Chapter 1

Augusts were always hot, sometimes unbearable, in Miami. I remember every summer feeling like our skin was melting off and our blood was boiling from the beaming rays of the unfaltering sun. We would look for shelter under the trees, but always seemed to find that the trees themselves were close to sweating. Any house, store, or school you would walk into had their air conditioners on full blast, if they were fortunate enough to have any. Those unlucky places that had no air conditioning would have crowds of people huddled around a fan hoping desperately for a breeze to hit them. And the really unlucky places that did not even have fans would have energy drained people draped over anything they could find.

Each summer, my group of friends and I would look for something, anything, to cool us down. When we were younger it was water balloons and sprinklers in our backyards. Now that we are older, we go to the lake near my house we discovered three years ago. The lake was amazing. The water was crystal clear, nature surrounded it, and there were only peaceful sounds everywhere. It was always my favorite part of summer when my brother, Justin, his best friend, Austin, my best friend Laura, and I would just relax down by our secret lake. It was like our escape from the hustle and bustle of Miami's summer. It felt perfect, and I would not change anything for the world.

This year was different though. This past year I started high school, and I had "developed" more this year. In more than one way. With the other "development", my confidence also experienced a growth. Not to mention the growth in the attention I got from boys at school. I did not notice how different boys get when a girl starts to mature. It is like they stop seeing the girl and only see a chest with a head. It bothered me when my guy friends from eighth grade suddenly got all weird around me. I did not want their attention. I didn't like any of the guys in my grade. I only wanted attention from one boy. Austin's attention.

I know. I know. He is my brother's best friend. Plus he is three years older than me. But the heart wants what it wants. I tried, I really tried, not to like him. I told myself that it was just a little crush that would go away in a couple years. Ya, well I told myself that seven years ago. I knew the first time I saw him that it was love.

My mom and I were in the kitchen baking cookies, when we heard knocking at our front door. My mom took off her apron to go answer the door. I took this as an opportunity to eat some of the cookie dough. As I dipped my finger in the mixing bowl, I heard a voice I did not recognize,

"Hi! I'm Mimi and this is my son Austin. We just moved into the house next door"

I ran to the front door and stood next to my mom, and then suddenly I was stopped in my tracks by the most captivating eyes I ever saw.

"This is my daughter, Ally. And that…is my son Justin". My mom introduces me and my brother as he walks up our front steps dribbling his basketball.

"hi!"Justin, Austin, and I echoed.

"well, we just wanted to come and introduce ourselves. And invite you all to dinner tonight" Mimi offered to my mother.

"We'd love…"

At this point, I didn't really hear anymore of the conversation. I was staring at the perfect boy that stood before my eyes when our eyes locked. I started blushing and suddenly found the floor very interesting. When I peeked back up, I saw that Austin was smiling at my shyness. His smile sent shivers up my spine. I have never seen such a perfect set of teeth in my life. And his lips curved just the right way. As I was admiring how perfect his smile was, he turned around, waving, and walked down our steps. Only seven years old, and I just met the love of my life. Dinner felt like it was years from that point.

That was seven years ago. Over those seven years, my love for him just grew. I found out how funny, and kind, and friendly, and amazing he was. From that day on, the three of us were inseparable. Justin is not your typical brother. To him I was not the annoying little sister who he had to bring along to please our mother. I was his friend. And he was my best friend in the world.

Ever since I started spending time with other boys, Justin and Austin have been very protective of me. They were both like my older brothers. Unfortunately for me, Austin treated me like the little sister he never had. I learned just how protective they were a week into my freshman year. Dallas, a boy friend of mine last year, confessed he liked me and asked me out. Dallas was really sweet, so I said yes of course. He came to pick me up to go see a movie, and when he knocked on the door, my two "brothers" jumped up and answered the door. I came out of my room to find poor Dallas being interrogated and was half way to peeing his pants. After the date, which was amazing, I found both boys waiting for us to walk to the door. Thinking about it now, it was really funny. Just as Dallas was about to kiss me, the front door swung open and they both stood there smiling. "Oh, you're home. Good night Dallas" they both said in unison. At the time I was not laughing about the whole situation.

The real reason that I agreed to the date in the first place might have been because Austin just started dating some other junior girl. I needed a distraction, and Dallas basically volunteered. Sure I felt bad about using the poor kid, but I actually started to like him. He was my first real boyfriend. It was the first time in seven years that I wasn't totally in love with Austin. I barely even thought about him. That lasted about two months. That is until last week, when Austin had to come barging back into my heart.

On our two month anniversary, Dallas broke up with me. I came rushing into my house hoping to dodge any questions my family had about why my eyes were red and puffy. Luckily for me, my parents were out and Justin was at the store getting snacks. Unluckily for me, Austin was there playing video games waiting for Justin to bring back snacks.

On my way running to my room, all I heard was Austin saying, "Ally? Hey what's wrong? Ally, wait up."

I slammed my bedroom door and collapsed on my bed, burrowing my bed into my pillow. Seconds later I hear a soft knock on my door, followed by a gorgeous head peeking in on me.

"Hey, Ally. Are you ok? Did Dallas do something to you? Want me to beat him up?" All I could do was nod my buried head. He chuckled at me. "Wanna talk about it?"

I sat up on my bed to find him sitting next to me. I felt the spine tingling feeling again as he put his hand on my shoulder. His eyes were sympathetic and he looked like he actually cared.

"H-he br-broke…..He broke up wi-with me!". I barely got the words out before I started balling again. Austin just wrapped his toned arms around me and put his chin on my head. Then he kissed my forehead. I suddenly forgot why I was crying in the first place. All I could concentrate on was the warmth that his lips left on my face, and the longing it left behind.

Austin finally broke my train of thought when he said, "He's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's missing. You are the most amazing girl that I have ever met. Any guy would be lucky to be with you." I looked up at him after he said this with a slight smile on my face.

"Thanks Austin, you're pretty amazing yourself." I smiled bigger and nudged him. When I looked back at his eyes, I could swear he was looking at my lips and leaning in. any second I would finally get that kiss I had been longing for since I was seven. Our faces were inches apart when Austin jumped at the sound of Justin running into my room.

"Ally! Are you crying? What's wrong?" Oh, Justin always had impeccable timing. All I could do was glance at Austin who was now standing by my door, then give off a weary smile to Justin.