"I need space." Those were the words Jacky said to Ryan the night before they both left for separate colleges. Now, each of them will try to learn who they are without the other. Will their paths lead them back together?
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
Jacky
It was after eleven o'clock and Jacky had made it back to his dorm room when he placed the call to his mom. She picked up on the first ring.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I was just wondering if I could borrow the car."
She paused before answering. "For what?"
Jacky hadn't realized how hard it would be to speak his plan out loud. Monica had been all on board, but she also sounded a little drunk and strangely excited to hear from him. "I wanted to drive down and check on Ryan."
Another pause, this one longer. "Oh, honey."
"No, listen! I've been texting him and things were going good and then he suddenly stopped texting. He's not answering Monica, either. I need to make sure he's okay."
"Doesn't Monica go to school near Boston? Can't she run over and check?"
The door to his room opened, and a very drunk Billiana stumbled in, leaning on each other for support. "Shh!" Jacky hissed before replying, "She doesn't have a car, and it's sketchy on the subway at night." When his mother didn't immediately respond, he added, "Please? I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
Billy hoisted Lilliana onto his bed, both of them with stifled giggles.
His mother sighed. "It's five hours to Boston. Even if I came down and picked you up, that's ten hours of driving tomorrow to get you back to school by Sunday night."
"I don't have to be back by Sunday night, I can skip Monday—"
Billy glanced over and made a shrugging gesture with wide eyes that told Jacky he wanted the tea. Jacky glared at him before turning his back.
"I have to be back by Monday. For work," she stressed.
Now it was Jacky's turn to sigh. It wasn't her fault, but he still felt trapped here.
"Did you try emailing him or something? Maybe his phone is broken."
"Yeah, that's probably it." He heard the clipped tone in his voice and he hated it. "I'll email him. It's fine. Sorry I called so late."
Probably sensing that he wanted to hang up on her, his mother said quickly, "Okay, honey. I love you."
"Love you too," he muttered, wishing he wasn't such a dick. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay. Good night."
"Night."
When he pressed the End Call button and turned around, Billy exploded, "What's going on? You gotta spill!"
"Yeah, who's taking the subway at night?" Lilliana added.
"I was just trying to get my mom to loan me her car," Jacky said, pocketing his phone and pulling out his pajamas. "It's fine. No one's gonna die."
