Leap Year (✔)

June 17

Rosie stands at her desk, tossing her few remaining possessions into her suitcase. Her bed is empty, save a plain white sheet and flattened pillow that she's opted to leave behind. The room looks large without her knick-knacks and stray clothing clogging up the space. 

Where Rosie's posters used to hang, there are now blank stretches of wall, dotted with nail marks and chipped paint. Pablo's mural of Hogwarts shines against the afternoon sunlight flooding in from the open window. Their landlord told Rosie and her mom to paint over Hogwarts before they move out, but Rosie couldn't bear to do it.

Crossing to her dresser, she pulls open the top drawer, and her fingers wrap around a bundle of photos she printed off her phone. 

There's the awkward photo of Pablo and Rosie in middle school, and here's a selfie from the homecoming game, a shot of her friends at the beach surrounding their pathetic sand castle, her and Brie in their Little Women costumes. These are her memories. These are the things she has to pack in her carry-on. She can't risk losing them.

Taking one last glance over her bare room, Rosie smiles to herself. Chester, her iguana, is already halfway across the Atlantic. Probably on the bottom deck of a boat somewhere, unaware he's heading to his new home. She hopes the deckhands are feeding him plenty of lettuce.

She sits on her bed and lets the breeze from her window flow through the stuffy apartment. Her phone buzzes with final goodbye messages from Pablo and Hailey, full of teary emojis and exclamations. Rosie asks Hailey how the baby's doing.

-Hailey- Noah's doing great!

                He's a real mama's boy

Hailey follows up with a string of ten photos and Rosie looks at every single one. Moving has turned her into a softie, but she doesn't care.

There's one with Noah's tiny pink fingers reaching up for the camera. And one with his little body squeezed into a onesie reading "Mommy's New Man." That one was from Pablo.

It's the last picture that holds Rosie's attention. Zach and Hailey on the steps outside the hospital, Noah's squishy face pressed up against their glowing smiles.

-Rosie- How's Zach?

-Hailey- Hanging in there.

                 My mom's actually being nice to him, if you can believe it.

-Pablo- There's no way that's your mom.

                It's probably a clone or something

-Hailey- Ha. ha.

                 We'll miss you, Rosie!

                 Send us lots of pictures and come visit me and Noah anytime!!

Rosie's throat begins to clog up as she switches off her phone. She can't get emotional now. Not when Rosie and her mom's plane is set to take off in four hours. If she starts crying now, she won't stop.

Crying.

Now that Rosie thinks about it, she hasn't cried for a while. Not since she got to Brie's apartment and found out she was too late.

She hasn't seen Brie since the day of graduation. Rosie thinks about her everyday, but not like she used to, wondering what Brie was thinking of her or trying to plan jokes that would make Brie's dimples pop as she burst into laughter. Now, it is a nameless emotion that slips into her thoughts at random times. A longing for what was, but can never be.