I continue to write as I sit at the counter of Milty Wilty, occasionally licking my single scoop cone of chocolate. So many people underestimate Milty Wilty, as the building and everything surrounding it are so worn down.
It's a relatively simple building really. White and run down, it sits on a small plot of land with old playground equipment, often used by young children who've pestered their parents, next to it and a mini-golf course behind it. From the big windows out in the front you can see the highway and the boat shop across the way. From the road you only really notice it because it's different from everything else. The world surrounding it is becoming so modernized.
The thing that really pulls you in is the sign. The big, old neon sign on the front of the roof. It's a big vanilla ice cream cone in between a big, loopy "Milty Wilty" with stars dotting the i's.
I'm deep in thought when my phone rings. I hate how something can interrupt me just as I start to find myself in my writing. I pick up my phone to see who it is. Lilah, my best friend.
"Hey," I say. "What's-?"
"Total crisis!" she says, cutting me off.
"And this crisis would be...?" I question. Her last crisis had to do with a missing tube of lip gloss.
"Where'd you leave that tank top I lent you? The purple one... with the sequins?" she's more frantic than you'd ever think anyone could be over a tank top.
"Really?!" I shriek, causing Mila, the woman behind the counter, to look at me in alarm. I mouth to her that everything's fine, my friend's just crazy. She nods and returns to wiping down the counter. I return to my conversation, more quietly this time, "that's your crisis?!"
"Yes! There's this party and... Long story short, I need it and I can't find it! You better not have lost it!"
"It's folded neatly on your bed right next to the math homework you forgot at my house! Gotta go!" I say, hanging up and dropping my head into my hands. "UGH!"
"Everything alright?" Mila asks as I turn off my phone.
"My friend, Lilah, lent me a tank top and started freaking out 'cause she couldn't find it," I explain, tired of Lilah's constant crises. I pick up what’s left of my cone from the napkin I left it sitting on and eat it, loving it's sugary sweetness. I look back down at my paper trying to remember anything and everything I was planning to write. No luck, all my ideas have disappeared far into the depths of my mind. It's useless to keep searching, they're gone, lost. I get up and leave, saying bye to Mila as I go.
I get in my car and drive along Highway 21, navigating my way through the many lefts and rights to our cottage. It calls to me, in its welcoming shade of light green, as I pull in the driveway. It's different from all the others on the lake. There's something about it that captures me, pulls me in.
While so many of the other cottages are small and old, ours is one of the biggest and the newest on the lake. It sits in the middle of the lot and several large picture windows in the front give us a perfect view of the lake.
This summer, I'll be living at our cottage, my family coming up every now and then. Despite the kids next door, my summer up here seems like it will be very peaceful.

In the cottage, I go to my bedroom and throw on my bikini. Grabbing my cell phone, towel, sunglasses, and the keys to our pontoon boat, I head out the door.
Before going down to the lake, I go in the garage and pull out a couple rafts. I throw them in the boat and get in, setting my other things on the seat next to me. Putting the key in the ignition, I turn it and start up the boat. I back out slowly and drive along to the center of our no-wake lake where I stop and drop anchor.
As I pull my sunglasses over my eyes, I see them. A family finally bought the vacant house over by the boat landing. I first see the parents moving a new bench down by the lake. Then I see a little girl, about five or six I would guess, dragging a guy by the hand. From this distance he looks to be about seventeen like me. After talking to their parents, the little girl gets excited and pulls him over to the house. As they walk inside I start up the boat and begin to drive over to the house. It couldn't hurt to introduce myself.
"Hi. My name's Selena Morgan and my family owns the cottage over there..." I say as I park the boat and they begin to walk down the pier. I point across the lake.. "It's the green one. I just thought I’d introduce myself and welcome you to the lake.”
"Well, hello, Selena," says the father, shaking my hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too. I'm living up here alone for the summer, I got a job at a local gift and garden shop, but my family will be coming up occasionally. You'll have to meet them sometime."
"We'd love to!" says the mother, smiling wide. "I'm Trina Collins and this is my husband, Ken. I don't know if you saw our kids, Lucy and Tyler, but they should be back out in a minute."
As if on cue, Lucy and Tyler walk out of the house, now in swimsuits. Lucy seems eager to meet me the second she sees me by her parents. I can't quite read Tyler's expression, but he seems curious.
"Hi," I say nervously. "I'm Selena.”
"I like that name!" says Lucy, making me smile. "I'm Lucy and I'm six! This is Tyler!"
"Hi," he says, smiling at Lucy's poise.
"Um... Would you guys want to come swim a little more in the middle of the lake? I have some rafts and stuff and I could drive you out there."
"Can we, Mommy? Please!" begs Lucy.
"It's alright with me. Have fun!" says Mrs. Collins, kissing her children on their cheeks. I try not to laugh as Tyler blushes and breaks away from his mother.

