"Later" to Jamie meant 11 a.m. while "later" to me meant two or three o'clock in the afternoon. I was still in my boxers when Jamie came knocking on my door, the same boxers I had on yesterday and today. I just hadn't gotten around to changing. Jamie knocked again, and although I only grunted, he took that as permission to open my bedroom door.

"You ready?" he asked as I looked up at him from my phone. "Uh...are you still in the same shorts? That's disgusting. You're sitting on your bed in your wet shorts that's been in that smelly, disgusting pond. I hope you change your sheets before you go to bed." Maybe I will, maybe I won't. "So are we going or what?"

Not saying a word, I got off my bed and went to the laundry basket of clean clothes that I hadn't put away yet. Dumping it out, I managed to find a pair of clean cargo shorts.

"Wait," he said as I went to put the shorts on over my boxers. "You need to take a shower and change your underwear."

He wasn't the boss of me and I didn't care, anyway, so I resumed putting on the shorts.
With him staring at me with a weird look on his face, I zipped and buttoned my shorts up and proceeded to slip on my black chucks without socks. What was his problem, anyway?

"I don't know if I want you in my car dirty and smelly," he said.

Fine, whatever, I thought, and went to sit back down on my bed.

"But I don't know where I'm going." He had GPS, didn't he? "And I don't know what to buy."

I wasn't sure what to buy, either, but the guy in the store knew. After a few minutes of Jamie standing in my room quietly staring at me, he gave in.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go, but you need to take a shower later. It's disgusting."

"You're not my father," I muttered, throwing on a black t-shirt that I wasn't sure was clean or not.

Located in the neighboring town of Groton, Crombie's Pool and Spa was the the only pool store in the area, one where all the employees seemed to know me for some reason or other.

"Hey there Jordan," the only old guy in the store said. I knew him as Mr. Crombie. He was in the middle of unloading a box of pool chemicals. "Long time no see, huh? Where's Tim?" He knew very well he was at work since he wasn't with me.

"Hi," Jamie said. "I'm a friend of Tim's,  just helping him out. We plan on opening the pool today, so I was hoping you could tell us what we need." Mr. Crombie gathered up the usual supplies and put them in a box.

"Do you expect your dad home this summer?" Mr. Crombie asked. How was I supposed to know? He stared me down, expecting me to say something, but I wasn't in the mood. "Just one day I'd like to hear your voice instead of a grunt. Say hi to Tim for me." Jamie dropped the supplies in the backseat of his black Jeep and interrupted me with another question as I was about to get in the passenger's seat.

"Do you hear that sound?" he said. What sound? Listening carefully, I heard the sound Jamie was referring to. "Quick. It's the ice- cream man."

I had never seen a thirty year old man get so excited over the ice-cream man. Although I didn't want to admit it, I was excited, too, but I was much younger than Jamie. He ran in the direction of the all too familiar tune that epitomized the sounds of summer, a sound that could instantly render any adult a child again.

Jamie ordered one of those red, white, and blue popsicles while I ordered a Spongebob ice-cream pop because I liked the gum-ball eyes. We happily sucked on them as we made our way back to his Jeep. So far I was having a pretty good day.

The day grew warmer and hotter and more humid by the second. Jamie pulled his hair back in a stupid man bun as I helped him remove the pool cover.

It was so hot, he even took off his shirt. He was taller and more fit than both me and Tim, that's for sure. His shoulders were broader than mine, which wasn't saying much since me and Tim were both slight. At least I was taller than Tim, who couldn't have been more than 5'5;" I was at least 5'9". Jamie's arms and chest were both toned as well as his calves. He looked like someone who enjoyed hiking and maybe biking, too. I couldn't understand why I enjoyed looking at him.

Once the pool cover was off, I decided to lay flat on the deck and take advantage of the late June sun. As Jamie scooped up all the leaves in the water with a net, I relaxed with my ear buds in, my feet bouncing to the rhythm of Holiday in Cambodia.

One second Jamie was scooping the leaves out, the next second he was standing at my feet, casting an annoying shadow over me. Go away, I thought to myself. He didn't go away, though. Instead, he kicked my foot, disturbing me in my own world. Annoyed, I pulled out one ear bud to find out what this weirdo wanted.

"Why don't you get the wireless speakers so we can all hear the music?" I wasn't too sure about that since I liked living in my own world with my music. "What are you even listening to?" he asked, snatching my phone away from me before I had a chance to stop him. He had no right to take my most prized possession, just like he had no right to try and touch my hair the other day.

"Give it back," I said as he tapped my phone, scrolling through it. I had very few apps and contacts since I mostly only used it to listen to music. Jamie unplugged the headphones so the music blared through my phone. He bobbed his head to the music as he perused my lengthy music library. "Give it back," I said again, sounding just like a whiny little kid. I was so angry, I could barely contain myself. My insides were in turmoil.

"Interesting taste in music," he said. "Dead Kennedys are a classic. Who introduced you to this music?"

"Give me my phone back," I said, but he nevertheless continued to hold it, pacing around the deck, keeping my phone from me. He's going to keep it. I know it. I hate him. My heart raced faster and faster on the verge of drowning and suffocating, all because of Mr. Stupid Man Bun.

"Sex Pistols, Ramones, the Pixies, the Clash..." he said. "Interesting."

What was so interesting about it? It was my mother's music. How could he take my phone away from me? No, he can't do that. It's mine. Running to him, I retrieved my phone and pushed him so hard he fell backwards, falling into the pool and into the dirty water. "What the...?" he exclaimed. "Get back here, you little shit."

Afraid of what he'd do to me if he caught me, I ran into the house. I figured now was a perfect time to take a shower so I took an extra long one, which was totally not like me. I usually took 5 to 10 minute showers, often forgetting to rinse the shampoo out of my hair. This afternoon, though, I took a thirty minute shower. When I was done, I hid in my room, my sanctuary, my ear buds back in my ears. Someday I hoped to get wireless headphones. Tim had a pair and he was always raving about them.

Anyway, Jamie left me alone for the rest of the afternoon. I stayed in my room for hours until Tim pounded on my door, letting me know it was time for dinner.

Jamie made dinner so we had something other than pasta or cereal. It was nothing special, barbecue chicken he cooked on the grill, salad, and corn on the cob. It sure beat pasta. Throughout dinner, Jamie gave me what I considered the evil eye and I gave it right back to him. He shouldn't have touched my phone.

"Okay, what'd you do?" Tim said to me. I only shrugged. "You did something. What'd you do to him? He's only been here two days and I can tell you did something. What?"

"He stole my phone," I muttered in an accusatory tone with a small pout.

"I didn't steal your phone," he said. "I was just teasing and I only wanted to see your playlist because you have really cool taste in music."

"Jordan doesn't handle teasing well," Tim said to Jamie, then turned back to me. "So what'd you do to him?" I stared blankly back at him.

"He pushed me in the pool," Jamie said.

"You what?" Tim laughed.

"It's not funny," Jamie said. "The water was cold and gross, probably full of all kinds of bacteria and..." Tim couldn't help but laugh harder.

"You shouldn't have taken his phone," Tim laughed, laughing so hard tears emerged from his eyes. There was nothing funny about any of this.

"You're such an ass hole, you know that?" Jamie said, unable to stifle a laugh. I wasn't laughing, though. Jamie had no idea how his supposedly harmless teasing affected me.

"Now you know to not tease my baby brother," Tim said. God, I hated it when he called me his "baby brother." I threw my half-eaten corn on the cob at Tim and got up, running away, down the deck and into the woods.