~ Summer Preston's POV ~

Deciding to go to the after party was one of my worst decisions. I knew this was going to happen.

Anthony couldn't spend the entire night by my side. Not even real couples do that.

So of course, as soon as he went to get us a drink, Tanner took that as his chance.

Drunk Tanner was bold while sober Tanner wasn't good a confrontation.

"You and Tony" He leaned against the wall next to me.

"Me and Anthony" I nodded.

"Since last Summer"

"Since last Summer"

"We were together during the Summer" He sipped his drink.

"Yep" I glanced around to make sure no one was listening.

I took a look at Tanner. This was the first time in months that I had been this close to him. I could see his freckles and the gold specs in his brown eyes.

"Does Tony know that?" Tanner glanced over at him and I followed.

Anthony was so different than Tanner. Even though they were supposedly best friends. Tanner had the whole player look. Blonde hair, brown eyes, expensive clothes & sneakers. Anthony looked like the boy next door. Dark brown hair, icy blue eyes, a simple t-shirt and jeans and a pair of converse.

They were polar opposites. Tanner must know that Anthony isn't my type.

"Im going to take your silence as a no" He said.

"If he knew, you wouldn't be able to get this close to me" I rolled my eyes.

"Why? Because he knows that you would leave him for me?"

"You're real confident" I scoff.

"You love me" Tanner leans closer.

"Loved. Past tense" I go to walk away but I run straight into someone's chest.

"Hey Sunshine" Anthony wraps his arms around me. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine" I smile tightly up at him.

"Alright. It's getting late, we should go" He says.

"That's a good idea" I breathe out and start walking towards the door.

"Tanner" Anthony says before we get too far away.

"Yeah bro?"

"Don't get that close to my girlfriend when I'm not around" Anthony says gruffly before pulling me towards the door.

~~~

Anthony, being the smart person he is, decided we would walk home. So here we are. Sitting under a child's playset in the park. While it's pouring rain out.

"You're stupid" I groan. My dress is going to be stained tomorrow.

"It was my idea to hide under this" He rolled his eyes.

"It was also your idea to walk home in the rain" I rolled my eyes.

"It wasn't raining when we left"

"Yeah but it said it was going to rain on the news"

"You knew this and didn't say anything?"

"Shut up" I laugh.

Anthony just leaned against the wall and laughed.

"I'll call Eric and have him pick us up" He says after a minute.

"He shouldn't drive if he's drunk" I frown.

"He was the designated driver tonight"

He spent 10 minutes on the phone with Eric explaining about what happened. Minus the part about Tanner.

"He'll be here in 15 minutes"

The rain was finally starting to stop when he spoke again.

"Do you remember when your parents would take us here all the time?"

"What were we? Like 4? We would come here almost everyday" I laugh.

It was true. Almost everyday in elementary school, my parents would take all of us here. Eric, Matt, Marilyn, Anthony and I. Usually we would spend it running around the playset, playing dumb little games we made up. When we got older, sometimes we would just sit around and just talk.

"What was that game we used to play? The one where one of us would chase down the rest of us?" I smiled.

"Tag?"

"No not tag dummy. It was like, one of us would be a monster? I think?" I laughed.

"You mean the game we literally called 'monster'?" He glanced at me with a lopsided grin.

"Wow. We were really uncreative" I snort.

"Yeah. It was of one of us touched the cushioning then we would be it" He continued.

"Oh yeah" I smiled.

I loved thinking about our childhood. Especially before middle school. Back then, things were simple. No Tanner. No Kali. Just us. The original five.

"Hey Sunshine?" Anthony grinned at me.

"Hm?" I hummed.

"I'm touching the cushion"

Next thing you know, Anthony is chasing me through the park. All you could hear was Anthony and I's laughter. It was nearly 2 AM and we were acting like it was the middle of the afternoon.

"Anthony stop!" I squeal while climbing through the slippery tubing.

"C'mon Sunshine! You know I'm not gonna give up that easily" Anthony cackled while climbing in after me.

Somehow, Anthony and I slipped and we were basically laying on top of each other, laughing our asses off.

"You're such an ass" I laugh while trying to push him off of me.

"Stop before we break the thing" He snorted.

After 5 minutes, our laughter had died down and all you could hear was our breathing.

The image of our almost kiss at the dance popped into my head.

"Why are you blushing?" Anthony grinned down at me.

"I'm not blushing. It's just hot" I roll my eyes.

"I knew you thought I was hot" Anthony grinned mischievously.

"Anthon-"

Beep

Beep

Beep

"Eric's here. C'mon bud" Anthony said abruptly before roughly climbing over me and out the tube.

I groaned. Why did this always happen?