Meet Me After Class

Epilogue

"No! No, nothing like that," I rushed to reassure her. I took a fortifying breath. "I'm....well, I'm about to head to the airport, actually."

"The airport?" she repeated slowly, the confusion evident. "So you're coming back here to LA then, to surprise me? Or..."

Realizing I was just needlessly delaying the inevitable, I exhaled heavily and forced the words out in a rush. "Not exactly. Penny, I'm going to be taking a gap year of sorts."

Silence answered me, thick and loaded. I could practically hear Penny's brain working furiously to process this total curveball.

"You're doing what now?" She finally managed, voice climbing several octaves.

I steeled my nerves. "I'm going to Nepal," I stated simply, fully anticipating the eruption that was no doubt coming.

"Nepal?!" Sure enough, Penny straight-up squawked the word, sounding utterly flabbergasted. "Wendy, what the hell? Why didn't you tell me about this? Since when did random globe-trotting in Nepal become your big new plan again?"

"It's shocking, I know." I exhaled slowly, trying to keep my tone level and explain. "Look...Adam and Jay are back in town, and we talked. Like a really long talk. And well, long story short, they kind of sold me on the idea. So I'm going."

"Wait! Wait!" Penny was obviously needing to process this intel dump. "Adam's back? And you had a whole talk with him?" Her voice took on a bewildered lilt at the end.

I nodded, brushing stray hairs from my face. "Yep, he's back in town. And yes, we talked it all out. Oh, and get this - he's got a new girlfriend now. Karen. She's a nice young woman and every one loves here alread."

"What?! Hold up! Are you being serious right now? You're springing all this on me now? How could you not tell me any of this sooner?"

I could feel the hurt lacing Penny's tone, her words carrying an accusatory edge that sliced right through me. She wasn't wrong - this was exactly the kind of huge, life-altering decision we had always confided in each other about down to the smallest detail. Guilt churned like a storm in my gut, both for neglecting to loop her in sooner and for the reason behind it.

"You're right, Penny. I really should have given you a heads up about all of this," I admitted softly. "But...do you remember when you roadtripped down to LA with Melissa that time?"

There was a heavy pause, filled with Penny's bemused silence on the other end of the line. Finally, her confused voice came through the speaker. "You mean on my birthday..."

"And I told you that a little heads up would've been nice," I finished for her, a small, rueful smile tugging at the corners of my mouth as I channeled that conversation from years ago.

"Okay?" Penny's tone was pure puzzlement now.

"And you told me 'you know I hate leaving you behind,'" I replied, my own voice taking on that same wistful lilt she had used that day when dismissing my complaint. "'But we gotta get out of this town at some point! Expand our horizons.'"

A shocked beat of silence passed between us before Penny let out a loud, incredulous burst of laughter on the other end, the sound brightening my own spirits despite the melancholy of leaving home. "Oh my god, you did NOT just use my own words against me!"

I felt my own laughter bubbling up at the sheer absurdity of it all. Penny had beaten me to the punch line years ago about needing to spread our wings; now, finally, I was doing my own version of 'expanding my horizons.'

"Yeah, I can't really argue with that now, can I?" she managed between chuckles. "Pot calling the kettle black and all that."

We shared a brief, comfortable silence before she spoke again, her tone taking on a sincere edge.