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thirty six

Hallie's POV:

With Rafe now working most of the time and me taking up their house by myself, I got bored pretty fast. I had been spending numerous hours scrolling through apartment after apartment on my laptop. Rose had also been trying to look for me, but I knew she had tons of other things to take care of with her job, so I had been doing most the home searching.

Currently, it was close six, which meant everyone would be home soon, but I was still looking. I really hadn't been able to give up, because I was anxious to get out of their hair. I knew they didn't care that I was staying there, but I still just felt terrible, especially since I was occupying their house when they weren't even here. Just then, a notification popped up on my computer about a new apartment listing, knocking me out of my trance, and I didn't hesitate to click it.

The page loaded and the listing finally pulled up, revealing the perfect place I had been looking for, for weeks, might I add. It was a one bedroom, exactly what I had wanted, with all of the necessities; kitchen, bathroom, washer and dryer, living room, everything. I scrolled through the pictures several more times, trying to make sure that this was real, and after deciding that I needed to definitely jump the gun on this apartment, I picked up my phone.

It rang a couple of times before a woman answered and I chatted with her about the place. We discussed over the leasing options and I gave her tons of information about myself, before she sent me application through my email.

"Okay so you should have gotten the form." She paused, "If you can fill that out for me right now and sent it back, we will run a couple of back ground checks and give you a call back tomorrow. I don't foresee you having any problems getting approved, we just have to do this as a precaution."

I smiled and almost threw up in excitement, "Awesome, yes, I'm pulling it up now and I'll get it back to you in a little bit."

"That sounds great Hallie. We're looking forward to have you here. I'll talk to you tomorrow, but I hope you have a nice evening."

"Thank you so much, you too."

The call ended and I literally screamed, not even hearing anyone come home, so when Rafe busted through the door, freaking out, I jumped. He sighed when he realized I was okay, and spoke up, "God baby, don't do that to me, I'm gonna have a heart attack."

I laughed at his comment, "I'm sorry, but Rafe, I found one! I found a place!"

His face immediately changed, "Wait really?"

I nodded and watched as Rafe practically ran over to me, wrapping me up in his embrace. I almost broke down at the feeling, he was just so sweet. When the boy pulled away though, he put his teary eyes on mine and I instantly got worried.

"Rafe, what's wrong?" I asked frantically, not understanding why he was upset. This was a good thing.

"Hal I-" He swallowed, "I can't go with you."

"What? I- you," I couldn't even form words to respond. Instead, I could feel myself start to shut down, not believing this was happening right now. We had already talked about this, and he had told me that he was coming, so I was obviously pretty devastated.

"I know," He sat down on the bed, and pushed the hair out of my face, "I'm sorry, I've been meaning to tell you Hal. I just didn't want this to happen."

I met his gaze again, "Why Rafe?"

"This job, I- I can't leave it now that I've started." He grabbed my hands, "He wants me to take over so I've got to stay and do this."

The tears were pouring from eyes at this point, because I seriously didn't want to leave him now. I could always just go to UNC, but I knew that wasn't where I wanted to be, which only made this harder. It was either, be hours away from Rafe and go to a school I adored, or stay and be close to him at a school I didn't love. They both had good enough reasons to make each option a good one.

"I can already tell what you're thinking angel, and you can't do that." He squeezed my hands, "You have to go to Charleston. Just because I can't go, doesn't mean you can't chase your own dreams baby."

"But Rafe I can't leave you. You're all I have, literally." I got out through my disappointment.

"I know Hal but you have to." He sighed, "I can't hold you back from what you've been wanting to do for a while."

I knew he was right, but I couldn't deny that my heart shattered at his words. It was just a hard concept to accept, because not only did I want to just stay here and be with Rafe, I also had been dreaming of going to art school for years. I knew if I didn't take this opportunity now, it would be too late, since the spring semester was supposed to start soon.

"What would that mean?" I paused, "For us, I guess. If I went."

"Nothing changes angel, just a little further apart, but I would be just a call away and I could come see you whenever, or vise versa. I would still be here, and I promise you that." He pulled me into him, and I felt his lips connect to my hair line, "I will always be here because I love you with everything I have Hallie."

"I love you too." I buried my head into his chest, still not accepting the news.

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short chapter, but it will continue into the next one...

this is your heads up though, it's about be a little upsetting...

im sorry 🤍

promise it gets better eventually