As It Was (COMPLETED) (wattys2023)

Sign of The Times

            Day of shooting

I woke to the repetitive buzzing of my phone against my cheek. Groaning, I lifted my head and answered the call without bothering to check who it was.

"Hey, babe. I got your text last night. I was wondering if you were feeling any better. Did you still want me to pick you up?" the words were enough to wake me up completely. I sat upright, feeling as I'd been drenched in a bucket of ice water.

I had gone straight to bed after my weird interaction with Clark last night; I hadn't even texted Miles goodnight I'd been so exhausted from everything that happened yesterday.

"Text? I didn't text you last night, Miles." I answered, swinging my feet over the side of my bed and looking toward the blank alarm clock at my side. It'd been unplugged. "Shit, what time is it, babe?"

Miles made a clicking sound with his tongue. "You sent me a text last night, Ev. And it's seven ten. If I swing by and pick you up we'll make it in time. I just need to know now."

"Yeah. I'll get dressed right now."

He ended the call with a quiet "love you" as I raced around my room to grab my clothes and hygiene items, wandering into my living room as I put my deodorant on. By the time I'd finished running a brush through my hair and my quickly brushing my teeth, I caught sight of Miles' truck pulling into the vacant driveway. Not even a minute later his horn sounded through the house. I raced back to my room, tossed my toiletries back on my bed then grabbed my backpack and Miles' Letterman from my computer chair and ran for the door. Miles greeted me with a forehead kiss once I'd climbed in, smiling weakly before he backed out of the driveway and headed out of the neighborhood and for the school.

"I'm sorry about last night." he broke the silence, sneaking a quick, apologetic glance in my direction. "I was being selfish. I just. . . I think I'm having seconds thoughts and cold feet about heading out for college. Maybe I should take a gap year."

"You'll be fine, Miles." I reached out and squeezed the hand that was resting on his thigh. "You'll only be a couple hours away, we can make the trip every weekend to see each other. Can we please just have one good last day? Saturday is graduation. Then we can figure all the details of this out."

He nodded, smiling, though it looked forced. "Yeah, you're right. We have our whole lives ahead of us. I don't know why I keep trying to rush things."

Smiling back, I kept my fingers laced through his until we pulled into the parking lot. I froze beside the bed of Miles' truck once we'd hopped out, my eyes scanning the lot. I had figured with my brothers gone early, that they'd possibly hit school early to beat the traffic, but Clark's Volvo wasn't here.

"You alright, babe?" Miles snaked his arm around my waist and hugged me against his side. Deciding against bringing up the unnerving feeling settling in my stomach I rested my head against his shoulder and allowed him to lead me toward the entrance of the school. I fell into my own thoughts the second we approached AP Chem, one of the two of my final exams today. Brady stood outside flirting with Valedictorian Naomi Chao. He pushed off the wall and fist bumped Miles as soon as we approached, and they fell into some sporty talk. Naomi offered me a small smile before she brushed passed Brady with a playful wink and disappeared down the hall. Not long after the bell sounded, and Miles deflated a little and turned to me. "Ugh, I can't wait til tomorrow. I'll finally be free of this hell."

I smiled and leaned forward, pressing my palms against his chest. "Well, put your brainiac cap on for four more hours and then you can think about how free you are."