Me, Myself and I

33 - After effects

I took a deep breath and looked back at her. "Patty you know why I want to go to MIT. You know what it means to me. As much as I like being with him and Thomas and Ben and you and the 5 of us being The Gang, I can't exclude the fact that my dream might never come true. I need some time to figure things out before I go completely nuts."

Patty turned her eyes to me seriously. "Have you... have you told him about it all yet?"

My look suddenly went from angry and sad to sad and even more nervous than ever before. I looked at my feet and started holding my legs. "No. And I don't plan on telling him for a very long time."

She placed a hand on my shoulder. "Caroline, Adam has proven to be more than worthy of your trust. What's stopping you?"

I looked in the other direction. You could already guess this was a tough subject for me. "Patty, I'm just not ready."

"Fine. But listen to me. Actually, listen to me. Just this once." I dropped my legs and looked at Patty, tears almost coming out of my eyes. "I know why you want to go to MIT. I know why you wanted to stop and have some time. I'm your best friend, I'm supposed to know you like no one else. But I know you so well, that I know that not talking to him will eat you on the inside. And the other way around too. You may not want to talk to him right now, but you will. Just remember that when you do: he deserves to know. I won't be there with you, that is something you gotta do just between the Cadam circle. But I'll always be there for you. Don't you dare to forget about that."

I looked at her and smiled. That folks, was friendship Patty shining through. My best friend can seem a little crazy and extreme when it comes to ships sometimes, but when you do get to know her... she's one of the most trusting and helping people you'll ever meet.

She knows the whole story of my life. She knows that I am the way I am because of stuff that has happened during this weird path filled with rocks and plain grass I have in front of me. And we were always by each other's sides. We don't actually straight up say it. It just has been acknowledged ever since she decided she wanted to paint my hair pink in kindergarten.

So I replied. "I know. Don't forget it is the other way around too. But thank you."

She opened her arms and hugged me tightly almost cutting the air that I was trying to breathe in. "Dynamic Duo forever." She said.

I quickly grabbed her shoulders and stood one arm away from her. "Did you just say what I think you did?"

She laughed at my reaction and rolled her eyes. "C'mon, it's almost time for class. We should get going."

● ● ●

"Great. Now I've got to walk by myself to that stupid parking lot and wait for Patty to finish retouching her makeup for the millionth time. Just great..." I said to myself.

All my classes had ended so I was making my way through the hallways trying to avoid any judging eyes. I had managed to spend a whole week avoiding Adam. Not passing through the jocks' area, speeding up when it was time to go from some point of the school to another, and much other stuff.

The day was finally over but just when I was about to leave for the parking lot, out of a sudden, a hand came from the back and was placed on my shoulder.

"And you thought you were walking alone." Someone said from the back.

I turned around and saw Ben and Thomas, both with a half-smile on their faces.

"Well, I saw no one that I knew prior to you two. So, yeah. That's what I thought." I responded to Thomas.

"Yeah, well, now you're not alone anymore." Ben replied slightly smiling.