The beginning of everything else

Flash Back - White Zinfandel

I'm starting my first internship two weeks after the end of my sophomore year, it will be really basic work, but I'm hoping that being in that environment will be the confirmation I need, that I'm heading in the right direction, that Law is the future for me. I had told Shelly about my plans this time last year, and it's one of the few really good memories that I have of that summer before everything went to shit. It had been the look in her eyes more than the words that she said that would be the enduring memory, she had looked so proud of me and with so much love, like I was proving what she had said to me when she told me that I could do anything that I put my mind to.

There was no way my Mom was letting me get away with not visiting home for those two weeks. I hadn't been home for twelve months and had only seen them in person for those 14 days during spring break. As much as she clearly hates the rift between myself and Elle, she is also sympathetic that I've been miserable since we split, and so she pulled out the big guns and let me know that I would be in the clear from Saturday evening. She didn't give me too many details, just that Elle and Lee were going to be in Mexico and had changed their travel plans after their party was extended to include some of their college friends. 

Getting a flight home turned out to cause a hiccup, nothing major, just a little blip - it looks like everyone in the North East has decided to leave en masse that weekend and so seats are, to use a phrase of Chloe's, rare as rocking horse shit. Friday night still has a good amount of availability though, and so that is when I am flying home. I'll land late, get into bed in the early hours of Saturday morning, and keep a low profile for less than 24hrs before I will be in the clear.

________________________________________________________________________________

The flight and journey to the hotel was quick with no dramas, and so whilst we were a little weary due to the time, we weren't too fried from the travel. We had checked in, dropped our bags off in our hotel rooms, and then made our way down to the bar for a couple of drinks before we would turn in and head to bed for the night. I was finally meeting Liam and Oz in person after so many of Lee's stories about what the three of them would get up to in their free time, also Lee was interacting with the ladies from Soccer, and I was already sure that this group definitely has legs. 

This wasn't going to be a spring break type experience, of course we will drink and party a little, but it wouldn't be quite so full-on. We all agreed that we wanted to relax, spend time on the beach without feeling horribly hungover and maybe explore a little if we are feeling particularly brave. For a lot of our group, this is the first trip outside of the USA, but even for those who have done a little travel, this is the first time outside of our country without parental supervision. That fact has the oddly contradictory effect of making us feel very grown-up with it being our first big solo vacation whilst making us feel very inexperienced and young when we realize how big and different it can be when you get outside of the states.

I had managed to avoid seeing Noah when he and I were in the same city for the day. He was only going to be in LA for two weeks before returning to Boston, and I was pretty sure that by this point he would be dating a stunningly beautiful, football-loving brainiac from Harvard. I still love him, I know that, but that really doesn't matter because as much as he said that he was sorry that it didn't work, he had also been pretty clear that he didn't want to be with me anymore.

I had tried a few times since that kiss in Florida, to test how moving on might work. On one occasion making out with a guy from the swim team who had been flirting with me for weeks. We finally ended up at the same party where we spent about an hour with me sitting on a wall in the garden with him standing between my knees. The second was an actual date with an English Major who was in his Senior year and who saw me daily at my morning coffee truck. We went to see a play that starred one of his friends, and he kissed me whilst we waited for my taxi home.