Summer Lovin

By: ​Julia Patterson

I’ve always loved romance stories: two characters, both charming and just right for each other, falling in love in the most perfect way. I never thought I would find a modern-day love, especially with the way boys are today. But then I met Charlie. 

“Jade, what are your plans for the summer?” My best friend, Marly, had asked me. 
“Oh, I am going to work at the summer camp again. I get paid and work with cute kids: win-win!” What I was really thinking about was finding a cute guy my age that likes playing with the kids too. 

A few weeks before the camp started, my brother (who also works at the camp, but not in my group) and I received an email about what age group we are with and the other counselors in our group. My brother just got home from his first year in college and did not like young kids as I did.

“Did you see the email? I got 8th grade again and I am working with Mike.” Michael said in his usual monotone voice.
“Let me check.” 

I scrolled through and read 3rd Grade: Karlie, Christy, Charlie, Jade. I remembered Karlie and Christy from last year; Karlie was an older lady, but really sweet and Christy was in college. But I didn’t recognize Charlie’s name. 

The first day of camp came by fast, and before we knew it, we were walking out to a beautiful, sunny day. The camp was located at a Community Center and Pool, only about 10 minutes away from my house, and we worked from 8 am to 5 pm, every day, Monday through Friday. 

“Hi, I’m Charlie, it’s my first year here.” The first thing I noticed about Charlie was his height. I had to look up slightly to see him. He had brown floppy hair, blue eyes, and an inviting smile. We talked until the first few kids started arriving. He goes to a technical school for cars, not too far from the camp. Throughout the first few weeks, he told me so much about himself. He could tell the kids just from the cars pulling up, even though all of the cars looked the same to me. He loved telling me about going fishing in rivers, jumping off ropes into lakes, driving his ATV, and his family. He showed me pictures of his adorable German Shepard, Ally, and of course, I showed him pictures of my pup, Lucy too. Now I was not so adventurous, in fact, I am considered just the smart girl at my school because I got good grades. But that didn’t matter now, not with Charlie.

Whenever it was sunny, Charlie and I would go to the pool with the kids. The kids loved to splash us, well really Charlie and the kids loved to splash me. But I didn’t fight back, I took it and laughed with everyone. The kids would climb on our backs, and we would chase each other in the pool too. Sometimes, when a kid did something funny, Charlie and I would just look up at each other and smile; our eyes would linger, we would just smile at each other, and I just felt something, some connection like I’ve never felt with a boy before. 

I knew I was falling for Charlie, but I also knew I didn’t want him to break my heart (even though we weren’t a couple...yet). On the last day, we said goodbye, not even with a hug. Now I’m back at school, but not a day goes by that I don’t daydream about the summer spent laughing with Charlie (especially when class is boring and I can easily drift off). When I think about Charlie, to this day, I will always say what could have been, our perfect summer love story.

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