Calm [H.S]

Chapter 40: The End Of An Era

New York

"I missed you," Olive says, hugging me before we sit down at our table. We are at an Italian restaurant. It's pretty sad that this is our last time eating out together for awhile. Before we used to do this almost once a week. "I missed you too." We sit and order drinks, she orders wine and I order water, of course.

"So you ready to move?" she asks, taking a sip of her drink. I nod. At one point I was kinda freaked out about moving but now I'm more excited than anything. "Yeah, I think this is the right move. I know it's a big step but I think we are ready. I mean we've already practically lived together. We won't have to worry about one of us living out of a suitcase or having to buy new things." Olive nods. It feels nice talking about this with her. I'm gonna miss her a lot though, I'm gonna be in another country. "I'm excited for you guys. He treats you well and you can just tell by looking at him that he is so in love with you. I'm gonna miss you though. But we'll make it work, I definitely will come visit you, I've never been to London." We both give a sad laugh.

"Enough about me, talk to me about you," I say, smiling. Olive rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "I literally have nothing going on Leah. My life is boring compared to yours." I shake my head, laughing. She nods, raising her eyebrows. "No it's not, just tell me what you've been up to." She laughs and takes a sip of her drink.

"Well, I'm still working at the grocery store and I still live with my mom and Alex. She asks about you a lot. I think she misses you but she'll never admit that. I stay over Nathan's house a lot. He has a nice apartment, nicer than mine anyway. He keeps telling me I can move in whenever I want to but I keep saying no," Olive explains and I nod. I definitely have to see her sister before I go, I miss her too. She adds spice to everything. "Why? You don't want to move in with him?" I question. She shakes her head taking another sip of her drink. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just I'm worried about my mom. I help her pay the rent, for food, and electricity. I can't leave her like that. I need to be there for Alex too, she's just a teenager. If I move in with him my money would be paying my half, even though he said I didn't have to pay anything, I'm not like that, especially when he can barely afford it now. And I'm just scared. That's too fast for me. I've never been in a relationship this long or cared about anyone this much and I really don't want to mess it up. I'm not ready." I nod and grab her hand from across the table. Olive is never usually this vulnerable with people. I really feel bad. "I'm sorry, is there any way I can help?" She shakes her head. I hate that she's in this position, it sucks. She would never let me help her even if I could. "No, you can't unfortunately but it will make me happy if you give me one of your paintings from your apartment so I can hang it up in my room, I'll have a piece of you with me." I smile and feel my eyes start to water. I blink the tears away. "Of course, I'll drop some stuff off later."

After an hour or two I get back into the car and start driving around the area. I'm fine I get to see Olive one last time before I leave. It's not like I'm not gonna see her ever again.

Harry's at my apartment at a meeting over FaceTime. I feel bad because he really wanted to come with me today but he couldn't. I think he wants to take one last trip around. I mean our relationship did start here. 

 I pull into a parking spot in front of the coffee shop I used to work at. I get out, smiling. Things were a bit simpler back then. I walk in and up to the counter, ordering a coffee.

"Leah Davis!" I hear a familiar voice yell from behind the counter. "Janice!" I yell back. She walks around the counter, pulling me into the biggest. This feels nice. Me and Janice were close before I had to quit after the incident.

"There she is," one of the people whispers to her friend standing next to her.