Page 1 of Blue Summer

Chapter One

Summer

They always tell you not to run from your problems… or at least that’s what I have heard. I don’t know who ‘They’ are, but they clearly don’t have any really big problems if they are saying that shit to everyone. I personally think ‘they’ should keep their judgy asses quiet. If you have something so big you feel like you have to run for it, pack your bags and hit the fucking road.

Even as I think about it, I glance up at the rearview mirror and see the two duffle bags I tossed in the back seat. Am I running? You bet your sweet ass I am.

I push the troubling thoughts out of my head and focus on the road in front of me. I’m so lucky to have a friend like Pearl. She is the sweetest, kindest girl and we just… vibed right from the start. True, she can be a little… clumsy but that is what makes her so damned endearing. And it’s not like I am the most graceful person. A ballerina, I am not.

When Pearl told me she was staying with her brother all summer, I was kind of sad we weren’t going to be able to hang out. Then she called me, and we started talking about how the first half of our summer was going. It was like she could just tell something wasn’t right with me.

She was so sweet, telling me I could stay at her brother’s place since he wasn’t going to be there. Apparently, he is some big-time businessman who travels for weeks at a time. So, here I am - going to stay in some big penthouse apartment and how am I getting there? In my beat-up little Honda. Going to some town I’ve never been to before, knowing I am going to get lost. It’s like a freakin’ metaphor for my life.

And me and Pearl aren’t even going to be staying together. She went home to spend the summer with her brother and found true love. What kind of a Hallmark movie reality is this?

In actuality, I find it so cute and can’t wait to meet the guy that stole my Pearl’s heart. He must be some guy if he caught her attention. Maybe he has a brother. Or a best friend. Or a freakin’ distant cousin that wouldn’t mind a pity date with her good friend.

Looking around there’s nothing but grass and cows as far as the eye can see. There are no houses, no barns, no people. Hell, there are barely any lines on the road. How much trouble would I be in if my piece of shit little car had issues out here? How the hell would I even get back to civilization?

I suddenly remember my phone. Of course. This isn’t a fucking horror movie; it isn’t Children of the fucking Corn. I can call someone to come help me. Pearl or better yet, Pearl’s big, strong boyfriend who hopefully has a gun or maybe a knife on him. The bad thing is, it’s not a dark and stormy night. It’s a bright, sunny summer day, and yet a chill works its way through me like something… important is about to happen.

Just as I think it, a car revs its engine behind me and flashes past, scaring the absolute shit out of me. It leaves me going even slower than I already was. The road up ahead is a long stretch of flat, straight pavement. I can see it because I’m on one of the few hills around the area so when the accident happens, I see everything. Every painful, horrible moment of it. It’s as if it happens in slow motion even though I know it can’t possibly be that way in reality.

The car that blew around me a moment ago, seems to speed up as another car approaches from the other direction. In the span of a heartbeat, the speeding car jerks itself into the other lane and right into the path of the one on the other side. I gasp and start yelling like the drivers in the two cars can hear me as I watch them come together in a pall of screeching tires and grinding metal.

It doesn’t take very long to reach the two cars, which are now separated by the sheer force of the impact. I pull over to the side of the road which is nothing but grass really. I’m out of my car and running to the nearest vehicle when I catch a glimpse of the emblem on the side of the car. Holy shit! The speeder hit a cop car… a police SUV actually.

I run to the car, open the door, and come face to face with a very handsome man. Oh my God! So not the time right now, Summer. Keep it together. He’s got a gash on his head and a busted lip and is slumped oddly in the seat.

“Oh God, please, please don’t be dead.”

I reach for his neck to check for a pulse even though I sucked at finding one when I took a CPR class in high school a couple of years ago. As soon as my fingers touch the warm skin of his neck his eyes snap open, and my hand is encircled in a surprisingly strong grip.

“Oh, thank God! Oh…I…are you…?” Before I can form words, a sound like the woosh of a gas stove coming on has my head turning toward the front of his car. Where I see small flames begin to curl up from the hood of his car. “Oh shit!”

I turn back to the man who blinks his eyes a couple of times like he might be trying to get his bearings, and I am hit by how truly beautiful those eyes are, a bright light blue that mirrors the sky above us. Shit. I… am in distress and anything I do is out of a fear response. That’s probably why I am acting like this.

“Don’t…don’t worry. I’ll get you out!” I push the button to release the lap belt, but nothing happens. My heart sinks, as I might have just told this man a lie that could be his last.

God damn it!

Chapter Two

Roan

My head is banging like a drum squad from the high school marching band. Standing in front of me is a… vision. Like something sent from heaven. I’m totally down to take one of them on, but I’m not sure I’m man enough to handle two at the same time. Not after today. Well, not right now. Give me a few hours and we’ll see.

I squeeze my eyes together and my dream angels meld into one. I have double vision. There aren’t two, just the one and I can definitely handle that. She speaks and I have to focus on the words she’s saying as her image fades in and out.

“I’ll get you out! I promise.”

My eyes go to the scene around us and facts start rushing in. There was a car. It crossed the line and… my fucking cruiser is on fire. Something warm is leaking down the side of my face which I can only assume is blood.

The sound of panicked breathing reaches my ears as I turn my attention back to the woman standing beside me fighting to wedge herself between me and the airbag.

“Son of a bitch!” It’s said softly but I can almost feel her start to panic.

She’s stretched across me so she can reach the latch on my seatbelt, and I realize just how small she is.

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