when the sun found the moon
she was drinking tea in a garden
under the green umbrella trees
in the middle of summer
He had first met her when she was seven and he was eight, and she moved in next door to him. Although his mother had told him that there was a new kid, she had failed to mention it was a girl, so when Noah Puckerman popped his head over the fence, he was sorely disappointed to see that instead of an awesome new friend to play with, it was a girl sitting there, setting up a tea party for one in a gazebo covered with vines. She turned around and caught his eye, and before he could duck back down on his side of the fence she had smiled at him. From that moment, he was a goner.
when the moon found the sun
he looked like he was barely hanging on
but her eyes saved his life
in the middle of summer
Quinn really didn't like moving, because it meant she had to get used to a new neighborhood, make new friends, and go to a new school. She didn't like new things. But, this house seemed pretty enough and she didn't have to start school for another month and the backyard was spacious and had a pretty new gazebo for her to hold tea parties in. She was trying to have the first tea party in that gazebo when she met him. She had just set up the tablecloth and had turned to grab her tea set when she saw him. He was staring at her over the fence, and she had given him a small smile. He looked…sad. That was the word Quinn used in her seven year old mind to describe him.
so he said, "Would it be all right
if we just sat and talked for a little while
if in exchange for your time
I give you this smile?"
Well, Noah couldn't exactly leave now. He just kind of stared awkwardly, until she let out a laugh that sounded like something that would come out of a fairy. Maybe that's what she is, Noah thought, some kind of fairy like Tinker Bell. Well, if he made friends with a fairy that would kind of make him like Peter Pan, who was one of the coolest guys Noah knew, and that wouldn't be so awful. So he asked her if he could jump over the fence and hang out with her, and she gave him another smile and said yes.
so she said, "That's okay
as long as you can make a promise
not to break my little heart
or leave me all alone in the summer."
When he asked if he could hang out with her, her first reaction was to say yes. So he leapt over the fence with certain finesse only ruffians could have, and she held up one delicate finger.
"But," she started, "you have to promise me that we'll be friends throughout the entire summer, and if we go to the same school, you can't pretend that you don't know me. You can't leave me alone, okay?" She didn't want to be left alone, and she certainly wasn't going to let this boy leave her after she shared her good tea with him. Noah considered his options, and then shrugged. Considering his best friend Finn was going to be traveling with his mom during the summer, and Mike Chang lived across town, he could handle hanging out with a girl throughout the entire summer.
"Sure." He said, and Quinn smiled widely, flashing him a smile that made his heart jump and slightly freaked him out. That had never happened before. She smiled, waving him over, and he cautiously walked to the gazebo.
"My name is Quinn." She said, holding out her hand. He glanced at it and warily shook it.
"I'm Noah."
well he was just hanging around
then he fell in love
and he didn't know how
but he couldn't get out
just hanging around
then he fell in love
They spent most of the summer together, hanging out in her backyard. Her father came out one day and was surprised to see the boy sitting with his little girl, but after Quinn introduced him and Noah had proved that he could be a gentleman even at the age of eight, Russell allowed him to stay and Judy even invited him for dinner a few times. Noah spent most of his days jumping over the fence when he saw Quinn was outside, and somehow in the middle of all their tea parties, spy adventures and pirates and princesses games, he fell in love with her.
He wasn't even sure what it was, but all he knew was that he couldn't imagine a day without Quinn. He liked to make her smile and loved to make her laugh. Sometimes she would show up in his dreams, and he had promised himself that he would tell her he liked her before summer was over. It turned out that he didn't have to. The last day before summer ended, after school supplies had been bought and the first day of school outfits had been picked out, Quinn waved Noah over the fence for one last day of playing.
"Pirates and princesses?" She asked, a hopeful smile lighting up her face. He grinned. That was his favorite game, and soon all nervousness about telling her – and, admittedly, the idea of telling her itself – had disappeared from his mind, lost in the midst of them running around, him with his eye patch and parrot and her with her pink dress and tiara, laughing as she tried to escape him and he tried to catch her. Finally, the sun was setting and his mother was calling him back for dinner, their imaginary universe melting away, leaving them as themselves in her backyard.
"I have to-" Noah started, turning to look at her to tell her goodbye. Before he could finish his sentence, she leaned forward, kissing him quickly on the lips. She giggled, dashing into her house without so much as another word. Stunned, he lifted his hands to his lips, before grinning and leaping over the fence again, thinking that maybe this wouldn't be so bad.