One Summer

03 | Destination

Turning the lock on the front door of the house, place the key in my back pocket.

A tired yawn, my legs a bit sore from the long drive up to the beachouse.

"Wow, this place is nice Skylar," said Mikayla leaving her luggage and watching the view of the beach not too far from here.

"Thanks, I'm gonna take a much-needed nap later," I said. "You guys can choose whatever room you like, but please don't break anything."

"I'll take this room, here" announced Ezra bringing his luggage towards the door and landing with a heavy thud against the wooden floors.

I tap my phone's screen to life and see a few text messages from Mom, Dad, and some new emails to check on some other time.

Sounds of the waves hitting the golden sand crumbles at its own will, the sun high above the clouds its rays hitting the window.

My hand goes up to shield my eyes from light and squints them for a second or two.

"Wait, we need to take a picture for memories of this summer!" exclaimed Mikayla searching for the camera icon, waiting for us to follow suit.

Shrink into my body and bend down a little bit, though Mikayla's height always overshadows mine.

Ezra comes up behind us with shades on, his tongue stuck out lazily, and places bunny ears on the back of our heads.

Mikayla starts to angle her phone screen to capture all of our faces together, but is interrupted by a comment made.

"Wait, hold on Mikayla you're cutting off my face," said Justin squeezing his face gently towards Ezra's cheek.

"Okay, hurry up because my arm is getting tired," said Mikayla. "You're such a drama queen I hope you know that."

"Alright, guys let's just hurry up and take this picture" I announce looking around at everyone and my eyes focusing steadily on the camera.

Setting a ten-minute timer, we stay entirely still set in our unique poses. It seems it'll take forever for the camera to capture this moment, but the camera goes off.

"Okay, let's see how it turned out," said Mikayla grabbing the phone from leaning against the turquoise vase on the table.

I peek just behind Mikayla's shoulders, see my lips stretch out into the widest smile possible, and look into the camera lens wearing pure joy.

Out of the corner of my eye, Ezra is squinting his eyes together just to try and see what he looks like in the photo.

"Here," I said. Swiping his glasses off the countertop and placing them gently in his hands.

"Thanks, Skylar," Ezra said. "I should wear more glasses because I have terrible eyesight."

"Finally, you're able to capture my moneymaker entirely, Mikayla" responded Justin dramatically
gesturing to his face, while Mikayla rolled her eyes.

I gently rub my shoulders from the chilly air from the ac, trying to infuse some warmth back into my skin.

Then, feel a soft cotton hoodie placed upon my shoulders almost protecting me from the frigid air.

"You can wear my hoodie until you get warm I don't mind," said Ezra soft-spoken looking at me for a few moments, his hands messaging my shoulders.

"Wait, are you sure? What about you?" I asked my question causing him to stop his footsteps and face me.

"I promise, I'll be fine just give it back to me when you're done with it" replied Ezra his hand opening the bedroom door and nudging his luggage inside the room.

"Thanks," I replied

"Hey, what's this wall for?" said Mikayla pointing to a blank wall in the living room, with the word MEMORY carved into it.

"Oh, that" I paused. "It's called a Memory wall where you place your memories here and reminisce about them."

"Hmm, that sounds quite interesting," said Mikayla. "Maybe we could make our memories with everyone!"

"Yeah, we could," I said looking out of the screen doors hidden in the back of the living room watching waves tumble over each other.

                       

AUTHOR NOTE

So, what are your thoughts on this chapter? I would love to hear about them.

What are your goals for July?