott had pretty much just won the lottery. I grabbed a box but after a few seconds I felt weak holding the box. I step down off the truck trying not to break anything. I glance at the label on the box to see that I was carry Lucy's daughters clothes. Lucy hopped down next to me holding two huge boxes. I look at my singular box that was causing my arms to tremble, feeling a twinge of embarrassment the size of Everest.
"You can just put that in living room Lydia can deal with her own crap," Lucy huffed.
I nod and head up to the house. I had never been inside the house because the people who had lived here before were an old married couple who were now living in California. One of the few times I had ever actually interacted with either of them was when Scott had thrown a ball into their yard. Scott had been too scared to get it so I called him a chicken, and walked the foot into their yard. It was too late for the ball though because as soon as I got my hands near it an old withered hand snatched up. I didn't look up though to see who's hand it was I just ran back to the safety of my yard.
Scott came back out of the house with a look of disappointment. He hadn't seen her. I didn't really care about her as much as I wanted that the old couple to be gone. Scott took the box from my arms, and headed back inside in search of her. I wanted to know what compelled my friend to search for this girl because it was getting a little weird. How did he know that he wanted her? Or was it the idea of her that he wanted? I clambered back into the truck and picked up another box.
"It helps if you pick them up with your knees and not your back."
"Shut up Scott-" I say turning around.
It wasn't Scott sitting on the edge of the truck though. A girl with strawberry blonde hair sat with her back facing me. I stepped off the truck, the box still in my arms. So this was Lydia. She peered at me with big green eyes through long dark lashes. She was wearing army green shorts and her legs swung back and forth her toes brushing the box that I held.
"I'm Lydia by the way," she said extending her hand out to me, hopping down from the truck with barefeet.
I fumble with the box and managed to give her a small handshake that kind of looked like what a T- Rex's handshake would look like.
"I'm Stiles," I mumble.