Out in the lake, Lucy starts swimming and splashing around, enjoying herself the way only a six year old can, but Tyler and I don't. Instead we sit in the boat and start talking. He tells me I can call him Ty if I'd like and I do. He's easier to talk to than most of my friends, especially Lilah.
Sitting there, I can't help but admire his perfect face. His eyes are blue, a blue as deep and as vibrant as the ocean, and the freckles dotting his upper cheeks and his nose are placed more perfectly than they could be by the tool of any artist. Afraid that I may be staring I turn away, just for a moment. As we continue on with our conversation, I feel as though my heart is melting. I'm taken over by his simple charm.
Laughing at something I said, he turns away, trying not to let me see him blush. That's when I see it. On the left side of his seemingly perfect face, just past the outer corner of his eye, is a small crescent-shaped scar. A perfect imperfection.

Sitting back at the cottage, I honestly don't know what I was thinking. Tyler seems perfect. Too perfect. I know what guys like that are like; there are a few too many at my school.
Guys like that, like him, they can have almost any girl they want and they know it. So, instead of choosing the "perfect" cheerleader, like they do in so many books and movies, they choose a quiet girl, someone fragile and vulnerable, and make her believe it's love, only to crush her heart for some other girl. They blind their prey, and I know I can't fall victim.

The next morning, I realize there's barely any food in the house. I put my hair to the side in a sloppy fishtail braid, throw on a sweatshirt to keep me warm in the cool morning mist, and slip on my black, Eddie Bauer flip-flops, grabbing my keys and purse as I walk out the door. Driving back into town, I convince myself I should just try to ignore Ty & his entire existence. As I wander the aisles of the local Copps, however, I see this won't be an easy task.
"Hey," he says before I can round the corner to get away from him.
"Oh, hi! I didn't see you there!" I say over-enthusiastically, "Tyler, right?"
"Very funny," he laughs, thinking I'm joking.
"Sorry, I've got everything I came here to get. I've... uh... gotta go..."
"So you came here to just walk around?" he says sarcastically, eying my empty basket.
"Um... I couldn't find what I was looking for," I say, blushing as I slip my list in my pocket so he won't see how many things are really on it. "Maybe I'll see you later."
"Um... okay... I guess."
I blush as I hurry out the doors, hastily putting my basket back with the others as I go. I can feel him watching me as I go, still trying to figure out what exactly just happened. I keep my head down and walk towards my car, not paying attention to where I'm going as someone bumps into me and I stumble into the parking lot.

Scream. That’s the first thing I think to do as the car hits me, unable to stop in time. My body burns with a type of pain I’ve never felt before as I crumble to the ground. Others scream & the driver gets out of his car. Strangers rush out of the building and into the commotion, trying to figure out what happened. Tyler’s face is the last thing I see.

I slowly open my eyes and realize I’m in a clean white room. There’s a beeping to my right and I look to see the mess of machines I’m attached to. As I try to fight the pain to sit up, a nurse rushes in and makes me stay lying, adjusting the wires and tubes that branch from my arm.
“Where am I?” I ask, realizing how different my voice sounds from lack of use. “What day is it?”
“You’re in Wild Rose Community Memorial Hospital. Today’s the 28th. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for a week. Do you remember what happened?
“I… I know I was at my cottage… but then… I don’t remember…”
“That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll remember eventually. For now you should just rest,” she tells me. Giving me a small smile, she leaves the room.
“Wait,” I try to call out after her, my voice cracking, “can I have some water?”
“Here,” a guy says, holding out a water bottle for me. I didn’t see him there before and I begin to wonder how long he’s been there.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” I say. I’m so thirsty I can barely stand it, but refuse the water bottle until I get some answers.
“You really don’t remember…” I can tell from the look in his eyes that I must know him. No stranger would show that much concern. I can’t hold out any longer and I reach over to take the water, opening it quickly and gulping it down. “Careful. You’re still pretty weak. You should sip it.”
“Where are my parents?” I question, looking for any sign that they were here.
“They’re in Japan,” I give him a confused look and he continues on. “Your dad had a business meeting and they couldn’t get a flight until tomorrow, but who knows if they’ll get out… they’re having some bad weather out there.”
“So you’re here instead… Who are you?”
“Tyler… Tyler Collins… or Ty… that’s what most people call me.” He hesitates, “you called me Ty, too.”
“Ty… That sounds… kinda familiar… You were there, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t see it… but I saw you when I came outside after those… awful screams…”
“Screams?”
“Yeah… Somehow… I had a feeling it was you in trouble. You had been acting so weird.”
“Weird? Weird how?”
“Weird like… distant. You were different than you were on the boat… I don’t know. The nurse was right though, you should really get some rest,” he calmly gets up, smiling weakly, and leaves the room, knowing that if he doesn’t, I’ll just continue asking questions.

