Home > The Summer of Everything

The Summer of Everything
Author: Julian Winters

 


      “No matter where this life takes you, there will always be someone in this world who loves you more than your imagination will allow you to understand. You’re never quite alone.”

   —Savannah Kirk, The Heart of the Lone Wolf

 

 

      Chapter One

   In every known definition of the word, Wesley Hudson is officially offended by what he’s just read. He closes the paperback and stuffs it into his backpack. He wants to scream, “Where does she get this stuff?” But what’s the point? It’s only him on a bench outside of LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal.

   Savannah Kirk—better known as Mom—may be a New York Times-bestselling Young Adult author and adored by her millions of social media followers, but to Wes she’s an anomaly. Not in a bad way. Wes loves that his mom is quirky, overly optimistic, totally liberal about everything, and funny as hell too.

   But her books are… weird.

   First of all, she writes Horrmance, which is a mixture of horror and romance. How is that a thing? How does one mix the styles of Stephen King and Rainbow Rowell and produce a bestseller? Well, besides a good marketing campaign. Wes hadn’t known there were that many people who wanted to read books about werewolves fighting a blood feud while trying to find a date to the prom.

   Obviously, Wes knows nothing about being trendy or the least bit cool. But Savannah Kirk’s latest hit, The Heart of the Lone Wolf, is just so cliché. In the book, the antagonist has just given the conflicted main character an ultimatum: List the five things she cares about most, and the villain will consider sparing those things from the destruction that will come from creating his perfect new world—because, of course, the villain always gives you a choice.

   Wes pulls out his phone and checks for new notifications. No texts. No voicemails. Nothing. His flight landed an hour ago. Ella’s forty-five minutes late picking him up.

   Actually, this is all Ella’s fault. Wes rarely reads his mom’s books. Had Ella been on time, something he doesn’t think she’s been once in her life, then he’d be halfway home by now instead of considering his own list of the top five things he cares about most in life.

   What or whom would he save from mass destruction?

   A line of honking cars wages war for curbside parking in front of him. People come and go in rushes, wheeling luggage or backpacks and sometimes fussing children. There’s a lot of swearing, and middle fingers being tossed around from cars and SUVs.

   One thing’s certain: Wes definitely wouldn’t spare LAX from Armageddon. But he’s a born-and-raised Santa Monica kid, so California can’t go down in a heap of flames.

   He swipes to the notes app on his phone. Since he’s stuck waiting for Ella, he might as well kill time with a list. If there’s one area of impending adulthood Wes excels at, it’s list-making. He only wishes his ability to break down life’s most meaningless aspects into finely tuned bullet points impressed Calvin Hudson, his dad, in the slightest.

   “Don’t waste away this summer,” Calvin warned before Wes boarded his flight out of Siena, Italy. “This is your chance to figure out what you’re going to major in before college starts. Who do you want to be in five years?”

   Frankly, Wes doesn’t know who he wants to be in five minutes. An influencer? A teacher? Alive after suffering through that last chapter of his mom’s book?

   Whatever. Wes has no intention to “waste away this summer.” He has plans. Huge plans. Life-changing-like-in-Netflix-movies plans.

   Yes, he’s eighteen and should probably be considering what he’s going to do with the next four years when he attends UCLA in the fall. He assumed the whole “this is adulting” thing would happen post-high-school-graduation, but nope. A month in Italy with his parents didn’t help either. He thought the trip was a graduation gift, not a “figure your shit out” ultimatum.

   His parents are still in Italy, though. Calvin, a chef and a major fixture on the California restaurant scene, is extending his culinary base to Europe. They’re spending the summer starting Calvin’s new restaurant while Savannah works on her next book. So, Wes has space to solve this whole adulthood issue.

   For now, he can continue to be—by far—the coolest comic book geek to exist. He can return to epic, boss-level living. That basically consists of chilling with his friends and working at Once Upon a Page. He loves that place. It’s so laidback, Wes practically gets paid to kick his feet up all day.

   But this summer isn’t just about a strict diet of pepperoni pizza and reading Green Lantern comics, and maybe deciding what he’ll study at UCLA—a hard maybe. This is the summer Wes finally wins the heart of the guy he’s been crushing on since sophomore year of high school. He doesn’t have an actual plan for that either, but it’s going to happen.

   Life owes Wes so hard for giving him nerdy genes, a pain-in-the-ass older brother, uncooperative curly hair, and the inability to skateboard.

   “Have I told you how much I hate coming to L.A.?”

   Wes is mostly through with his list when he looks up. Ella emerges from the driver’s side of a familiar crimson compact car parked curbside. She’s wearing a long Like a Virgin T-shirt over black tights and has scuffed Vans on her feet.

   “You don’t hate L.A.,” Wes says.

   “Well, I hate LAX. Passionately. It’s a traffic abomination.”

   “Big facts,” agrees Wes. He drags his luggage to the passenger rear door. Ella pops it open, and he heaves his stuff inside. He turns back to her. “Is that how you plan to explain away your lateness?”

   “Fuck off,” Ella replies with zero heat. She tucks locks of her long, dark brown hair behind one ear. “Have you met the 405 at seven p.m. on a Sunday? Actually, have you met the 405 at any hour? It’s vehicular suicide.”

   “You’re still late.”

   “And you’re still a virgin. We can’t all win at life.”

   Wes frowns and pretends to be wounded by Ella’s words, but he can’t be. It’s one of the many things he loves about Ella—her dry sense of humor. And how freaking brilliant she is. Plus, her kill-your-enemies-for-you loyalty.

   She’s the kind of friend Wes will never quit.

   He thinks about Ella’s place on his list…

   The Five Things I Love the Most:

   Number Three—Ella

   Ella’s the closest thing I have to a sister. She’s got serious runner-up best friend vibes.

   It all started two summers ago at the bookstore. My first “official” year as an employee. Ella was a new hire too. She had this badass energy, so I introduced myself. Then she said the eight most horrifying words ever:

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