"Before I can make this the best two days of my life," I tell Angie. "I have to tell Evan."
She has a sharp intake of breath. "Ooo, good luck."
"Thanks. I'll need it," I tell her as a grab my purse and head out the door. "You stay here. I'll be back soon."
I go over to Evan's dorm. I'd been there once before, and I hope I have the room number right. If he's even home.
Inhale. Exhale.
I knock.
I hear someone get up off their bed and heavy footsteps coming towards the door. The door cracks open to reveal a muscular guy with sandy hair and blue eyes.
"Hey, I'm looking for Evan. Is he here?"
"Uhhh yeah. You Amy?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, you can come in then." He opens the door all the way and gestures for me to come in.
"Hey, Amy, what are you doing here?" Evan asks with surprise in his voice.
"Ummmm...." I look over towards the other guy. I don't want to say anything while he's in here.
He finally takes the hint and comes to life. "Oh, yeah... I'll just go grab, lunch or something, yeah I'll just be going," he says as he stumbles awkwardly over a bag on his way out.
"Sorry about that," Evan says with a laugh. "That's Bryce. He's pretty shy."
"I see." I laugh back.
"So, what did you want to tell me?"
Something in my expression must have changed. Because then the look on his face gets much more serious.
"Did you cheat on me?"
"What?! No! No," I answer.
He sighs in relief.
"But, I do have something I need to tell you."
Here goes nothing.
"I'm moving back to California."
The look on his face is so heart breaking. So shocked. So sad.
"You're leaving me? Why?" He asks with hurt in his voice. Then I see anger. "For that other guy? Ricky?"
"No! Not for that other guy. I can't afford to raise my child here. I can have a job at the nursery back home. I just don't have enough time to get a degree right now. I have the support of my family back home."
"So we can have, like a long distance relationship right? Like skyping and texting and stuff. We can do that?" He asks hopefully.
"Evan, it's not fair for you to be tied down to some girl with a son who's about to have another baby with a different guy. You're young and you need to have fun. You don't deserve this life. I need a fresh start. I need to focus on my kids."
There's lots of silence. The silence seems eternal. I think he's taking this way harder than I thought he would. He has a tough, cocky façade, but he really was very sensitive.
"I understand. I don't want you to go. I really like you Amy. Because I like you so much, I'll let you go."
"Thank you. Thank you for understanding. This is hard enough as it is."
"I have one last request."
"Hmmm?" I ask.
"Kiss me," he says.
I look straight into eyes, lean in, and press my lips against his, and run my hands through his hair. After a couple of seconds, we pull away.
"Thanks," he says.
"The pleasure is all mine," I smile back.
I stand up to leave and walk towards the door. I turn around.
"Bye."
"Call every once in a while, will you?"
"Of course," I tell him and look at the handsome face that took my breath away one last time and walk out. A tear slips out but I quickly brush it away.
I go back to my apartment to find Angie waiting for me. She jumps up from the couch when I walk in.
"Okay!" She says and claps her hands together. "I have two days of non-stop, pure fun planned. Well, we have to buy you a ticket home and tell administration that you're no longer be here but then it's all fun."
I laugh. "Sounds good."
I check out with administration. I already took my summer finals, and did fairly well on them. The summer in New York had been one of the best of my life.
Then we bought a cheap plane ticket. I had to lay over in Nebraska, but it should be fine.
It was finally time for Angie's epic days of fun. We went to get ice cream and then the day for today was pretty much over.
But the next day we went to the park and went on a boat, had a nice lunch, and later that night went to a campus party. I'd never been to one the whole time I spent in New York so it was nice to experience it. I got to let go and have fun.
We finished off the day at our café. The quaint little coffee shop I had come to love. I told them I was quitting (no two weeks notice whoops) and we had one last coffee.
"Angie, I'm going to miss this so much. More than I ever thought I would," I tell her from across the table.
"Me too, Amy, me too."
We pay for our coffee and we're walking home.
"Well," I say. "I guess this is goodbye."
"No way sister. I'm coming to the airport tomorrow with you. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Really?!?"
"Yeah, of course."
"You wanna just spend the night at my place?" I ask.
"Sure, that'd be great! I'll just text my roommate so she doesn't worry."
She sends the text and then we go back to my apartment and spend most of the night talking.
We wake up early, too early, the next morning.
I do some last minute packing and feel nostalgic of this apartment. I don't want to leave.
It's too late now. I'm going back. Changing my life, yet again. I step into the taxi as Angie tells the driver to take us to the airport.
"So this is goodbye?" I ask when I get there.
"Yeah it is," she replies.
"I'll miss you," I say with a voice barely above a whisper.
"Miss you more than you can imagine." A tear slips out but she hides it. She's trying to be strong for me.
"Thanks for everything," I tell her when I give her a hug.
"Same to you."
And then I walk through the nearly empty airport and I turn around one last time to see Angie waving. I give a little wave and keep walking.
I go though the nightmare of security. I sit in the terminal and wait. I call my mom while I'm waiting. It must be pretty early in the morning there.
I think it's going to go to voicemail when all of the sudden she picks up.
"Amy? Amy? Is something wrong?"
"No, mom, I'm fine! I'm coming back to California."
"Oh, I wish you would've told me sooner that you're visiting."
"No, you don't understand. I leaving New York and I'm not going back. I'm staying back home for good."
"What?! You're sure about this?"
"More sure than I've ever been about anything in my life."
She sighs. "Well, Amy, if this is what you want to do then you should. Although, I wish you would've made this decision before you moved there for the summer."
"Sorry"
"And I wish you would've called me after you came home last time. I've been worried about you!"
"Sorry, Mom," I reply sheepishly.
"Alright. I'll see you soon."
"Okay. Love you. Bye."
Not long after they call my flight and say I'm ready to board. I had good memories here. New York was a great experience. I've matured a lot here.
I dose off as the flight takes off, back on my way to California.