Years of Summer: Lily's Story by Bethanie Armstrong

safely home.  I hate to admit it, but when Sunday morning rolled around and I knew that I would see Jace that night I could not wait to get back. 
    I went to church with my family and then when I came home, I started packing up and getting my clothes together that I had washed, so I could leave.  Ally (my little sister) cried as I put my stuff in the car.  She was a junior in high school and really hated to see me leave to go back.  I promised I would be back at least once a month to see her, because I had explained to her about Jace.  She understood, because she had a little boyfriend that she believed she couldn’t live without.  He was the captain of the basketball team, and really good too, colleges were already looking at him for scholarships.  She knew their parting was coming, but chose not to think about it.  I told her I loved her and my mom and dad as well, put my things in the car and made my way back to campus. 
    I didn’t know what time Jace was coming in so I resolved myself that I would have to be patient and wait on him to get back.  The funny part was; he was the one that had been waiting on me at the side door of the dorm.  I pulled up and he was there at my door, opening it to immediately grab me up in a huge bear hug.
    “Lily, I missed you so much.”
    “I missed you too.”  Then he kissed me.  All I could say was WOW!  It’s amazing what three little words can drive a man too, especially when unprompted.  He helped me unload my car and get things put away and then we caught up on what had happened in the past five days.
    “You know Lily, me and Dave and Ty and Mike enjoyed ourselves, but you have never seen a more miserable bunch of guys after the four of you left.  We almost left too, but my parents talked us into staying and by the way, they loved you.”
    I suddenly realized something.  “Jace you know what, I don’t even know where you live or rather where your parents live.”
    “You know, I don’t know where you live either.  That’s funny, I can tell you everything about you except where you live, so you first.”
    “Okay, I live in Huntsville.”
    “You’re not serious.”
    “Yes, that is where I live.”
    “I live in Decatur.”
    “No way.  Why have I never seen you around back home?”
    “Probably because we were never looking for each other and we were in different high schools.  Did you know Dave is from Decatur too?”
    “You know what’s funnier?”
    “What?”
    “That it never registered with me when Chelsea said you and she had gone to high school together that you were from Decatur.  Talk about not listening, but how come she never mentioned Dave?”
    “Because Dave and she never really got to know each other until they started here, and his family moved there just before he started his freshman year in high school.  He and I were on the football team and baseball team together.  His two little sisters go to Decatur High too.”
    “Where was he from originally?”
      “He was from Corner.”
    “You know, my grandparents lived there.  I wonder if my mom and dad know his mom and dad.  That is where they grew up.  I bet they do.  Corner is a really small town.”
    “Just ask next time you see Dave.”
    “I think I will.  Anyway, that is so wild that we lived twenty minutes away from each other and never knew the other existed until college.  Hey, you want to go sit on the quad?  It is nice and sunny today.”
    “Yeah, that sounds great.” 
    I went to my closet and grabbed the blanket to go sit on the quad.  The days were longer, so we still had some time before the sun went down.  He followed me out and of course not everyone was back yet so the quad was rather sparse with people.  We spread out the blanket and sat down and continued our conversation.
    “So tell me something.”
    “What would you like to know?”

“Chelsea said you were the star pitcher on the baseball team, star lineman on the football team, and president