“I am sure,” I interject knowingly. “Trust me, until I started speaking to you I felt like I had no purpose, no future. I’ve walked around here all day long feeling more and more dejected with every moment. This is what I want to do. I want everything that you said and more. More than that, I can truly see myself doing it.”
Brandon nods at me. “Well, I’ll give you a bit of advice. You have a little time before all of this happens for you. You’ll need to finish college first, and while I can tell that you keep yourself fit and healthy, I would work harder. Train every single day, push yourself to the absolute limit, and you’ll breeze through basic training.”
God, I love that. I love having something to aim for, I need this goal. It’s one I can do as well. I need to train a lot for football, but that will be a side line now. I will make sure I’m the fittest I can be.
“Oh, I will.” I give him a smirk. “The next time you see me you’ll be shocked. I will be truly ripped.”
Brandon nods and tips his hat to me, as if I’m already a comrade of his and I love the way that feels. I already feel like I’m a part of something much bigger than myself and I like it a lot. Yep, this for sure is where I want to be. I can see it now, the most incredible life ever just within my grasp. As soon as I sign my name, I’ll be on my way. Albeit it slower than I would care, but that’s okay. I get to spend that time just loving Veronica.
Once I’m all done, I can’t wipe the smile off my face. This is true happiness. Now I get why Veronica is so keen to think about what happens next because she has a plan. We both do.
I can’t wait to tell her. I’m so keen that I leave the careers fair without saying goodbye to Liam. He’s barely even a thought in the back of my mind. I do feel bad, but I’ll apologize to him later. Now I need to find Veronica to tell her that finally, I feel worthy of her. God, I cannot wait to see that gorgeous expression on her face when I do. She’s going to be over the moon with this, I can already tell. I speed up, almost breaking into a jog because I just can’t wait.
7
Veronica
“Woah!” I cry out in shock as Jordan crashes into me. “Where are you going in such a hurry, you crazy fool?”
He grabs onto my arms and stares deeply into my eyes. They dart around like crazy which actually causes me to worry. Jordan doesn’t look like himself at all, there’s something brimming right on the tip of his tongue.
“I need to talk to you,” he gasps out, confirming what I already suspected. “Can we talk? Are you busy?”
I did have plans to go to the library to get some research done for the project I’m working on, but there’s no way I’ll be able to concentrate now. I have plenty of time to get this work done anyway, whatever this is clearly can’t wait. Whatever Jordan wants to say to me, I think it needs to come out right this second.
“S… sure, do you want to go to my room? Do we need privacy for this conversation, or…?”
“Yes, let’s go to your room.” Okay, now I’m really worried. “Let’s go right now.”
He grabs my arm and drags me towards my dorm room causing my mind to spin. I reel my brain over every possible thing he might have to tell me and none of them feel good. Not while he’s this panicked.
What if he’s cheated on me? My brain unhelpfully asks. Or he’s dropping out of college? I don’t know how much he’s enjoying himself here… or what if he’s breaking up with me just because he’s done?
Nothing would lead me to believe that any of those things are about to happen. Nothing except for the manic way that he’s behaving right now. Everything was just fine this morning, but something’s clearly changed.
When we get to my room, I unlock the door with shaky fingers. My heart pounds so loudly in my ears I can barely hear anything else. My whole body is burning hot and icy cold all at once. I don’t like this at all.
I breathe out a sigh of relief to see the room empty when I step inside. I half expected Rachel to be in here and for me to have to awkwardly kick her out while Jordan ends things with me. She would definitely want to know everything that’s happened right away then, and while I tell her everything anyway, I like to do it in my own time. I don’t like being forced… so I’m very glad this isn’t a problem right now.
Although… am I? If she were here it would be a distraction. It would give me more time to think of some reasons why he definitely shouldn’t break up with me. This is by far the most incredible time of my life. I absolutely love being his girlfriend. I don’t want anything to change that, I need it to last forever more. Tears prick at my eyes as I consider what life might be like without him. I really don’t want to face that.
“Okay.” I turn to look at Jordan, needing to rip the band aid off. Clearly, there’s no avoiding the inevitable so we might as well just have this conversation and get it over and done with. “What’s going on, Jordan?”
“You’re about to be really proud of me.” I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as he bites down on his bottom lip. Maybe that’s excitement bursting through him rather than nerves… what does that mean for us? “I’ve done something amazing today, something incredible. I have worked towards my future and now I know what I want.”
“You’re too obsessed with the future,” I reply with a nervous laugh. “We have plenty of time to work it out.”
Ever since he’s learned that I know what I want to do with my future, he’s become crazy obsessed with working out what he wants. I keep telling him it doesn’t matter because I’ve known for years, but he won’t hear it. It’s like he thinks I’ll assume he isn’t good enough for me if he doesn’t have a ten-year plan, which is crazy. I’m the one who’s reaching when it comes to him. He’s about a million times better than I am.
“I know, but I went to a careers fair today to try and work out what I might like and I found something…”
“You went to a careers fair?” That statement alone is a little shocking. That’s really taking action!
“I did, and I met this guy who really changed my opinion on everything. It isn’t something that I thought I’d chose, but now that I have I’m really excited.” He grabs onto my hands. “Oh, you’re going to love it.”
I can’t stop giggling, he’s acting so nuts it’s funny. But I guess I’m nervous too, I don’t know where this is going to lead and that makes me feel all weird inside. He could literally say anything right now.
“The army.” Huh? My heart stops dead in my chest, I don’t know what to think. “Yep, I signed up.”