Chapter 7:
I blinked and checked out the landscape to my left. The sun was rising behind us, the golden light hitting the clouds and turning them all shades of yellow, orange and pink.
I checked the rearview mirror and distracted Charlie with it.
She looked over her shoulder and gasped, then yanked out her camera. I was given a short reprieve from having to admit that since she left, my passion for the written word had kind of died. I just couldn’t get into it. All those classes had done was remind me of everything I’d wanted to do with Charlie. In the end I quit them and started taking classes that had nothing to do with writing. Dad suggested a bunch of different things and I just kind of followed along until I found myself heading for law. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t know what the hell else I wanted to do, and I liked that following in his footsteps made him so proud.
Once the clicking was done and Charlie had checked out what she’d taken, she tucked her camera away and asked again, “So, the writing. You still doing it?”
I shook my head, unable to fight a glum smile. “I just don’t have time. Classes keep me way busier than I thought they would.”
Her forehead crinkled with sadness, her lips dipping into a soft frown. “Bummer. You were so good. I used to love reading your stuff. Those articles you wrote for the school paper were genius. Hell, you were the school paper, dude.”
I grinned. “Yeah, I remember. You took the photos and I turned them into a story.”
“I know that probably made us super nerds, but I felt so incredibly cool and empowered.”
Leaning forward with a carefree laugh, I tapped the wheel with my hand and enjoyed a few memories. Our small class in Mr. Sheffield’s cluttered room. We’d sit at our computers for hours. I’d been appointed chief editor and I put Charlie in charge of photography. Mae, Aubrey and Walnut (shit, I can’t even remember his real name!) were reporters, Chen and Izzy were the proofreaders and the girl with the bright red curls was in charge of layout.
“Who was the layout girl again?”
“Oh, Strawberry Shortcake.” Charlie nodded. “She was a cool chick.”
“What was her real name?”
Charlie paused, her eyes narrowing before her forehead wrinkled. “Susanna?” The way her voice pitched told me she was plucking the name out of thin air.
I snickered and shook my head at how useless we were.
Putting together the monthly school paper had been one of my favorite things to do. Man, we’d had some sway at the school the week before publication. All the jocks wanted to make sure their names were in there, and the drama kids demanded we write ad nauseam about their plays. The principal was always concerned that we didn’t take the whole “free speech” thing too seriously. And our advisors just wanted to make sure we got the damned thing out by our deadline each month.
We always did. And it was freaking awesome.
“Hopefully I’ll get back to it one day,” I murmured.
I couldn’t imagine it. Between studying, Shayna and my parents, I didn’t really have time for myself. Besides, my heart hadn’t been in it. According to my parents, journalism wasn’t a secure path to take. They were going to let me give it a try, but I knew they wanted something more stable for me. I was prepared to push and fight for it, but when Charlie left like she did, all the zeal went right out of me, and it was easier to just go along with what they suggested.
Our plans had been so huge that summer. Charlie and I spent hours talking about what we’d do.
And then it all fell apart.
I glanced at my friend, fighting a mixture of anger and despair. I wanted to hate her for changing my life so suddenly, but then I couldn’t. Because she was Charlie. And hating her was impossible.
“So, how are the travel plans coming?”
Her smile was tight. “Still working on it. Saving. You know how it is.”
“You were going to travel the world.”
“And I still am,” she snapped, then softened her defensive tone with a grin. “I’ll get there. One day. I will. I still want to see every country on this planet if I can.”
She stared at the dash, her lips twitching into a frown.
“You know, I always thought you’d gone without me. When you first left after the summer, and then never came back, I couldn’t help but wonder if you’d just… flown away.” I flicked my fingers through the air, trying to sound like the idea didn’t kill me.
Charlie’s face crumpled with a look I couldn’t determine. For a second I thought she was about to cry, but then she drew in a slow breath and looked out her window. “I went to my aunt’s place in Montana.”
“Yeah, I know,” I mumbled.
“She taught me a bunch of awesome stuff, really set me on the right path, you know?”
“So you didn’t go to college at all, then?”
“I, um…” She looked down and started tracing the checkers on her pants. “I enrolled for the second semester, but I hated it, so I dropped out to pursue photography.”
“But still no travel.”
“A bit. I mean, I’ve gone up and down the West Coast and back to Montana again. Just working different jobs and…” She shrugged. “But I’ve been in LA for nearly a year. A friend of mine lost her roommate so I stepped up, and the feeble business I started three years ago really picked up once I stopped moving around. It’s a good way to make some money… so I can travel. Because I’ll get there, Nix. I’m definitely going.” She looked at me, her hazel eyes bright with determination… and something else. I didn’t know what it was, but there was something deeper going on in that gaze. Because I was driving, I couldn’t look at her long enough to figure it out.
Facing the road again, I concentrated on getting us back to LA safely.
Because that’s where my real life was.
A girl who’d never break my heart was waiting for me.
And I had to get back to her before the girl beside me unearthed all the buried dreams and hopes I’d been squashing in order to survive.
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