Page 24 of If the Stars Align
She only sniffles.
“Just hear me out, okay? We’ll talk on the weekends. And during the week, we’ll email. It’ll be fine. I promise.” I’m trying to convincemyselfmore than her.
“Fine,” she concedes after several seconds. “We’ll email.”
“And talk on the weekends,” I remind her. “And before you know it, it’ll be summer, and you can do everything you said you wanted to do to me when you called me drunk the other night.”
She laughs. “Promise?”
“Are you kidding? I’m counting the days.”
“Okay,” she says.
She’s smiling now, I can hear it in her voice. I close my eyes and picture her in her bed, her long hair splayed out on her pillow. Her rosy cheeks glowing. She’s absolutely gorgeous.
No one could ever compare.
The Cleveland airport is bustling, and as I weave my way through the terminal, I feel like a fish swimming upstream. While I’m on my way home for spring break, everyone else appears to be leaving. Everywhere I look, there are groups of college kids in their university gear on their way to Cancun, or Palm Springs. Sullen teenagers with their parents, probably traveling to look at universities. Families with young children heading to Disney, their toddlers already sporting mouse ears.
I’ve never been to Disney World. When I was in second grade, the Dexters offered to take me with them on their family vacation, but my mom said no, of course. She tried to comfort me with some cautionary tale about her colleague’s stepsister, who had briefly lost sight of her kid at Sea World twenty years earlier. My mom recalled the tale as if reliving her own trauma, and was genuinely shocked when I said her story didnotmake me feel better.
But none of that matters now. One day, I’ll right my mom’s wrong. I’ll take my own children to Disney World. And experiencing the magic through their eyes—knowing thatImadeit happen for them—will be a greater joy than I can imagine.
When I finally make it outside, Mia’s pulling up, already smiling.
“Thanks so much for picking me up…again,” I say with a chuckle as I get in her car. “You know I can just take a cab?—”
“Oh, stop it,” Mia insists as she nearly squeezes the life out of me. “That’s what friends are for! Besides, I love our drives home from the airport. This is when I find out all the juicy details about your life that you won’t tell me over the phone!”
I sigh as she pulls away from the curb. “I wish I had juicy details to share, but Dex and I stillhaven’t seen each other since winter break. It’s torture,” I whine with an exaggerated pout.
“I’m sorry,” Mia sympathizes. “What did you say he was doing for spring break again? Some guys’ trip?”
“Yeah, his cousin Ben is getting married this summer and wanted to go hiking with his groomsmen in Montana.”
“Sounds…rustic,” Mia says scrunching her nose.
I laugh at her reaction—Mia’s not outdoorsy at all. “They’ll have fun,” I say. “I just miss Dex so much. This year’s been really tough.”
Mia frowns. “I can imagine.”
She’sso luckyshe gets to go to school with Evan.
“Seems like you guys have been doing pretty well with the distance, though. I mean, you talk all the time, right?” Mia adds, trying to focus on the positive as always.
“Weweretalking every night, until I slept through my poli sci exam a few weeks ago,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I’m so mad at myself. I stayed up late the night before the test waiting for Dex to call. His rehearsal ran late, so he thinksit’s his fault.” I look down at my lap. “He even said we should scale back on phone calls until his play is over.”
“When will that be?” Mia asks as she races down the expressway at a speed that falls just short of where I’d have to ask her to slow down.
I sigh. “Next month. The worst part is I’m dying to see him perform, but I can’t afford my own plane ticket. And I obviously can’t ask my mom for help.”
“I can’t believe you still haven’t told her you and Dex are together. He’s yourboyfriend, Sunny! You guys love each other. What are you gonna do when he proposes? Secretly elope without your mom there? Actually—I can totally see you doing that,” Mia says with a furrowed brow.
I giggle despite the knots in my stomach. Mia assumes that Dex and I are “boyfriend” and “girlfriend,” and that we’ve already said, “I love you,” and I haven’t corrected her. But the truth is, we still haven’t defined our relationship. I’m definitely not doing it now, though, when Dex is tied up with his play and we’ve been talking less and less. I’m worried if I bring it up he’ll say the distance is too hard and call it all off. I’d rather just ride things out until this summer. Being together will make everything better.
“I’ll tell my mom, eventually,” I reply as Mia pulls into my mom’s driveway. She’s not home yet, and I’m relieved. I’m not in the mood to be interrogated about my grades. I don’t intend to tell her about the points I lost on my poli sci exam, but it’s a lot easier to lie to her over the phone than it is in person. She’d make a damn good detective if she weren’t such a damn good surgeon.
I give Mia a hug, and I’m just about to say goodbye (and congratulate her for driving much more responsibly this time) when I notice a band on her finger. Herringfinger. I take her hand in mine and see a small but sparkly diamond.
