Boyfriend for the Summer

I have to admit that it’s a nice view.

He leans across me to where he’s stashed the snacks and grins when he comes back. “Starburst?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” I say. “Have you ever done that thing where you unwrap it inside your mouth?”

“What?” He gives me a look.

“Girls at school used to do it all the time,” I laugh. “They always said that it was supposed to tell whether you were a good kisser because you could use your tongue to unwrap it. I was always too scared to try because I had never been kissed and I didn’t want them to make fun of me if I couldn’t do it.”

Eric looks intrigued. “Well, we’ve had enough practice at kissing to give it a go, I think.”

I sit up. “Sure.”

We both take a candy and pop them into our mouths fully wrapped. Immediately I realize that this might be harder than I thought. Starburst wrappers are stuck down. I twist it and turn it in my mouth, and giggle because Eric is doing exactly the same thing and it looks hilarious.

I have to admit that the amount of making out that I’ve done with Eric does seem to have helped this endeavor. My tongue is a lot more flexible that in used to be.

There. I find a tiny corner of the wrapper that’s undone, and I spear my tongue under it. I’m not sure if you’re allowed to use your teeth or not. In those same groups of girls there were arguments about that too. But I decide to try it without.

Across from the little corner I freed I find the opposite one, and I work it loose. After that, it’s easy. Just a little flap that unrolls around the candy, and I pull the wrapper between my lips victorious. Eric’s eyes bug out in shock, and the contortions of his mouth grow more hectic as he tries to complete it. It takes him a little longer, but he does get it. Rolling his eyes as he chews his hard-won candy. “Jesus, that’s harder than I thought. Had to use my teeth to get the wrapper unstuck.”

“Some people might say that’s cheating. I didn’t use my teeth.”

He tackles me gently, giving me a kiss that tastes like cherry. “I guess you’re just a better kisser than me.”

“Damn straight.” I show him just how good I am for a few minutes. “Eric, I had a thought.”

“Dangerous things, thoughts.”

“I know, but…it might help things.”

He rolls onto his side so we’re lying next to each other, our faces closer. “I always want to know what you’re thinking, Persephone.”

I ignore the tingling in my skin and the heat in my cheeks. “I think we should take one month after camp. Thirty days. Without each other. To see if this is real. And if we’re both still here, then I want it all. But if we’re not, then it will be okay.”

His face falls a little. “Are you sure?”

I laugh, even though I don’t find this remotely funny. “No. But it’s the only way I can think of that makes sense.”

“Besides just taking the leap? And being together?” he asks.

I close my eyes. “I want that. I do. But every time close my eyes and imagine what it’s going to be like to watch you leave, I’m terrified. And I don’t know how to go from this—seeing you every day—to nothing at all.”

He leans in and presses his lips to my neck softly, and then more firmly, leading to what I’m sure will be much more of the same for the night. And I want it all. “Two weeks,” he says.

“Three.”

He looks up at me. “Until school starts.”

“Yes.”

His eyes are entirely serious. “And if three weeks go by, and I show up on your doorstep telling you that I feel exactly the same way that I do now, what happens?”

“Then I’ll do whatever you want,” I say. “We’ll give it a go, even if it’s hard.”

“I will,” he says. “I know that there’s nothing that I can say right now that will change your mind, so I won’t try. But I’m going to prove to you that this is real, Seph. I’ll do what I have to.”

My heart and stomach settle. I’m not sure why I’m so convinced that I need this time, but it’s deep in my gut. And I’m so happy that he agreed that my whole body relaxes. “Three weeks,” I whisper.

“And not a day longer. If you think that I won’t think about you every day, you’re crazy.”

I shake my head, because even after all this, I don’t quite believe it. I’ve known too many people who meet the love of their life at camp and as soon as school starts, they’re tangled with someone else pushed up against the lockers and that’s the new love of their life.