Cat & Drew's Whirlwind Adventure

40. Beautiful Things

Thunder rumbles outside my bedroom window, drowning out the playlist Troy made for me—and continued to update all throughout summer—for the briefest second. The corners of my mouth turn up intuitively at the sound, out of sight as I stand in my closet looking at all the new clothes displayed neatly on hangers on either side. First day of senior year and I have to make a good impression, my hope is that people will whisper about me just as they had one year ago today, but that this time it'll be because of my incredible style and confidence instead. One year and I'm a brand-new man, another summer and I'm ready for the first day of the rest of my life.

Clearly I can't wear just any, old thing for that.

I make my choice and complete my outfit accordingly—leaning into the green theme—before flicking off the closet light to go stand in front of the mirror. Going to school and not seeing Troy there, on his wall with his guitar, will take some getting used to, but I don't need his support anymore. It's time to stand on my own two feet, and I'm even sort of excited, it's like getting a do over for all the opportunities I missed last year after getting back from Resthaven. And the second time around? I'm not going to miss a thing.

"Andrew, are you almost ready? You're going to be late for school!" Mom calls from downstairs right as I'm running my fingers through my hair to get it just the way I like.

"Be right there!" I respond, retrieving my backpack from my bed to throw it over my shoulder. The grey sky I see out my window tempts me, and I raise it a bit, taking one extra second to close my eyes and inhale deeply. Looks like rain. Smells like it too. I look to my phone next, checking to find the message I've been waiting for all morning, received only a minute ago. It's short and sweet, a text from Cat wishing me luck on the first day of school, and I think about sending her something back until I end up just standing there with a smile.

Things really are shaping up for her in Colorado. She made up the credits she needed to graduate over summer out there, and she'll be starting a new job soon from what she's told me. Mostly I'm proud of her for getting into therapy, and not some court ordered group thing either, but genuine, actionable therapy. She made some choices that haven't been sitting so well with her, and she's a little further behind than I am in the recovery process, but I know given the adequate advantage she can begin the journey of deconstructing and rebuilding the same as I had.

Things aren't exactly how they'd been with us living on opposite sides of the country, but our friendship has remained strong—Troy actually got to do some traveling after all when we took a week to drive out there to visit with her over summer. Seeing her and getting to go on vacation with him was a blast, we even went to the Grand Canyon and everything. To my boyfriend's point, the adventure she and I embarked on last year may have been somewhat chaotic, but these days it's far less of a whirlwind, and more the kind that'll support a friendship forged under the harshest circumstances for the rest of our lives.

Like me, I assume that Cat's happy, she's not the most open with her feelings and she hasn't told me otherwise, but I can see it in all the small ways. How she talks about her family, or the brilliant dreams she's allowed herself to dream since leaving Goodbury, the ones she shared with me in the early morning hours during the summer when we would call. Dreams that have given me such comfort to hear because, again like me, she too is owed only the most beautiful things.

The rain begins.

"Good, there you are, I was starting to think you'd never come down. No time to eat now, I wrapped you up a breakfast burrito to go there on the table." Mom buzzes once I've made it downstairs, stepping around me as if I'm not moving fast enough for her liking. She looks stunning in her red blouse, all dressed up in a way she hadn't bothered with when her only destination was home. She looks so different as she stands at the vanity in the hall though, putting in her earrings. "I'd drop you at school myself but I need to get to the library before it opens. What do you think?"