➢ i
genevieve poured herself some coffee into the red travel mug that sat in the back of the cupboard.
"i'm going out with christine tonight, gen."
her stomach was in knots. she still felt uneasy about the idea of her father dating. the voice in the back of her head reminded her that christine made her father happy.
"you love her, don't you, dad?"
he sat at the breakfast table, with his mug of the same drink that genevieve simply couldn't live without. she grabbed her mug and sat across from him. judging by the smile her father wore and the somewhat surprised look her question had caused, she already knew the answer.
"when you care about someone to the point where you think of them as your air, then that's when you know you love them."
her father and her had never talked about the sappy stuff. that had been something her mother and her did.
"she's your air." genevieve said this as more of a statement, than a question.
he nodded.
"you'll understand when the time comes."
➢ ii
the bells to the shop jingled. genevieve looked to her best friend, who walked towards them, dimples prominent as he grinned. his blond hair was tousled and he held a letter.
"gennie," he exhaled.
"you ran here?" marshall asked him.
"gennie," he repeated, "it came in the mail this morning."
marshall stiffened beside her as xavier took a seat across the two of them.
"and yeah, i ran here," xavier's smile was forced, as he met genevieve's calculating eyes.
at least they were civil, she thought to herself.
"im going to england, gennie," he stood up engulfing her in a hug, "and in the letter they said that the short film i made was 'spectacular.'"
"that's a horrible british accent, and you're all gross and sweaty" she laughed, "but i'm so happy for you, x. you have no idea."
marshall barely gave xavier smiles, but this once was an exception, "congrats, man."
xavier grabbed genevieve's coffee, taking a sip, "this is cold," he grabbed his letter off the table and set down the cup, "and listen you two, i'm going to be a film student."
genevieve smiled, giving him another hug, "you better make me a movie, xavier."
➢ iii
xavier left five minutes after gloating about how 'simply amazing' england was going to be. when she had asked him why he didn't want to stay local he talked about starting over, meeting new people and starting fresh. he'd told her that what he couldn't get what he wanted, in aspen heights. he'd also said something about how he'd wanted to stuff his feelings in a box and leave them here when he went away. she deduced that he was being dramatic.
weren't all film students though?
she pulled 'phycology twelve' out of her messenger bag, using her left hand to hold her cookie.
he broke off a bit when he thought she wasn't looking and gave her a sheepish smile when she narrowed her eyes at him. she let out a small laugh.
"you already ate three macadamia nut cookies, marshall."
"i'm a growing boy, genevieve," he protested.
"a growing boy who needs a haircut," she said, pushing his hair out of his eyes.
"you coming to the game later?" he asked, as he highlighted phrases from his bio textbook. twelfth grade was taking a toll on the two. they were constantly engulfed in schoolwork. they had always attempted to study together. attempted. genevieve blamed marshall for distracting her -not that she was complaining.
"have i ever missed any of your games, marshall?" she said, kissing him softly.
"i'm happy you told me to try out for soccer."
she rested her head on his shoulder, the fabric of his grey t-shirt soft against her hair.
"and why is that?"
this conversation wasn't foreign. she'd asked him this question before.
"because i love seeing my girlfriend in the bleachers cheering me on."
she smiled into his shoulder, "i'm supposed to be doing phycology revision, mister."
he held her chin lightly, kissing her cheek, "aw, i'm sorry genevieve."
"it's perfectly okay."
minutes later, as she was powering through chapter seven, her phone buzzed.
"it's wasn't too late to send it, was it?"
11:59 am
good morning, sunshine.
fin.
((p.s go look at the authors note in the next chapter.))