Every Summer After

After ice cream, Sam invites Percy back to his house for a drink. Percy hesitates; she wants to go but is still unprepared to tell the truth about the past. She obliges when he insists. Sam pours out a drink, admitting that having Percy here feels like he’s “been punched in the heart” (91). Percy wants to make things better, but she doesn’t know what to say; she asks Sam for time, and he assures her that they don’t have to talk about it right now.

Sam comments on Percy’s bangs, reminding her that she promised she would never get them again. Percy confesses that they are “breakup bangs,” as she was recently dumped; she’s not sorry, though, as he wasn’t the man for her. Sam asks if Percy and Delilah are still close. When Percy admits that they drifted apart while at university, Sam seems uncomfortable.

Sam tells Percy that he used to buy horror movies from a secondhand store when he was in college but never watched them because it felt wrong to do so without her. Percy reveals that she, too, has stopped watching horror movies for the same reason. The conversation is interrupted by a tall, blond, elegantly dressed woman who arrives at the house; Sam introduces her as Taylor, his girlfriend.