Page 3 of Whatever It Takes
In Maine, most of the student body didn’t even know my name. If it weren’t for my connections to the Calloway sisters, I’d be considered painfully normal.
I still can’t believe we ended up here. Together.
Okay, not together in the physical sense since heisthousands of miles away. But together as in we’re boyfriend-girlfriend. It took a lot of cosmic happenings for that to come to fruition.
The video of Garrison attempting to cook spaghetti ends abruptly after he switches the stove off, giving up on it. I glance over my shoulder towards Bishop Hall. I don’t think I can venture back to my dorm. I might run into Karla again, and I’m not sure I can take another awkward interaction.
As a last-minute distraction, I click into Tumblr on my cell.
My stomach lurches when I see a new post.
Oh no…
Garrison filled out a questionnaire that I didn’t tag him in, and thatrarelyhappens. He doesn’t love questionnaires, but he does them because he knows I’m kind of obsessed. So it’s odd that he did this, right? I don’t know what it means.
I hold my breath like I can stop an impending impact and slowly read the post.
Name:Garrison
Zodiac Sign:Scorpio
Average Hours of Sleep:idk used to be about 7-8? It’s less, so whatever.
Last Google Search:what time is it in London?
Relationship Status:
I…can’t…breathe.
He put a broken heart as his relationship status.Broken. As in, I broke his heart? Or is it just fractured while I’m in London and he’s in Philly?
My glasses suddenly fog and the emotion I’ve been burying suddenly rises tenfold.Guilt.
He took my virginity yesterday.
And I’m the one who left. Boarded a flight at 5 a.m. his time. Flew to a different continent and landed this evening. Put an ocean between us. Literally.
A sudden realization overcomes me…oh no. It was goodbye sex.
I hadgoodbyesex my first time.
Removing my glasses, I wipe them on my cotton shirt. My belly twists uncomfortably. New eulogy:Here lies Willow Hale, the girl who fucked for the first time and then left.
Maybe it wasn’t even fucking. It was more like…love making. Sweet. Kind. And loving. It was perfect—except for the leaving part.
And I know Garrison doesn’t blame me for leaving. Not like I blame myself. He held me after we slept together and told me that he still wanted me to go. Wanted me to pursue my dreams and take the hard path—the challenge.
Since I have such a big safety net in Philadelphia, I don’t know if I can really thrive there until I learn to thrive on my own first.Londonis the challenge.
But it’s also likely I will fail spectacularly, like a mega belly flop into a crowded pool.
I look back at the broken heart on Tumblr.
His words ring in my head. The ones he said to me before I boarded the plane. “We’re going to make this work. I’m going to text and Skype.”He cupped my cheeks and both of us were crying. “We’re going to make this work, Willow. Because you’re my girl, and that’s not going to change.”
We’re going to make this work.
Broken hearts and all.
