Once Upon A Bus Ride

Chapter 58: I Like This Kind Of Cliché

"Yet here you are, running to him again because you're too scared to face anything on your own."

"You want to stay here and go to NYU with your best friend, I can tell," he told me. "I'm not going to let you put your life on hold. Not for me, not for anybody. If you say I should follow my dreams, then you should too. You're not giving up college to follow me across the Atlantic Ocean and then around the world while I'm on tour."

I stayed silent and picked at my nail, knowing he was right. No matter how much I wanted to be with him, I couldn't just press pause on my life.

"You want something more Morgan," he continued. "I see it, and that's okay. You spend a lot of your time trying to be the perfect friend or sister or daughter...or girlfriend...and then you beat yourself up when you don't think that you are. This is your chance to do something for yourself, and not anyone else. When was the last time you did that?"

He could read me like an open book, and that was both a blessing and a curse. I knew he was right, I'd been thinking those same thoughts to myself. I didn't really know who I was outside everyone else in my life.

"Where are you going?" Aaron asked as I got off the bed.

I walked over to my desk and grabbed my laptop, handing it to him. "Email whoever contacted you. Tell them you're taking it."

"Morgan-"

"If you don't want me to put my life on hold, then you're not putting yours on hold either," I interrupted. "Email them."

Aaron looked at me and sighed, before opening the device. He got to typing, glancing at me from time to time. After a few minutes, he closed it.

"All done," he uttered. "I said yes."

I nodded, trying to force a smile. "Good. I'm happy for you."

He reached out and took my hand, pulling me down so that I was sitting on him. "Well don't look too happy about it."

I managed to chuckle at that.

"I care about a lot of things," he said. "But you're my whole world Morgan."

My heart melted, and I leaned forward and kissed him.

You're my whole world too.

~~~

I had been feeling better ever since Aaron came to see me in my bedroom. My mom came back home, but I didn't speak to her. I couldn't look at her. She destroyed our family and then tried to make me feel guilty for it.

"I'm sorry," I told Shannon.

"Don't apologize," she shrugged. "My dad's the man-whore here. God I can't believe I almost believed all that crap he tried to feed me about getting our family back together. Stupid right?"

"Shan, I know your parents are divorced but you have the right to be upset you know," I told her.

"Hey, it's your family being wrecked right now," she said. "Mine's been in shambles for a while now."

"How did your mom take it when you told her?"

Shannon fell flat on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "Not too well. I think she had this tiny bit of hope that he meant everything he said. I think she still loves him."

"Really?"

"Crazy right?" she scoffed. "He disappears for eight years and pops up and she's still in love with him."

I shrugged. "Some people have that effect I guess."

I thought about Aaron leaving. I really didn't think I could love anybody like I loved him. But I was going to have to let him go at some point.