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I knewwhat love was because of my parents. My father loved my mother in every single way possible, and she loved him the same. It was mutually a quiet love and a loud one. A stubborn love and a docile one. A wild love and a stable one. I grew up in a home blessed with an unconditional kind of love story. Over the years, I’d watched my parents transform in their lives, in their bodies, in their careers in a million different ways, yet the one constant was their admiration of one another.
My mother could gain fifty pounds, and my father still couldn’t keep his hands off her. My father could be fired from a job, and Mama would still look at him as if he were the greatest provider in the world. And when each of them had a dream, the other was in their corner as their biggest cheerleader. They championed each other, even if it meant a little disappointment and discomfort in some areas at times. It was an equal love story—one where no one felt unappreciated.
I guessed that was where I got my idea of what it meant to love someone—from my parents.
I guessed that’s why I was currently going to champion Aiden in his current situation—even if it meant a little disappointment and discomfort for myself.
“Los Angeles? For how long?” I questioned as Aiden and I sat in the frost-tipped grass wearing our sweatshirts and sweatpants. It was only September, but the cold found its way to Wisconsin. We were in that awkward in-between stage of Midwest seasons where it was freezing in the morning, you were a sweaty mess by midday, and the chills came back by nightfall. Aiden called it the hellhole. I couldn’t disagree with that.
“It could be a few months, but they are saying probably over a year,” he said.
Those few words broke my heart. Aiden had gotten the biggest acting opportunity of his career thus far. He would be starring in a television show, which would film in Burbank, California.
For over a year.
A year?!
Not to be dramatic, but then again, I was me, so I’d be a little dramatic, but a year without my best friend beside me felt like a lifetime. How would I manage going over three hundred and sixty-five days without him standing at the bus stop next to me? Without him sitting in the grass with me? Without him annoying the living crap out of me?
Who would I count the stars with?
I wanted to cry from the simple thought of it, but I wouldn’t. I had to be excited for him, and I was excited. This was the biggest opportunity in the world for Aiden. He was already a part of the previous season of the series, but not as a reoccurring character. This was a huge deal for him. He’d worked hard for it and deserved everything coming his way.
Still…
I’d miss him.
People had many friends and such in life, but not me. I didn’t have people. I had a person, and he was leaving our small town to go become a big star.
I knew this day would come. He was too talented, too gifted to not be the brightest star in Hollywood someday, but I wished he could’ve been in two places at once.
“I don’t like saying nice things to you because I know how big your ego gets,” I told him.
“Oh yeah, it’s massive. And growing by the minute.”
“I know. Your head is gigantic from the size of your cockiness. Regardless, just this once, I’ll say this nice thing, and if you ever bring it up again, I’ll punch you in your jugular.”
“Noted.”
My fingers fiddled with the frosted over grass, and I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m proud of you. You’re going to do amazing things, and you’re going to have a lot of fans and stuff, but I want you to know that I’ll always be your biggest fan.”
He smirked and narrowed his eyes. “Did my Hailee just get emotional?”
My Hailee.
Why did that phrase cause flutters in my chest?
I held up a fist and shook it. “Straight to the jugular, Aiden.”
He tossed his hands up in defeat. “Fair enough.”
Out of the two of us, Aiden was the more emotional one. I think it helped with his career to be in touch with his emotions. Me, on the other hand? Getting me to open up and be vulnerable was a challenge. We were opposites in so many ways. I was a type A personality. A planner with everything in life. Pie charts and stats were my love languages. Aiden, on the other hand, was a type B personality who went with the flow with any and everything. It drove me bonkers sometimes.
Don’t get me wrong, I too could go with the flow. As long as I knew where the flow was flowing and the speed of the flow and the duration of said flow and how chaotic the flow could’ve been due to elemental equations and the pros and cons of the flow and why in the hell would anyone want to flow anyway when you could plan ahead and account for every mishap that could’ve happened beforehand?
Anyway. I was cool, calm, and collected. No big deal.
“You know what?” Aiden asked. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. It must mean you’re going to miss me.”
