Page 51 of Another Love, Another Time
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We get to the park and check in. The only reason I’ve come is because I know Melissa won’t be able to interrupt my peace. She and Meredith have to wait twenty minutes before they can come up.
As soon as I put the vehicle in park, I’m out and walking towards my destination. I get my phone out and shove my earbuds in my ears to continue listening to my playlist.
I feel Auggie behind me. He can easily keep up. He can sense that he shouldn’t say anything right now.
When we finally get to the top, there are a few people up there, but they are getting ready to leave. I sit on the ground and watch as the sun descends. Auggie approaches and sits beside me. We sit there for a minute before he tugs my earbud out. I hit pause on the music.
“Can we talk now? You’ve been avoiding me all day.”
I don’t say anything.
“I shouldn’t have said that last night. I was just frustrated, and you know I want you to be my girlfriend.”
I soften a little bit. I’m the reason we are not in a relationship. It doesn't stop him from seeing other girls. Would it really change if I agreed to be his girlfriend? I almost cave, but then Iremember seeing him and Melissa on the couch and him telling her about this reservation.
“It didn’t seem like it. Actions speak louder than words. It seems you cared more about Melissa than me. And then, you told her about this,” I scoff.
“She wanted to hang out, and I told her I already had plans. I kind of let it slip. I didn’t think she would get reservations.”
I just look at him like “yeah, right.”
“River, you know you are my endgame. Melissa and I are friends. I know that you hate that, but I try to be her friend. She doesn’t have very many, and not all of them look out for her. That’s it. Nothing else. Did I let it slip? Maybe. But did I think she would be able to get reservations at the last minute? No. Please don’t let her get to you. I’m sorry, River. I’ve tried to apologize all day, but you wouldn’t let me.”
I’m still quiet. I don’t want to be mad at him.
Melissa is going to be at the same college next year, and I hate that. Will it always be like this? I don’t think I can do this and still focus on school and sports. Maybe I need to look at another option. But do I want to give up Auggie?
“What about next year when we are all in the same place? Are you going to run every time she demands it?”
“No. I’ll let her know I have other priorities. We have a curfew, and I won’t be able to miss without getting in trouble.”
I laugh. He’s not using the fact that it will take away from us spending time together but not wanting to hurt feelings. He’s sweet and doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but I need to be number one for him if I decide to be his girlfriend.
I’m out of steam. I don’t want to waste my time up here arguing with him. My only response is putting my head on his shoulder to sit in peace while another day passes.
He brings his phone up, snaps a picture, and shows me the image. It’s a good picture of us.
A couple of minutes later, I hear Melissa’s voice. Our peace is over. I get up and brush the grass off me. My heart still hurts. It belongs to Auggie, even though it hurts for it to be his at times. I just have to trust him to put me first next year.
Auggie latches on to my pinkie, and we head back down. “It’s all yours,” he tells Melissa and her friend as we head down and wait in the car. I really hope he doesn’t break my heart. I don’t know how much more I can take.
Chapter 13
River, Age 18
Auggie and I always said that we would go to our senior prom together. He would go to mine, and I would go to his. He was seeing a girl earlier during our senior year, but he broke it off a few months ago. I was kind of hurt, but I couldn’t really say anything. I had been clear that I thought we should remain friends. I wanted him to have the full senior experience.
I tried to give him an out. He had a lot of girls who were dying for him to ask them. His prom is this weekend, and my prom is next weekend. His parents decided to just buy him a tux instead of renting since he would be wearing the same one to both proms, just like I would be wearing the same dress to both. My parents aren’t poor by any means, but that doesn’t mean that they will just shell out money for two dresses that I would only wear once.
I love my dress, though. It’s made of blue tulle, long and flowy, and it makes me feel like a princess. It brings out my blue eyes, too. It shows a little cleavage.
I’m going to get my hair curled to look wavy, maybe pull a little up to keep it out of my face. I’ll have a natural look for my makeup. I have heels to go with my dress. I don’t usually wear them this high, but if my feet are in too much pain, I’ll just take them off. I really want to look good for Auggie.
Tonight, I’m going to tell Auggie that I changed my mind, and I finally want to be more than friends. We have less than a month of school, and I can come up and see him a ton this summer. He has to head to college early for baseball training, but we could spend a lot of time together beforehand. Before, we didn’t wantto be together because of the distance, but with us both going to the same college, there will be no reason to be separate.
We all decided to go to Mizzou. That was the only school that offered all three of us a full ride, and we will be close to our parents. The only thing that sucks about going to Mizzou is that Melissa got in too. Auggie keeps telling me it’s a big school, that we’ll probably never run into her, but after this summer, I highly doubt that.
