Summerboy | Teen Ink

Summerboy

August 19, 2010
By Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments

Summer is boyfriend season. Not boyfriend shirts or boyfriend shorts, but real honest-to-goodness, made-of- meat boys. I don’t know why I don’t date at school. It’s not the boys (those are the same everywhere), and it’s not the other girls (who are all abnormally gorgeous chez moi).There’s just something about summer that turns me into the kind of girl who dates. Summer is always full of boys, but there was only ever one Summerboy.
He was my first summer boyfriend, before this habit became a neurosis of mine. Summerboy was what me and my friends at home called him. I didn’t want to tell them his name because that would bring him into the real, back at home world. So he was forever Summerboy.
I think of Summerboy even now, particularly now as the days begin to stretch out. He stands out in my mind, not because of what happened when we were a ‘we’, but how ‘we’ ended. It was entirely my fault, of course. I accidently broke his heart and my own in the process.
It was the day before the second to last day of camp. That would be the last day of normality, before it sank into everyone that in a few days we’d all be home. Summerboy and I were comfortable with PDA (public displays of affection) by then, so we sat on the grassy field assaulting peoples’ eyes with cuddling. His head was in my lap, and we were positively cozy.
Some demon of anti-romance must have possessed me to speak right then. I broke the comfortable silence with “You know, I think George had a point when he said I wasn’t your type.”George was Summerboy’s roommate, best friend, and not exactly my fondest cheerleader.
I think Summerboy replied very well to my baffling, odd, and completely unnecessary statement. He said “Huh?”
I clarified, “It’s just that I wouldn’t imagine you with me either. You should be with some sort of tiny, cute hipster girl in Converse who absolutely adores you. Someone who agrees with all your crazy weird theories and thinks your band is great. She would have long tangly blonde hair and not be neurotic about success. Someone more… well the opposite of me.”
If this was a romantic comedy Summerboy would’ve said something along the lives of ‘But that’s not you babe, and that’s why I love you’, and then we would proceed to shocking the world with EPDA (extreme public displays of affection). Instead he asked, “What are you trying to tell me?”
And I, being the type to dig myself even further into a grave, replied “Just that we’re kind of different. Really different types of people.”
In Rom-Com land Summerboy would have said “Those differences only make things more interesting.” In the real-world he said “I knew that. I didn’t mind. I thought that you didn’t either. Thanks for making it reasonable.”
I had just dumped my first boyfriend.

I shouldn’t care about Summerboy. He’s probably off somewhere dating a cute little girl who fits with him like two spoons. She might even have tangled blonde hair that she doesn’t care about and really, sincerely like indie rock. He’s probably all the happier for it.
I’m not.


The author's comments:
This is not, I repeat, not, a true story.

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This article has 12 comments.


on Nov. 23 2010 at 9:12 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
Yeah that happens to every one, I think it's because of the shortening. It's rather annoying, it used to list an author's work on their profile page, but now it doesn't, which makes reveiw peoples' things hard. it's late now, but I'll critique your thingy tomorrow, I read it and it sounds good so far.

on Nov. 23 2010 at 7:59 pm
redhairCat PLATINUM, Pebble Beach, California
47 articles 20 photos 411 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I can do anything!"

I don't know why, but whenever I post long comments, it gets posted 2 times!

on Nov. 23 2010 at 7:57 pm
redhairCat PLATINUM, Pebble Beach, California
47 articles 20 photos 411 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I can do anything!"

Here are links to some of my work. If you like them you could click on MORE BY THIS AUTHOR under my screen name. Thanks! (Oh, just take out the spaces to the links!)


h  t   t  p : / /  w   w w . t e e n i n k . c o m /  p  o e t  r     y / s o n g   _ l y r i c s / a r      t i c l e /   2 6 4 1 5 6 / B e f o r e - I - C a n - W   r i t e - a -   S o n  g /

h t t p : / / w       w  w . t e e n i n k . c o m / p o e t r y /  s  o n g _ l  y r i c s / a r t i c l e / 2 6 4 1 5  2 / I m - T h i n   k i n g - o f - Y o u /

h t t   p:  /   /w   w w   .t   e en i n k . c o m / p o e t r y /  f r   e  e _  v e  r   s e/   a    r t i c l e / 2 6 4 1 5 0 / O n - My  -   O w n   /

h t t p : / / w    w  w .    t e e n i n k . c o m / p o e t r y /   s    o      n    g   _  l y r i c s / a r t i c l e /  2   64    1  4 7 / E ve r y - S a t u rd a y /

 


on Nov. 23 2010 at 4:54 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
I'd really love to see your work but I can't seem to find it. Is it in the forums? If you respond with a link I'll do a looooong critique.

on Nov. 23 2010 at 4:50 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
Thanks! Yeah this was a frivolous sketch, nothing literary by far.. I might go back and revisit it and add detail some time.

on Nov. 20 2010 at 10:40 pm
redhairCat PLATINUM, Pebble Beach, California
47 articles 20 photos 411 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I can do anything!"

Interesting story. Nice and light - some stories go on for about 10 million pages. I liked the fact that it was short. I do agree that it could have used a little more detail, thoguh. But good overall.

Hey, could you check out some of my work please? Thanks. redhairCat


on Sep. 22 2010 at 7:30 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
Haha :) Thanks. Yeah I'm an awkward person so.. loads of experience there....:) But serriously thanks.

on Sep. 21 2010 at 10:18 pm
apocalyptigirl BRONZE, Staunton, Virginia
4 articles 2 photos 285 comments

Favorite Quote:
"DON'T PANIC." ~from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

"I'm not." Great way to end. :) I was wincing all through this...could the character have ruined the relationship any more thoroughly? You captured the awkward side of love very nicely :)

on Sep. 18 2010 at 4:27 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
Thanks. Yeah, I agree this wasn't a very "deep" story. I was trying for a chick lit/ sophie kinsella style thing. Description isn't my forte, I usually delete it all because I 'm afraid of sounding over done.... But yeah, good advice.

on Sep. 3 2010 at 8:51 pm
NicelyWritten, El Dorado Hills, California
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid."


-Jane Austen

Good job with keeping the story and dialog realistic.  I liked the characters interjections about what "Summerboy" would have said if they had been in a romantic comedy.  

I did however think it was a very simple story, and didn't have quite enough going on for it to pull me in.  You could give it more dimension by inserting more description, going deeper into how the break up affected the girl, or why she dated in the first place.


on Sep. 1 2010 at 3:58 pm
Annalibelle BRONZE, Elmsford, New York
2 articles 0 photos 38 comments
Thanks! I'm sorry with the PDA thing, it's a pretty common acronym at my camp and my highschool. But you're right, I never would have guessed what it meant before I went to camp.

on Aug. 31 2010 at 7:41 pm
NeverCaredForKool-Aid GOLD, Elkridge, Maryland
13 articles 0 photos 531 comments

Favorite Quote:
I don't believe in hell but I believe in my parent's couch-- Watsky

The ending to this was great.  I also liked the dialogue a lot, it was very realistic, but interesting at the same time.

The overall storyline was probably a buit tired, but you pulled it off farely niceley.  I liked that you called the dude Summerboy, that atleast was very original.  Your phrases PDA and EPDA seemed a little out there for me.  Did you just make them up?  I'd try took keep this as realistic and lifelike as possible if you want this to be a realistic fiction instead of a X-fairytale.  I think you might just want to stick to real-world relationship terms.

 

Anayway, overall, I did like this story very much.  Keep writing, you;re good at it :)