Kyle gasped, "Summer!"
In the doorway stood a girl about Kyle's age. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and her skirt blew in the outside air. Tears streamed down her face.
"Summer what's wrong?" Kyle asked gently, taking her hand.
Summer pulled her hand away to wipe her dripping nose, then she placed it back into Kyle's grasp. He shuddered as his skin made contact with her wet hand.
"I...he..." she sniffed and blinked as a few tears rolled down her cheeks, "Cameron said he didn't wanna go out with me this weekend...because he just started dating Erica!" Summer burst into a fresh bout of tears and pulled her hand away again, rubbing her wrist across her nose once again. This time, before the snotty hand could be given back to Kyle, he pulled his own hand away and quickly swung it over the girl's shoulders.
He sighed. Boy trouble. Summer seemed to cry about three days a week, every week, because a boy rejected her, broke up with her, or ghosted her. She wasn't sleeping with them or getting into trouble, she was just a hopeless romantic who seemed to always have a crush on 12 guys at once. But Kyle loved her like a sister, so he smiled and turned to her.
"Hey, It's ok. You're way better than Erica and Cameron doesn't even deserve you." He smiled warmly at her.
Summer gazed back into his eyes before letting out a whine, "But he was so cuuute!"
Kyle subtly rolled his eyes off to the side. Sometimes she was so dramatic it hurt...but he hugged her close.
"It's alright! I promise. How about this. Come with me up to Old Oak, and we can forget all about stupid Cameron on the way up there," Kyle nudged Summer.
She looked at him, and gave a small sniff as her tears dried slowly. She nodded her head.
Kyle jumped up excitedly, "Perfect! Pack a little bag and I'll wait right here." He stood up and walked towards the end of the porch as Summer stepped back into her house and closed the door. Kyle pulled his headphones back out of his bag and reached unto the ear covers. He pulled out two small earbuds, then placed the headphones onto his own head once again.
He tossed the small little rubber buds in his hand to the beat of the music until the jet black door opened once again to reveal Summer. Her bun looked like it had been quickly tightened, a fresh layer of makeup hid her tearstained face, and her t-shirt had been replaced by a light nature green tank top. Kyle smiled. He thought Summer always looked good in her light, nature-y, floral colors. It was her style. Just like his love of his perpendicular patterned shirts.
Kyle reached out and took her now clean hand, and pulled her off the steps with him. He opened her fingers and placed the earbuds inside. She obediently fitted them into her ears, and started to bob her head along with the music, matching Kyle's pace.
Side by side, the two walked along the edge of the lake a short distance more before veering away on a separate path. The sidewalk here led to signs that read, "Nature Monument Ahead" and "Old Oak 2 Miles North". The hard concrete sidewalk eventually gave way to a dirt path lined with a small concrete edge.
A few feet farther down, even the concrete lining crumbled away until the teens both shuffled their feet in a purely dirt path. Small saplings grew in distance and then faded away as they were passed. Soon the trees started to grow thicker, larger, and more dense. The dirt path now wound itself through large bushes and around massive trunks. Sunlight rippled through the leaves overhead, dancing in the kids hair.
The dirt path began to become overtaken by grass and brush. In the middle of a dark grassy clearing, a huge Oak tree loomed up above all the others surrounding it. A small sign in front of the tree read in barely legible letters, "Old Oak, planted 1973"
The paint on the sign was peeling and several vines and twigs obstructed the view of parts of words. Summer walked up and ran her hand along the top of the sign. She sighed.
"It's kinda sad how nobody really cares too much about nature. They're even starting to tear up national parks. Parks protected by the law or whatever," she looked over her shoulder at Kyle. "Can you believe it?"
Kyle took a few stepped forward and stated, "Yeah, I hope nobody even thinks about getting rid of THIS tree."
As Kyle finished his sentence, he walked up to the base of the tree and slung his backpack onto the root. He plopped himself down then looked up at Summer with a serious expression.
"Did you bring it?"
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