“Alright, I got all the goods,” Adam says, dropping two plastic sacks into the chair next to me. “We got Pringles, trail mix, Ore-oh shit!”
I don’t warn him before I slide Skyler’s laptop to the side and jump straight into his arms, but he catches me, nonetheless, laughing as I kiss all over his neck.
“I missed you, too, for the whole fifteen minutes I was gone, but maybe we should tone down the PDA a little.”
“I got in!”
He freezes at that, and when he drops me back to my feet, I’m nodding so furiously with a smile so big I’m afraid I’ll split my face.
“To Johns Hopkins medical school. I GOT IN!”
I jump into his arms again, and he catches me with a spin, though he seems more confused than anything at first. It’s like it hits him slowly, and then he’s kissing me and squeezing me and twirling me around.
“Baby! You got in!”
“I got in!”
We both laugh as he frames my face and kisses my nose, my cheeks, and finally my lips. When he pulls back, he shakes his head in disbelief.
“I had no doubts, but wow, this is amazing!”
“I think I’m in shock.”
He chuckles, and then his smile slips, and he brushes my hair out of my face.
“What?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” he assures me. “I just… I have news, too.”
I arch a brow.
“I got the job.”
“The job…” My eyes go wide when I realize what he means. “The Field Executive position? With Alpha Sigma?”
“The very one.”
“ADAM!” I launch into his arms again, nearly crying with joy. “Oh, my God, why didn’t you tell me?!”
“I just found out on the night I lavaliered you. I wanted to wait until we got back to break the news, but now seems like the perfect time.”
“I’m so proud of you!” I say, but even as the words come out, I feel my stomach do a flip. “So… wait, where… uh… what does this mean?”
Adam swallows. “It means after graduation I’m going to Boston. And then… who knows. Wherever the chapter needs me.”
I’m struck still for a moment before I smile, shaking my head. “Well, this is amazing! And hey, maybe you’ll get assigned to a university in Baltimore, and then we can—”
“There’s no Alpha Sigma chapter in Baltimore,” he says, still holding me in his arms. “The closest one is University of Virginia.”
“Oh,” I say as my heart rate kicks up. “Well, that’s not too far.”
“It sure isn’t. Just a few hours.”
“We can make that drive.”
“Of course,” he says. “If that’s where they send me.”
And with those words I hear all the ones he doesn’t say, like or they could assign me to a school in Georgia or Illinois or freaking Alaska.
Still, I keep my smile in place, and I wrap my arms around his neck to pull him in for a tight hug.
“No matter where they send you, we’ll figure it out. I’ll go to Boston with you for the summer and then come finish out my last semester here at Palm South and then…” I bite my lip, pulling back with a shrug. “And then, we’re on a new adventure.”
“Exactly. A new adventure. Together.”
“Together,” I repeat.
But when Adam pulls me back into his chest and presses a kiss to my hair, I can feel his heart beating even faster than mine.
RALPH’S DOESN’T FEEL THE same.
I can’t figure out why. I’m no older than I was the last time I was here — which was only a few months ago. I haven’t changed much since I graduated, unless you count living in a new place and becoming best friends with rejection, thanks to the never-ending job hunt. And not a single person here is looking at me like I’m too old or washed up to be at what once was my favorite college bar.
I still fit in.
I still look the same.
But the problem is that I feel so damn different that I can’t even relax enough to have a good time.
It’s actually kind of sad. I walked in here with the intention of pretending like I’m just like everyone else here, partying it up for the last couple nights of Spring Break before classes start back up on Monday. But when I got here, I found it wasn’t the same without my girls, without Kade, without being a student.
Instead, I’m just a sad, jobless graduate here by herself.
And I’ve drank way too much sitting at this bar.
“Another?” one of the bartenders asks me as she flies by. It’s a busy night, and I’m lucky she’s even paying attention to me at all with all the college kids hanging on every inch of the bar with their hands up trying to get a drink.
“Please,” I say, and then because I’m trying to at least be a little bit of an adult, I add, “And a water, too.”