The Junior (College Years 3)

That’s it. That’s all he says. He must’ve ended the call. Now there’s nothing but weighted silence out in the living room, and even in Gracie’s room. We’re still watching each other, both of us almost afraid to move until finally, I rise to my feet first.

“Uh hey, bro,” I call, my voice tentative. “You okay out there?”

Eli comes stomping down the hall, pausing in the open doorway. “Did you hear that just now? She’s going to leave me all summer.”

Gracie sends him a sympathetic look. “Come on, Eli. You can’t make ultimatums—"

“The fuck I can’t,” he says firmly, nodding over and over like he’s a fucking bobblehead. “I just did. She always promised me her summers and breaks. That was part of the deal when she went away to college, and now she doesn’t want to come home. She’d rather go to Europe instead for some sort of school shit. What the fuck?”

Eli starts pacing in Gracie’s bedroom, which isn’t that big and since she’s still kind of a slob, he’s kicking clothes aside while he does it, sending her a look of disgust. “You’re a mess,” he tells her, pointing.

“Hey, ease up.” My voice is firm. Deep. He can be as pissed as he wants, but he’s taking his anger out on my girl.

“Sorry.” Eli glances over at me, running both of his hands through his hair and gripping the back of his neck. “I’m just…this is fucked up, what she’s doing to me.”

Always taking everything so damn personal. Typical Eli.

“Why does she want to go to Europe?” I ask him.

“She got accepted to some study abroad program, I don’t know. If she goes, she’ll be in Spain for eight weeks,” Eli says bitterly.

“Eli. Come on,” Gracie starts, her voice soft. Like she’s speaking to a wild animal, trying to calm it. “This is probably an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. You shouldn’t—”

“Fuck that!” he roars, causing Gracie to press her back against the wall. I go to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into me. “She promised, damn it. She said she would always be there for me, just like I said I’d always be there for her, and now she’s bailing on me!”

“Sometimes things just…happen that are out of our control,” I say, keeping my voice even. Not that I think anything’s going to work on calming him down at the moment. He’s so torqued up he looks like he could breathe fire. “There are opportunities we can’t pass up. And maybe that’s what’s happening here.”

“What the fuck ever you want to call it, it’s not right,” Eli says, hanging his head. Damn, he looks sad now. And I’d rather see a pissed off Eli than a sad one. He glances up, his eyes blazing with fury. “Let’s see what she does. Let’s see where she goes. If she comes home to me, then that proves she still loves me. That I’m number one in her life. And if she goes to Spain…”

His voice drifts. I squeeze Gracie closer, thinking of our good news we were going to share, and how there’s no way I’m telling him now.

We’ll save it for later.

Eli clears his throat. “If she goes to Spain for the summer, then I’ll know.”

“You’ll know what?” Gracie whispers.

“That me and Ava are over. Finished.” He glances at me, then Gracie. “Done.”