Page 62 of Somewhere Only We Know
“I’m gonna withdraw from Phil U and transfer here.”
“No.” My dad says, albeit weakly.
“What do you mean,no? You two kept this from me for months, when I asked you if I should be worried. And to find out you now have months? No. I’d rather transfer here to be close.”
“Nathan, what about baseball? It’s your final semester too.”
A cold sweat coats my skin as I think about what I’m giving up. My chance at the Major League. An internship at the top architecture firms in the country. All of it slipping away for a chance to stay close to my family. And Jax. I bury my head in my hands as I know this is going to crush her. The plans we’ve made, disappearing faster than cottoncandy on your tongue. I won’t put this on her. It’s not fair to put this on her. It’s not fair to put this on anyone. But I can’t tell her right now. Honestly, there is no right time to tell her I’m not coming back.
“I’ll figure it out. But there is no way I’m going back to school five hours away. No.”
“Okay. If that’s what you want,” my mom says.
“It is.” I tell them.
A week has goneby since I came home for winter break. Since I found my dad facedown on the living room floor. And a week since I’ve ignored every one of Jax’s texts. Everyday I’ve gone on a run until my legs turned to jell-o in an attempt to build up the courage to tell her I’m not coming back. But every time I pick up the phone and look at her countless unanswered texts, I close out of the app, promising to myself that the next day will be the day I tell her. Today is that day. Today needs to be that day.
Me: I’m not coming back to school. I’m sorry.
After the message is delivered, I turn my phone off and decide to run down to the beach. Doesn’t matter that it’s December. Doesn’t matter that this is my second run of the day. I just gave up three of the most important things in my life to stay home with my family. And while I love my family, I’m more hurt and lost that I now have to start over.
29
NATE
PRESENT DAY
“Remind me why we booked our flights for the asscrack of dawn?” Bryce asks with a yawn.
We’re at the airport before six AM again and it really is a question for the masses.
“So that we can get home before traffic?” Kamryn poses.
“Sure,” Bryce agrees, “because traffic is my biggest concern right now.”
We’re all in the waiting area seats of the airport. You’d think this one wouldn’t be so busy. But Vegas is proving to prove me wrong at every turn. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out.
Bee: So about this date…
I flick my eyes up and see she has the perfect poker face in place as she continues to scroll through her phone.
Me: Considering we’re still on the mend. I propose, you, me, and a classic movie night.
Bee: Your place or mine?
Me: Your place. At six.
Bee: Can’t wait.
The announcement to board our plane comes and wearily we all gather our things and head to the gate. We’re far from the lively bunch when we first arrived. But the fun we had here will be briefly remembered forever. The saying is ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’. I always found that saying cheesy, because there is no way the things that you did, don’t follow you back. Like, getting married. Oh yeah. That’s absolutely following me back.
At six o’clock onthe dot, I knock on Jax’s door with a box of pizza and sparkling apple cider in my hands. Her wreath with lights signals that she’s already decorated for Christmas and hopefully the inside will reflect the same because I know how much she loves this time of year. Barking and nails tapping on the floors brings a smile to my face. And when the door unlocks, revealing the only face I’ve dreamed about for the last eight years, my heartbeat goes into overdrive.
“Hi,” she says sweetly and is almost pushed over by Sully. “Ugh, Sully. Get back in here. Come in.”
I sidestep her into the house and the sound of the door closing is instead the opposite. It’s like opening the door to a new us.
The inside definitely reveals she’s decorated for Christmas. Holiday decor is tastefully placed with her classic treein the front room and if I look past her, I see her balcony decorated with white lights.
