Page 45 of A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances
•Expensive
•Takes ages to get anywhere
•Don’t know anyone
•Bad coffee
Pros:
•Alex
I stared at the piece of paper until my acidic long black got cold. For the first time in years, a list wasn’t helping me.
In any event, it was a wasted trip. When I got back to my college room there was an email – the transfer wasn’t possible. Neither was the deferment of my place. The tone was officious and the implication was clear, that I was replaceable and would be shooting myself in the foot if I gave up my golden ticket.
Well that was that. I’d tried and it wasn’t possible. I told Alex that night as we lay in his bed.
We slipped into silence. I knew that we were both playing out all the possible moves. Except it was checkmate. A long-distance relationship between London and Melbourne for years would be impossible. Especially when I’d have next to no time off for holidays and Alex would barely earn enough to survive in London. In less than a week, we were going to say goodbye to each other.
I looked up and saw that there were tears falling down Alex’s face and his chest was jerkily moving up and down. I felt a jolt of surprise. Once again, he’d done the thing I’d least expected from him. He was crying.
He swiped at his eyes, almost as if he was trying to push the tears back in. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, his voice thick. ‘God, I haven’t cried since Mum... I just... I’m sorry.’
I wrapped myself around him. If I held him tightly enough, could I squeeze the sadness out of him? Out of me?
I was in my room staring at the popcorn ceiling when my computer began to ring. I checked my watch – somehow three hours had passed since I’d last noticed. I did a quick calculation – it was late evening in Australia, so it was probably Mum. I moved slowly to my computer, hoping it might ring out, then sped up as I read the caller’s name on my screen. It was Nick.
My heart began to race as the video connected. Was something wrong? Had something happened to Dad or Mum?
His face flashed up and I could tell that it wasn’t bad news. His normally serious face was grinning.
‘Becs!’
‘Hey,’ I said. I realised how terrible I looked when I saw myself in my camera. Alex had gone to London for a night to meet his new team. I’d decided the night apart would be a practice run for when I left. Except it was a test I was epically failing. Instead of starting to pack up my room, I’d just lain on my bed, feeling miserable.
‘I’ve got good news,’ Nick said.
‘What?’ I asked, his excitement penetrating my gloom.
‘I got into the training program!’
‘Seriously? Congratulations!’ I squealed. ‘On your first try? That’s insane!’ Nick had just finished his general training and wanted to be a surgeon like Dad, except one specialising in obstetrics. But we both knew that the specialist colleges were tightly guarded and admitted very few new doctors into their hallowed, lucrative spaces – particularly on the first try.
‘And I’m moving to Cairns for my first placement,’ he said.
‘Wow!’ I absorbed the news. Nick had gone to med school in Sydney, so I’d been used to him being away, but the top pointof the country was seriously away. And I couldn’t really imagine him in a tropical shirt with a tan. Though that probably wasn’t a likely scenario because he’d be working all hours.
‘And Stella’s moving with me,’ he said. ‘Because... we got married today!’
Stella’s face burst onto the screen just in time for me to attempt to morph my face from dumbfounded to thrilled.
‘Oh my god! You’re married?’ I said, as a finger with a gold band on it popped up next to Stella’s face.
‘We eloped. It was very last minute, very romantic,’ Stella said.
‘We’re sorry you weren’t there,’ Nick said. ‘It was just, if we were married, Stella would be able to transfer hospitals with me, and doing a ceremony with just the two of us was...’
‘Less drama,’ I finished. ‘I get it.’ I didn’t blame them for sneaking off. The idea of Mum and Dad getting through a whole wedding day without emotional fireworks seemed improbable at worst and emotionally exhausting at best. But they’d got married – one of my best friends and my brother.
