The closing summer season earlier than a senior year became imagined to be easy. As a minimum, that’s what Leah Harper had informed herself as she packed her suitcase for what might be her very last trip to her circle of relatives’ seashore residence in Cape Harbor. Each year, her circle of relatives spent the whole summer time there, absorbing the solar, ingesting ice cream, and looking at fireworks from the pier. It changed into a tradition, and Leah had usually looked ahead to the beach as a way to escape everything—till now.
This year felt distinct.
It became the summer time that marked the quit of such a lot of matters—formative years, carefree vacations, and the way matters had always been. University packages, choices approximately destiny, and leaving home loomed on the horizon, making Leah feel like she turned status at the brink of a cliff, about to leap into the unknown. and then there was Will.
Will Carter was Leah’s satisfactory friend
Because they had been kids. He lived round the corner to the seaside house along with his aunt and uncle, and they had spent each summer time together for as long as she could not forget. Will become the only regular in her life, the boy who knew her better than absolutely everyone else. But something had shifted between them ultimate summer, and Leah wasn’t certain if she may want to ignore it anymore.
lazy mornings
The first week again in Cape Harbor changed into usually the same—lazy mornings spent on the seaside, afternoons biking into town, and evenings looking the sundown from the pier. Leah attempted to persuade herself that not anything had changed, that she and could have been still simply buddies. However, every time she caught him searching at her, she felt something stir internal her that had never been there before. and he or she couldn’t help however marvel if he felt it too.
One evening,
After an extended day at the beach, Leah and Will sat at the dunes, watching the waves crash against the shore. The air was warm, and the sky was streaked with sun shades of pink and orange. It turned into the kind of best summer season moment that Leah had constantly cherished, however this night, it felt heavy—like there was something they weren’t announcing.
“Do you ever consider what happens after this?” Leah asked, breaking the cozy silence. She didn’t look at him, retaining her eyes on the horizon.
“After what?” Will asked, although there was a be aware of seriousness in his voice.
“After this summer time. After high school,” she said, hesitating earlier than including, “After us.”
Will turned to face her,
His green eyes studying her face carefully. “I consider it lots.”
Leah’s coronary heart skipped a beat, and she felt her palms grow sweaty. “And what do you think?”
Will didn’t answer right away. Alternatively, he reached down and grabbed a handful of sand, letting it slip through his fingers as he spoke. “I assume matters are going to change,” he admitted, his voice quiet but consistent. “but I don’t know how, or what meaning for us.”
Leah bit her lip, the load of his phrases sinking in.
She knew what he intended—knew that he wasn’t just speaking approximately college or their futures. He began talking about them, approximately the unstated feelings that had been hovering between them for the past year.
“I don’t want things to trade,” she stated softly, almost to herself.
“Me either,” Will spoke back, his voice similarly soft. “but maybe… perhaps a few alternate is good.”
Leah sooner or later grew to look at him, her heart pounding in her chest. “What do you mean?”
Will took a deep breath, his eyes locked on hers. “Leah, I’ve been in love with you for so long as I’m able to consider.”
Time appeared to freeze,
And Leah’s thoughts raced as his words hung in the air. Will cherish her? It turned into something she had puzzled approximately, something she had imagined overdue at night while she couldn’t sleep, however listening to him say it out loud became extraordinary. It became actual.
“You don’t have to mention whatever,” Will endured, his voice anxious now. “I just… I needed to tell you. Due to the fact, I don’t need to look back and wonder if I ignored my threat.”
Leah stared at him,
Her coronary heart racing. She had continually concept that falling in love was alleged to be a few grand, dramatic seconds. But here she turned, sitting at the seashore with the boy who had been using her side via every critical moment in her life, and it felt like the maximum natural issue inside the globe.
“I assume I’ve loved you for some time too,” she admitted, her voice slightly above a whisper.
Will’s eyes widened in surprise, after which a gradual smile unfolded across his face. “simply?”
Leah nodded, her face flushing with warmth. “I simply… I didn’t recognize how to say it. I didn’t want to destroy what we’ve got.”
“you could never wreck it,” Will stated gently. He reached out and took her hand, lacing his palms with hers. The gesture turned out so easy, however, it despatched a wave of heat via Leah that made her experience like everything had sooner or later fallen into the vicinity.
They sat there for a long time,
looking at the solar dip underneath the horizon, their hands still intertwined. And for the first time in a while, Leah felt at peace with the adjustments that were coming. Perhaps things wouldn’t stay the same all the time, but perhaps that turned into okay.
Because the summer days exceeded, Leah and Could’ s courting shifted, however, it wasn’t the dramatic upheaval she had feared. They still spent their mornings on the seaside, their afternoons cycling into the city, and their evenings looking the sundown from the pier. But now, there was something extra among them—something new and interesting and full of possibility.
Leah had continually been terrified of the future,
of the unknown that awaited her after high school. But now, with Will using her aspect, she felt like she could face something. They mentioned university, about what would show up after they were miles aside, and though the idea of being separated scared her, she knew that something befell, they would determine it out collectively.
The summer season of senior 12 months changed into the summertime of exchange, the summer of growing up, and the summer that Leah realized that love wasn’t constantly about grand gestures or dramatic confessions. Once in a while, it became about quiet moments shared with someone who had usually been there, awaiting the right time to break through.
Conclusion
And as Leah sat with Will on the dunes, watching the celebs twinkle above them, she knew that this summer time—their last summer season in Cape Harbor—could always be the one she remembered as the summer season she fell in love.