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…
