I open my mouth to let out a smart remark, but he’s already jogging back to his spot on the beach. I wait for a moment, watching him as he climbs back up his lifeguard chair, leans in and kisses the raven haired girl in the chair next to him.
Then I know that the “maybe” about us hanging out was just Drake being nice to a plain tween whose life he’d just saved.
And at that moment my whole summer goes to hell.
~2~
Two And A Half Years Later
The first encounter is always the sweetest, but it’s the last encounter that will impact your life forever.
College visits.
I don’t see the point. At least not for me anyway.
I’ve already been accepted to CNU, (Connecticut Northern University) so I don’t see the need to go on this exploration expedition. I assumed that college visits were only necessary when you trying to come to a decision on which college you’d like to attend. Not if you’ve already been accepted.
“I can’t believe my baby is going to college.” There’s a glint of sadness in Mom’s green eyes along with a sheer film of wetness and I know the waterworks are going to kick in at any minute.
Mom sniffles and grips onto the steering wheel. Water glazes over her eyeballs and the whites of her knuckles are showing. I place my hand on her shoulder. “Mom, don’t cry. Seriously. You know I’ll be home pretty often.”
“I know, sweetheart. I just can’t believe it though. It’s crazy how fast seventeen years go by. It seems like just yesterday I was changing your diaper.”
My eyes bulge and my mouth drops open. “Mom! Seriously?” Thank God we are the only ones in the car.
Mom sniffles again and wipes her eyes with the bottom of her palms as we pull into a parking lot. “I know. I know,” she says as she parks the car. “I’ll cool it on the diaper comments.”
I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. I’m too anxious and way too excited to sit there and wait for mom. Technically, since Mom made me come and this is my first and only college visit and I’m determined to drink in every second of it.
CNU has been my dream college since, well, I really can’t remember when. But there is a picture of me as a toddler, tucked away in one of mom’s photo boxes, of me in a CNU t-shirt with my pull-ups as an added accessory. My dad is an alumni. And I think a lot of my decision to come here rested in the fact that I knew how proud he’d be if I did.
“Mom?” I look over my shoulder. Mom is still in the car. “You coming?”
Mom gets out of the car, slams the door, and hits the lock but
ton on her keychain. The car beeps twice then mom shoves her keys in her purse. “Let’s go, sweetheart,” she says with a smile.
We trek across the vast and wide newly paved parking lot to the administration office and at that moment I wish Whitney, my best friend could have joined us today. Her added quick-witted commentary to things like this are always comical and lighten the mood a lot. Judging from mom’s outburst in the car, I’d say I’ll need her comebacks today more than ever. I pull out my phone and text her.
I wish you were here. The waterworks have commenced.
I wait a second and my phone vibrates in my palm.
Take it easy on your Madre. She’s losing her only child.
And she must be in Senora Witt’s class.
Spanish?
Si amiga.
K. I’ll let u kno how it goes.
Cool. Hey. Let me know the layout of the campus library. U kno y.
I laugh at her last text and shove my phone in my pocket. Whit has this obsession about hooking up in the library. She once told me that there’s a certain thrill about hooking up in places where there’s a good chance you’ll get caught.
I’ll take her word for it. I’ve only never really hooked up with a guy, but I’ve had a few make-out sessions. And trust me; they were anything but a thrill. It was awkward and uncomfortable. Basically neither one of us knew what we were doing. His name was Greg Pierson and I dated him for about six months during my junior year. And the relationship lacked something important, passion.