Choices (Book Four)

Chapter 30

Shawn

I step off the bus in Oakridge with Rupert on his leash at my side. He was great on the bus, I had been a bit nervous since he was a full grown pup pretty much now, but he spent the ride mostly napping across my lap and the seat beside me. The driver did stop off halfway at a gas station so we were able to get out for a washroom break for him too. I glance around the bus terminal looking for Bailey who is picking us up. We are heading back to her apartment to pack up her things then hit the road to Telford tonight. She promised me she already finished all the packing so it's just the heavy lifting that remains my job but all manageable stuff as the place came furnished.

I watch as people stepping off the bus embrace their friends and family. I gather most of them are coming down for graduation ceremonies this weekend. Every face I scan is grinning away with excitement and I find myself smiling along softly as well. I finally spot Bailey over by the entrance and she's already waving me down as we make our way towards her. Luckily I only have one suitcase worth of my things, I left all my hockey gear in Grand Rapids. I figured our ride pack to Telford was already going to be a packed car with me, Bailey, Rupert, and all of Bailey's crap.

"Hey!" Baileys greets me excitedly with an eager smile as she pulls me into a hug before she bends down to give Rupert some pets. "How was the ride?"

"Good, thanks," I answer her as she stands back up and leads the way out to the parking lot.

I throw my suitcase into the trunk which is empty right now so I try to squish it back into the corner as best as I can. I slam the trunk and see that Bailey is already in the car and she put Rupert in the backseat as he peers out the back window at me. I round the car and climb into the passenger side.

"So, how's it feel to be done another year of school?" I ask once we pull onto the road.

"Bittersweet," she replies. "I'm happy to be done and heading home for the summer, but I'm going to miss Milo so much," she adds and sighs.

"He's going to come visit though right?"

"Yeah, he is going to come out to visit for two weeks at the end of July," she answers with a small smile but I can tell she's still really upset about having to spend so much time away from him and I understand how she is feeling.

"Just focus on that then and having something to look forward to," I encourage her lightly and watch as she nods her head.

The rest of the ride is filled with a bit of small talk about how her final exams went and how many boxes of things she has for us to move. I'm a bit nervous when she says there are five boxes and two suitcases we have to cram into this small car with us. I glance into the backseat to try and picture how I can arrange it all and see Rupert sprawled out across the entire backseat. He definitely won't be a fan of when we are driving to Telford with a sliver of space in the back later tonight.

When we drive by campus I look out the window to see crowds of student in graduation gowns taking photos with their loved ones. As I watch the crowds of people my mind drifts to Lyla. I know she is graduating this weekend. I can't help but search the crowd to maybe get lucky and catch sight of her amongst all the faces. I don't find her and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed.

We pull up to Bailey's apartment a minute later and I grab Rupert from the backseat as we head inside. She isn't supposed to have pets at her place but we figured for the few hours we will be here to pack it'll be fine. Plus her roommate moved out yesterday so there is no one to rat us out. We take the elevator up to her floor and Rupert seemed quite confused as the door closes and we are stuck in the small box. I am so thankful for the elevator today though so we don't have to carry everything up and down the stairs. I don't think my knee would have handled that many stairs too well at this point.