Unedited. It's hot man, I can't sleep. This is what happens when that is the situation.
~
Tucker was straining to get in the house by the time I stepped onto the front walk.
It was hot out. My hair felt disgusting, sticking to my neck like spider-silk. I put it up as soon as I was in safe in the house, which was just as hot as outside because we didn’t have air conditioning.
The plumber’s truck squatted in the driveway. It looked like a plumber, that truck.
Tucker ran madly to the back of the house as soon as I unclipped his leash, pausing in the kitchen to bark wildly at what was probably something like an out of place spoon. Tucker was a control freak.
I could hear the plumber upstairs, working on our toilet. I shared a bathroom with my younger sister and younger brother. “I don’t care what the toilet looks like or if it flushes too loud,” my mother had said, even though it wasn’t her toilet or her bathroom. “As longs as it’s functional and cheap.”
Whisps of hair were already falling out of the bun sitting on top of my head. My favorite peach tank top clung to my skin like Saran wrap, hiding the ribs that you’d otherwise see clearly.
I heard our pantry door click open. “El?” I called, thinking it was my younger sister getting Oreos. When there was no response, I paused outside the kitchen door, listening. Someone was talking to Tucker. A man was talking to Tucker. The plumber was upstairs, I knew. I could hear him swearing. This plumber had been to our house before, and he had one of those distinct voices that you never forgot.
But someone was talking to Talker.
I pushed the kitchen door open slowly, a little worried.
A boy was standing in front of the pantry door, looking down at Tucker, who was sitting obediently. The boy had a jar of peanut butter in one hand and a spoon in the other. The end of said spoon was covered with a large chunk of our chucky peanut butter, and the boy had just gotten it into his mouth, when he caught sight of me standing in the doorway in my tank top and shorts that were borderline daisy dukes.
“Hi,” I said, slightly bemused. “Watcha… watcha doin’?”
He took the spoon slowly out of his mouth and gulped. Then he caught sight of my smirk and grinned, widely.
“My dad is upstairs, fixing your toilet,” he said. “I was hungry. Your dog is cute. What’s his name?”
“Tucker,” I said, moving across the kitchen floor to lean on the counter, facing him.
“I’m Oliver,” he said, eyeing his spoonful of peanut butter. “Hey, do you mind if I eat this?”
I shook my head.
He watched me the whole time he was eating that peanut butter. He had gray eyes and dark brown, thick and long hair. He must have been around my age, if not the same.
“You’re beautiful,” he said when the spoon was finally clean.
I didn’t say anything. My heart was fluttering uncharacteristically.
He opened the dishwasher and put the spoon in, then turned to put the peanut butter back into the pantry. The heat pressed on my shoulders until I felt like melting into the kitchen tile. When he turned back to face me, his eyes were refreshingly cool.
He walked towards me slowly, his bare feet sticky on the tile.
“It’s really hot,” I said, my voice not quite fast enough for my mouth, so the words came out hoarse.
He grinned and put his hand on my waist. “Yeah, it’s pretty hot.”
“It’s um, at least 100 degrees, did you know that?” I said stupidly, avoiding his gaze as he put his other hand on my other waist.
“Is it really?” He asked, rubbing his thumbs simultaneously up and down my sides without moving his hands.
I gulped. “Yeah.”
He nodded. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
I looked up at him finally, his whole face was smiling. Our lips met like two sideways crescent moons, like big goofy clown smiles or toy vampire lips without the teeth.
~
<3
Happy first hot week of the summer, for all y'all on the east coast. Woot!
Sometimes that's fun to read. Just have to be careful with it. 
