Dear Summer, To NYC!

CHAPTER ONE

"You are just one thought away from my heart, no matter how far away you are."

-

(John B's POV)

I opened my front door and stepped inside, placing my things on the nearest table. It was a Friday night and I just got back from the summer job I started. Sarah's dad, Ward, got me a job working for him on his boat. It was decent pay and I couldn't complain, I needed the money desperately. I took out my phone to send Sarah a message.

Sarah <3

me; we still on for dinner tonight?

sarah <3; idk, i'm not feeling too good right now

No matter how much I try to pretend, me and Sarah's relationship isn't always smooth sailing. We have our ups and downs and sometimes we even face the unthinkable, but I always have faith we'll get through it no matter what. Lately though, I've felt like Sarah's been acting a little down so I wanted to take her out to her favorite restaurant on the island. She seemed super excited when I told her but now that she's canceling, I'm starting to get a little worried.

Sarah <3

me; oh, is everything alright?

sarah <3; yeah. actually, i think i'll come after all.

me; okay, great 😊. i'll see you in an hour.
me; I love you ❤️.

sarah <3; see you soon.

I just hope that whatever it is, Sarah's comfortable enough to tell me. I want to be there for her as much as I can.

- Restaurant ! -

I sat down at the wooden table and took a look at the menu while I waited for Sarah to arrive. She texted me saying she was going to just be a minute late so I decided to get us a seat so we didn't have to wait too long.

"Welcome! I'm Liz and I'll be serving you tonight. Can I start you with a drink?" the waiter greeted, handing me extra napkins.

"I'm actually waiting for someone so I'll order when she gets here," I replied and she nodded.

"Okay, I'll come back later."

The waiter disappeared in the busy restaurant and a moment later, my phone lit up. I immediately looked over and grinned at the message I received.

Sarah <3

sarah <3: i'm outside

I got up to find her and saw her standing at the front of the restaurant. She gave me a small smile that I returned before I took her hand and guided her to where we were sitting. 

"Hey!" I beamed.

"Hey," she half-smiled in return. I was a little worried but I didn't dwell on it.

"I could tell there was something bothering you recently so I wanted to bring you to your favorite place so you could talk about it if you want, or we could just have a good night to distract you," I explained, giving her a menu.

"Oh! You didn't have to.." she said, slightly taken aback.

"Of course I did," I insisted looking back at the menu while Sarah had an unsure look.

Liz, the waiter, came over, giving us both a glass of water before taking our orders. We fell into casual conversation afterwards but when I was talking about some random game I beat JJ in, I noticed that Sarah seemed tuned out.

"So Sarah has everything been okay recently," I questioned.

"No yeah, I've been great," she replied, taking a sip of her water.

I couldn't help but frown at her response. Me and Sarah have been dating for 3 years but before we were dating, we were friends. Great friends, at that. With so many years of knowing each other, of course I could easily tell when something was wrong with her and I especially knew when she was hiding her feelings. I didn't want to invade her privacy but I just wanted Sarah to let me comfort her. 

"Are you sure? It's just that.. I feel like you've been distancing yourself from me and I just want to make sure I didn't do anything to upset you."

Sarah had a look of guilt on her face as she heard my words. There was definitely something bothering her but I couldn't tell exactly what. She looked deep in her thoughts before she took a deep breath and looked at me.

"Okay, I guess there is something that's been on my mind," she confessed, avoiding eye contact.

"Talk to me please, I'll always be someone you can confide in. Always," I held her hand reassuringly.

She hesitated while I waited patiently for her to speak. She sighed before nodding her head.

"Well, I know we all agreed that this was gonna be our best summer ever and we were going to hang out everyday and everything but, my Dad just told me that we're leaving to go on a family vacation next week and we'll be gone for the whole summer."

"Oh," I blinked, a little puzzled, "that's not something you need to worry about Sarah. You don't need our permission to go on vacation with your family."

"I know, It's not just that," she continued. "Thinking about how I'm not gonna see you for the whole summer break made me really sad. Of course I knew we'd be fine, we've been dating for 3 years and it's just the summer. But then, I started thinking about what would happen after senior year. How we'd both be busy almost all the time."

After hearing that, I clutched my seat as a strange feeling started growing in my stomach. I'd be lying if I said the idea of college and our relationship didn't pass through my train of thought multiple times but I've always believed that we would be able to make it work. After hearing the stress Sarah's been under from thinking about long distance though, I couldn't help but worry more about that inevitable future.

"Do you think we couldn't make it work?" I asked hesitantly to which Sarah bit her lip before responding.

"It's not that I don't believe in us, it's just I don't exactly like the idea of long distance relationships. I would miss the physical closeness and connection we have too much."

"But we'd always be able to visit each other and see each other on breaks," I reminded.

"I don't know. I'm really sorry but, I just.. I have the feeling that I'm not cut out for long distance."

I couldn't help but feel lost. Our relationship was going steady for such a long time and suddenly something, that didn't seem like it would cause a problem, was going to be the very thing that caused a strain. I completely understood that Sarah had her own preferences in relationships and knew what she liked and didn't like, and I tried my best to adhere to them but, since she didn't want to do long distance, I didn't know what I could do. It felt almost hopeless.

"So, what do you think we should do," I muttered.

I felt like I knew where the conversation was headed, but I desperately wanted to be wrong. I desperately wanted to show Sarah that we wouldn't fall under the stereotypes of high school relationships. But how would I do that? We've never been apart for more than 2 weeks since we've started dating. I hoped we would never have to deal with this problem but as Sarah closed her eyes, trying to get a hold of her emotions, I knew what she was going to say next.

"I think maybe, we should take a break."

***

Sorry guys, there was a glitch with scheduling the chapter and I just noticed! Sorry it's late :(