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I snidely nodded. “It’s fucking funny how you seem so damn sure of what I want, but you have not a clue what you want.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she yelled back, throwing her hands in the air.
“Nothing, fucking forget it.”
My blood started to boil. I couldn't take much more of this conversation with her.
“What? Now I’m not worth an argument? Where’s my asshole boyfriend, Dylan, huh? When did he get replaced with such a goddamn pussy?”
I stood so fast she never saw it coming, getting right in her face. She folded her arms over her chest, arched an eyebrow in a challenging gesture.
“If you fuck with the bull, sweetheart, you’ll get the horns. Want to try that again?” I warned, taking another step into her personal space.
“For fucks sake, just go to Ohio State, Dylan. Go be with your boys. Leave me here. We can do the long distance thing and see what happens, okay? That’s what I want. That's what you need,” she answered in a neutral tone, shocking the shit out of me.
The force of her words, causing me to step back. “Is that right?” I gritted out.
“Yes, that's right, McGraw." She dug her finger into my chest, pushing me backward.
My head jerked back, stunned and I blurted out for the first time, “Promise?” out of nowhere.
She held her head higher, knowing if she said the following it would be the end. The decision would be made with or without my consent. She took a step toward me, her intense gaze never leaving mine and then whispered,
“Always.”
17
Aubrey
It was a lonely school year for me.
My world wasn’t the same anymore and I felt like I was just going through the motions of day-to-day life. My parents were now officially divorced. I saw my mom less than I did before. She drowned herself in work, to appease her heartache. I talked to my dad here and there. He tried to be more active in my life, but it wasn’t the same.
Nothing ever was.
Dylan, Jacob, and Lucas were all at Ohio State experiencing college life and Alex was going through her own shit, as was Austin. The school year was almost over and I had seen Dylan maybe three times. Each visit was only a few days long. He came back home for his nineteenth birthday, for my eighteenth birthday and then again for the holidays. We talked on the phone almost every other day, but the conversations were short. Texting became our normal way to communicate. I had applied to a few colleges including Ohio State and to my surprise I got accepted. I still hadn’t told Dylan that bit of information. I didn’t want him to think I applied there to follow him, or pressure him to be committed to me.
Our relationship changed, like most long distance ones did. I didn’t know how to talk to him anymore or maybe I did and I was just scared. I spent most of my time by myself thinking, contemplating, and drowning in everything that was around me.
I was shocked as shit when Alex texted me saying she was going to one of Charlie’s infamous parties with Austin. She never went to parties. In fact, the last one she went to, she ended up throwing up. I had to cover for her with the boys while Lucas took her somewhere to tend to her. I stayed home instead and watched television late into the night. When my phone rang bringing me out of a dead sleep, I realized it was only early morning.
“Hello,” I groaned, wiping the sleep from my eyes.
“Aubrey,” my mom’s worried tone screeched through the phone.
I instantly sat up. “Mom. What’s wrong?”
“Honey, a taxi is on its way to come get you, okay? I will tell you what’s going on when you get here.”
“What? No!” I panicked, jumping off the couch. “Tell me now, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
The line went silent except I could hear her breathing. She sighed. “I can’t leave or I would come pick you up myself. It should be there in a few minutes. Come into the ICU.”
“ICU? What’s going on? Just tell me, please. Are you okay?” My heart was pounding out of my damn chest, anxiety coursing through me.
“I’m fine. Your father is fine. I’ll see you in a little bit.” She hung up.
I stood there in shock listening to the silence for a second. My mind was reeling, trying to grab onto something, anything. I ran upstairs, having fallen asleep on the couch. I brushed my teeth and threw on a hoodie with some jeans. By the time I was done the taxi was honking in my driveway. I sat in the back seat with my heart in my throat the entire ride to the hospital. What should have taken minutes, felt like hours.