“Miss Morgan, I see you’re up,” says a nurse as she walks in the room. The clock on the wall tells me it’s about quarter to six, almost four hours since Tyler left. He’s not in the chair he had been in earlier and his coat that he’d left on the chair is gone. Everything seems so unreal in this overly-clean, lonely room. “There’s someone here to see you. I’ll send him in.”
“Well hello there,” says a man I’m sure I’ve never seen before as the nurse leaves the room. “I’ve been waiting for them to call me to let me know you’d waken up.”
“Who are you? I know I have… amnesia or whatever it’s called, but I’m sure I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“Well just because you didn’t see me doesn’t mean I didn’t see you.”
“What? What does that even mean?” I ask, clutching the sensor that keeps track of my heart rate. If anything happens I plan on pulling it so an alarm will go off. At least I hope an alarm goes off. It always does in TV and movies.
“They told me you have no memory of the accident. I can see that’s true,” he states, his eyes digging like daggers into my soul. “I’m the one who saved your life.”
“Saved my life? Can you tell me what happened? Please?”
“You were hit by a car. I did CPR until the ambulance arrived. They said you would have died if I hadn’t.”
“Um… Thanks…” what are you supposed to say to someone who just told you they saved your life?
“That’s actually why I’m here…” he whispers suspiciously. “You owe me.”
“I owe you? Most people would do something like that. Besides you’re known as a hero… isn’t that enough?”
“No! You have two weeks. Or there will be… consequences. Understand?” he turns quickly on his heel and leaves before I can say that I don’t. I don’t understand at all. Everything that’s happened makes no sense to me.
“Nurse!” I shout.
The same small nurse from before comes rushing in. “Are you okay Miss Morgan? Is something wrong?”
“None of this makes any sense! What’s going on? What happened to me? I just wanna know!”
“We will tell you Miss Morgan, just not yet. We’re waiting to see if your memories return.”
“What ever happened to me got me in here! Do you honestly think that’s something I wanna remember?!” I’m crying now, begging to know.
“Miss Morgan…”
“Would you all please stop calling me Miss Morgan?! My name’s Selena! Can you please just call Ty? Even he was weird about telling me stuff but at least being with him feels safe!”
“Selena, it’s almost the end of visiting hours and since he’s not family…”
“I don’t care if he’s not family! My real family’s in Japan so he’s the best I’ve got right now!”
“If you could please just calm down…”
“Calm down?! Did you honestly just ask me to calm down?!”
“Fine… I’ll see what I can do… For now you should just drink some water. I’ll be right back with some, okay?”
“Fine… Whatever,” I say. “Just make sure you call him.”
When she finally brings the water it feels good in my throat, aching after so much yelling. It seems to take her an unusual amount of time to get the water and soon I know why as I slip into darkness.

“Hey. I hear you had a bit of a melt down with the nurse last night.”
As I finally open my eyes from a long, fitful sleep, Tyler greets me, smiling and trying to joke about my episode last night.
“Tyler, take me back to my cottage. Please! They tricked me so they wouldn’t have to deal with me! I don’t feel safe here!”
“You know you can’t leave.”
“Oh really?! Well nobody will tell me what happened or what’s wrong with me and last night some creep came in here and threatened me and I just, I'm so lost!”
“Well you broke five ribs and… wait… a creep? Did he tell you his name or anything?”
“No, but he said he saved my life. He did CPR until the ambulance came or something…”
“Oh him… He threatened you?”
“Yeah he said…”
“Well look who’s up!” says a different nurse, overenthusiastically. “You’re not gonna yell are you? Just kidding. Now let’s check out your injuries!”
“Wouldn’t it help if you told me what happened?”
“Well… I’ve been told not to… but I really don’t think that’s fair to you as a patient.”
Speaking quietly, the nurse tells us everything she knows. After losing consciousness, everyone continued to panic and call 911. The car hit me just as it began to stop and sent me spiraling down to the ground. She said that it was amazing I hadn’t gotten more injuries. While it was already obvious that I’d broken my right leg and Ty had already told me I had broken five ribs, she told me that my leg was broken in three places and I had a concussion. Then she continued on, telling me about the accident. The man who had come last night really had saved my life. When the nurse leaves, Tyler and I sit silently, thinking.
“The entire time, I didn’t know what to do… In fact, the entire thing is kind of a blur. One moment I’m hearing the screams, the next I’m in the ambulance,” he finally says, thinking back to the accident.
“You were in the ambulance?”
“They asked if anyone knew you… if you were there with someone. It’s not like I could drive, you were all I could think about was… you.”
In that moment, I know that if nobody else, I can trust Ty. Forever.