The summer of '42 was a hard one. My brother had gone off to war and I was missing him terribly. I cried when we hugged goodbye at the train station. I loved Jem and I knew I was going to miss him like I would miss my writing hand if someone had cut it off. It may not be the prettiest analogy ever but that's how my mind works.

"Don't cry, Scout. I'm coming back," he told me.

"Do you promise me?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"No because you know if you ever did I would slap the shit out of you!"

"Jean Louise Finch," Atticus said in a stern voice.

"Sorry, Atticus," I apologized. That day was probably much harder for him than it was for me and believe me, waving my brother Jem goodbye was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life to date.

"I guess it's just you and me," I told him as I hugged his ever-aging body.

"That's not entirely true. We still have Calpurnia and Dill will be back in town soon."

"A few days feels like a few years, Atticus."

It really did feel that way to me. I was a young woman now, my brother off to war, my Atticus and my Cal getting older by the day. My youth was already beginning to slip through my fingers and I couldn't be in denial about it. I was actually sad to see the school year end which was scared me considering me and the school system were never friends. That last day of school I actually cried on my way home. When I rounded the corner to my home I began to cry a different set of tears. Only happiness poured out of my eyes when I saw Dill standing there on my porch, waiting for me to come home. I ran to him, threw my open arms around his neck while he twirled me around.

"How did you manage to come here so soon?" I asked as soon as he put me down.

"I knew you'd be feeling bad lately and I got out of school a day early to come here."

"You're amazing."

"Hey," he said taking my hands in his. "Let's go down to the Eddy."

"Okay, I just got to grab my swimsuit and..."

"Just wear your bra and panties."

"Dill!" I exclaimed while I examined my surroundings. I was especially hoping Cal hadn't heard him. She had been getting more and more suspicious about the exact nature of our relationship over the years. I couldn't blame her anymore than I could pretend that there wasn't something between us.

"Jean Louise," Cal summoned as soon as I saw her face from the window.

"Cal, Dill and I are going down to the Eddy for a few hours."

"You two better not be foolin' around down there!"

"Cal!"

"It's all right, Cal," Dill said, wrapping his arm around me. Like that was really helping our situation. "Nothing bad's gonna happen."

"Mm-hm! You just better behave, Scout. Have a good time."

"Thanks, Cal."

Dill and I walked to the Eddy with our hands linked again. It felt so good to have him here at last. A part of me felt born again and all of my sadness slipped away. Dill was a human remedy for depression as far as I was concerned. It takes a while to get to Barker's Eddy but I didn't mind the walk as long as he was by my side. When we finally got there, I found it surprising we were the only ones down there. Dill then stripped off his shirt and jeans only to be wearing his boxer shorts.

"Dill Harris!"

"Hey, I swam here a million times with your brother more naked than this."

"Yeah, my brother. I'm supposed to be a lady, remember?"

"You knew you never were a lady!" He shouts back as he jumps in and splashes me in the process. I could only laugh.

"Come on in, Scout," he says.

"I'm coming," I say, biting the bullet and taking off my dress. It did feel freeing, not gonna lie. I just hoped nobody but Dill would notice. Dill did notice all right and I could tell by the look on his face he didn't mind. I calmy dive into the warm water as I breaststroke to where Dill was standing. He picked me up by the shoulders and held me in the air.

"Put me down!" I yelled.

"Never!"

Well, he lost his balance and we both fell over into the deep. He had held on to me the whole time and we both came up laughing. That was when an airplane flew above us and the laughter stopped. All it did was make me think of Jem and Dill sensed it.

"You're thinking about Jem aren't you?"

"Yes," I say, crying again. This was so much harder than I imagined. Dill then kissed my lips and gathered me into a hug. I held on to him with all I had and then he would hold me even tighter. I don't know why I thought of Cal but her warning of us not fooling around rang in my ears. Cal, no foolin', this is love.

"Thank you," I said, kissing his cheek.

"For what?" He asked, kissing my cheek back.

"For being here for me."

"You, too. You are the best friend that I've ever had."

"And you're mine."

Oh how I wished we could have stayed there forever that way. Standing in Barker's Eddy, half-naked and hugging, telling each other how much we meant to each other...