You know how every summer has a song?

It was Shake It Off in 2014, Get Lucky in 2013, California Gurls in 2010.

2009 was I Gotta Feeling, an appropriate anthem for a summer sandwiched between the end of high school and the start of college. Funny, because every time I hear that song, I don’t think of summer. I think of Aaron.

Aaron singing along in the car, humming in the lifeguard office, pausing in the middle of a beer pong game to shout l’chaim!

But really, for me, I guess he was that summer.

We lifeguarded at the same outdoor pool. Lazy summers spent blowing whistles at children not to run, trying our hardest to get tan, not burnt.

I remember when I first met him, a summer earlier, laughing by the lap pool with a girl, Hannah, and then, weeks later, dropping by a party to pick up that same girl.

Weirdly, I can remember when he first met me too. By which I mean first noticed me. He had just finished teaching a morning beginner swim class, and I was about to take over guarding the shallow pool.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m Aaron.”

“I know. I mean, I’m Jing Jing.”

It was easy to know when Aaron picked the music playing in the office. I’d walk in to the blast of cold air and hear N.E.R.D., Aaron tipped back in a plastic chair, reading a book, tapping his foot to the beat.

Sometimes the radio would be on, some silly top-40 station that he would turn up, making fun of me for knowing all the words even though he did too.

We started signing up to work the same hours, a casual, easy flirtation that — with only a few months until the school year started back up — never felt like it would go anywhere.

But summer has a way of stretching time, of making anything possible.

It was early July and his parents were out of town, so he was throwing a party. Hannah had told me in no uncertain terms earlier that week that if I hooked up with Aaron, our friendship was over. We were grabbing burgers at the local Five Guys, and I pondered this particular induction into teen-girl-friendship, weighing the pros and cons in my mind. I had never been one to react kindly to ultimatums, nor understood this specific brand of female friendship loyalty, so when Aaron and I found ourselves alone outside while everyone else was inside, shouting, music volume on blast, and he leaned in to kiss me, I kissed him back.

I gotta feeling…

We started seeing each other outside of work. We’d grab a bite after close, before heading to one of his friends’ house, or I’d sneak out after midnight to meet him down the street or at a party.

Aaron was the closest I got to the high school experience I’d read about in books or seen in movies. He was two years older and much cooler than I’d ever been at my all-girls private school, where I always felt like I had to work to get a seat at the lunch table and invited to parties.

His friends were fun and laid-back like he was. Nathan taught me the art of a perfect arc in pong and Greg helped me shotgun my first beer. Here, I was chill and easy-going and felt, for the first time, like I was in on the joke.

One night, at Nathan’s house, we were playing pong, waiting for the pizza to arrive before heading out to a party some girl was throwing. Aaron was cycling though music videos on YouTube in between shots. I was trying to see if I was good enough at aiming to call island when I Gotta Feeling queued up. Aaron started singing and Nate joined in and we all started dancing around. I took the shot and missed, but Aaron’s next to me laughing, and the mazel tov line came on, and he shouted the response, then took the shot, and I can’t for the life of me remember if he made it, but I can always picture the moment before, him leaned slightly back, eyes closed, arms open, l’chaim!, and a slight fist pump.

Funny, the way certain seconds stay imprinted in our memories.

…that tonight’s gonna be a good night…

It was never going to last.

We were headed off to schools hundreds of miles apart, and this thing, whatever it was, conjured in the heat of summer under the guise of carefree fun, wasn’t lasting or love.

But one August night, we were driving back to his house in the pitch dark when we both noticed a bright dot drifting down in the sky.

“Was that a meteor?”

“I think so?”

We sat quietly for half a minute when we saw another one. He pulled the car to the side of the road and motioned for me to get out. We leaned against the hood of the car and watched as a few sprinkles of light trailed the sky, pointing and shouting whenever we saw a new one.

“I’m glad this happened.”

I looked over at him and he’s smiling at me and I couldn’t help but feel like he didn’t just mean tonight with the meteor shower, and even though this wasn’t love, it was enough.

…that tonight’s gonna be a good good night.

This piece was written as part of the Art Swap Collaboration, featuring artwork created by the amazing DHBogucki. To see my illustrations for Jessica Jungton’s story click here. To see all the stories in this collection click here.