Remember just talking everyday

The Richardson household constantly received a number of phone calls throughout the day. Many of them were for Mrs. Richardson, due to her excessive workload. On the off-chance that the phone was not for Mrs. Richardson, the phone call would be a telemarketer or one of Mr. Richardson's co-workers. Every now and then, Aelita would be on the other end of the line, calling to let her family know where she was. Rarely, however, was the phone for Christian Hayner Richardson, the family black sheep.

Ring! Ring!

Aelita Mae made her way over to the kitchen, where the nearest phone hung next to the refrigerator. She picked it up as her mother glanced at her carefully; the last thing Mrs. Richardson wanted was to unintentionally sign herself up for more work again.

"Hello," Aelita answered, forgetting to check the caller identification. "Good afternoon. You've reached the Richardson residence. This is Aelita Mae speaking."

"Hi," a soft, meek voice responded. "Is Hayner home? This is Olette Maureen Anderson; I'm a friend from school-."

The corners of Aelita's mouth twitched slightly as Olette's name. Hayner's older sister turned to face their living room, also known as Hayner's bedroom. "Hayner!" Aelita called for her younger brother. "Your girlfriend is on the phone."

Hayner raced out from the living room and rushed into the kitchen. "Aelita!" he grumbled. "She is not my girlfriend! Gimme the phone!"

Aelita giggled as she tossed her brother the wireless phone.

"Olette?" Hayner said bewildered.

Olette chimed, "Hello, Hayner!"

"HIYA HAYNER!" Roxas and Pence shouted happily on the other line.

"Are you guys all at Olette's house?" Hayner wondered, a little offended. He and Olette had talked on the phone for hours every day and not once had she mentioned hanging out at her house.

"Nope," Pence replied. "We just found out how to make a four-way call."

"It's like telephone sex!" Roxas blurted out from his line.

"What the heck?" Hayner, Olette, and Pence laughed.

At our own "Usual Spot"

The summer sunlight poured into the Usual Spot like water into an empty glass. The light touched nearly every corner of the room as the four friends sat around their cleverly crafted sanctuary, talking about their plans for the summer.

"Well, my sixteenth birthday's coming up," Roxas reminded quietly, "in like four days."

Hayner rolled his eyes. "You act like we'd forget your birthday, dumbass!"

Olette gave the brown-eyed blond a look of disapproval. "Hayner!" she scolded.

"What?" Hayner defended. "Roxas's birthday is literally the first day of summer! Do you really think that I'm going to forget something like that, Olette?"

Roxas laughed as Pence replied, "Yeah, Roxas was born on the summer solstice-."

"-which I find is a complete coincidence," Roxas stated.

"How exactly is your birthday a coincidence to anything?" Olette asked.

"Because," Roxas reasoned, "Hayner's birthday is on the winter solstice!"

"Nice!" Hayner said, high-fiving Roxas.

"Oh, you two," Olette said with a smile. "It looks like you forgot Hayner's birthday, Roxas."

"Wait, what?" Roxas wondered. "Isn't it on the winter solstice?"

"December twenty-second, right?" Hayner asked.

Olette shook her head. "I think the winter solstice is on the twenty-first."

"Same difference!" Roxas and Hayner remarked.

"So… wait," Pence said, "are we invited to your party or not?"

How we'd eat ice cream

The freezer in the Richardson kitchen was always filled with sea salt ice cream; Aelita worked a second job at the Java Juice and when she closed the shop, she would take the leftover ice cream that no one purchased.

"Eat up, guys," Aelita laughed, placing four bowls of sea salt ice cream on the coffee table as her brother set up the video game console. "There's plenty left if you still want more afterwards."

"Thank you, Aelita!" Olette said with a smile.

"No problem, girl," Aelita replied happily. "Anything for Hayner and his friends."

"Do you want to hang out with us?" Pence and Roxas wondered.

Aelita smiled at the offer before responding. "Nah," she said, "I have work in thirty minutes. Besides, I wouldn't want to take away the magic from a Golden Quartet bond day. Have fun, guys! Enjoy the ice cream!"

To cool down from the hot

"Make. The heat. Stop!" Roxas complained as he weakly crawled to Pence.

"Like I can control the weather…" Pence griped, pushing Roxas off his leg roughly. "Stop being so overdramatic!"

Rubbing his temples, Hayner grit his teeth impatiently. "Shut the fuck up! You two have complained about the heat nonstop since we got here! Either you fix the air conditioning in the Usual Spot yourselves or you grin and bear it!"

The summer heat was really getting to their heads. The air conditioning in the Usual Spot needed repairing. Roxas's house was being fumigated. Hayner's house was being remodeled. Pence's bedroom was being repainted from their last scheme. Olette's pool was being cleaned. The boys were now sitting in Olette's garage as the summer heat rose along with their tempers.

"Guys!" Olette called cheerily from outside.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Hayner yelled back, "WHAT?"

"I need your help!" Olette exclaimed.

"C'mon," Hayner ordered Pence and Roxas. "Olette rarely asks for help. This is probably one of those time where she really needs it."

The boys stepped out of the garage through the side door when- SPLAT!

Giving the throw all her might, Olette aimed the water balloon at Pence. Unfortunately, Olette was never gifted with aiming accuracy, so she missed Pence and hit Hayner directly in the face.

"Olette!" Hayner shouted as the cold water dripped from his face on his shirt.

Author's Note: This chapter of the story was rewritten on October 8, 2013 and was republished on October 15, 2013.

Never have I ever stayed in the Student Rec Center to write a story. In fact, I never go in here at all The only reason I'm in here now is because it is pouring rain outside and I do not want to add water damage to the list of things wrong with my MacBook. It's loud here and it's very distracting. There are numbers of people who pass by trying to steal at glance at what I'm typing and there are even more people who try to sit down and converse with me about the weather. But I think I like writing here because it's a lot better than being stuck in the heat and struggling to see what's on my screen. Anyways, I hope your enjoyed this chapter of the story. Also, I hope you're enjoying the poem that's attached to it. Leave a review and feel free to check out my other Kingdom Hearts stories about Roxas and the gang.

- May