Page 1 of That Summer
1
Eminem blared in the background,the vodka coursed through my veins, and I was only minutes away from turning eighteen. Plus, I had the hottest girl at school sitting on my lap as we sat around a fire pit drinking and getting high.
Life was good.
Ever since my big brother, Brandon, graduated after my freshman year of high school, I’d become the big man on campus so to speak. I grew up living in his shadow, especially when it came to football. He was the star quarterback for our high school, and my parents wanted me to follow in his footsteps.
“Blake, why don’t you let Brandon show you his technique?”
“Brandon is going to go pro. Wouldn’t that be amazing if both of you played in the NFL?”
Brandon this. Brandon that.
Fuck.That.
Of course I loved my brother. I’d just never liked living in his shadow.
During Brandon’s freshmen year at The University of Texas A&M, some asshole broke his back. Now my parents’ dreams were for meand only meto turn pro.
“Did you apply to be an Aggie too?”
Hell. No. The NFL isn’t my dream. I didn’t even apply to any major colleges—especially A&M. I loved football, but not enough to live and breathe it like Brandon did. My dream was to own a plethora of nightclubs, party every night, and get all the pussy I wanted. As soon as I turned twenty-one, I was moving to Vegas and opening my own club.
That was my dream.
Graduation was in a few weeks, and then I planned on going to a community college to obtain my business degree. I had no plans to transfer to a four year. I just needed to know the basics for business because when it came to having a good time, I knew what the fuck I was doing.
“Have you ever loved someone so much it hurt to breathe?”
I faintly heard Miranda talking, but I wasn’t listening to her because my attention was on my buddy walking into the backyard. Miranda and I had been dating since our sophomore year, but after we graduated, she wanted to go to New York to become a model or some shit, and I wanted to move to Nevada as soon as I turned twenty-one. I knew it wasn’t going to work out for us. Still didn’t stop me from gettingsomeevery chance I got.
“Ronnie!” I shouted as he walked out of the house and into my line of vision. “You going to the lake with us next weekend?”
“Yeah, man,” he yelled back over the music as he headed straight for the keg at the back of the yard.
“Baby, I asked you a question.”
“What?” I asked, looking into Miranda’s hazel eyes as she nudged my shoulder to get my attention.
“I want to know if you love me so much that it hurts to breathe.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I loved Miranda. After all, we’d been together forever, but I didn’t love her so much I couldn’t breathe. What kind of horse shit was that?
“The song, Blake!” she snapped as she stood.
“I’m not buzzed enough for this conversation,” I groaned and then downed the rest of my beer from the red Solo cup that’s at every party known to man.
“We’re all out of beer,” Ronnie said as he walked past us again, but this time going in the opposite direction.
“Are you serious?” I stood and started to follow him, hoping we were going in search of more since I was empty. It was almost my birthday, and some jackass hadn’t stocked his house properly? What kind of shit was that? Someone should have planned this shit better. That said, I had no clue whose home we were at because it didn’t matter. All I wanted was to get fucked up and laid.
“Baseball team showed up and didn’t bring shit. All the kegs are empty,” Ronnie clarified.
“This shit would’ve never happened at my house.”
“And the bottles of the hard stuff in the house are empty too.”
I groaned. “Seriously?” I wanted to start my birthday drunk, and I wasn’t there yet.
