Fine lines

Prologue

Tate

"I can't believe you're leaving" Ivy groaned at me, throwing herself onto my unmade bed, knocking off the packing boxes to the floor. "I need those you know" I pick them back up off the floor, sitting them at the foot of the bed. "I'm not going forever you know, you can always come visit me?" She rolls her head in my direction frowning at me like I've asked the worst thing in the world. She eventually chuckles at me, pointing to me "You know, if I don't have to fly, I won't have to, you can come see me" she throws her hands up in defeat "Ivy you know trains and cars exist?" she sits up putting her hands together in a prayer motion "Yeah, but that's such a long drive" she groans some more.
Ivy and I have been best friends for the last 2 years, we were put together in a room for college and hit it off like a house on fire. She's been my absolute rock since coming to Minnesota Grove Academy. When I arrived, I arrived heartbroken, a mess, on edge and doubtful towards myself. You could tell I looked depressed. I walked into my room to discover a girl the same age as me who had glowing black hair and dark brown eyes. She greeted me with the biggest smile introducing herself and helped me unpack, just like a Mom would. The Mom figure that comes out of her is astounding, she will tell you how it is but will love you no matter what at the end of the day. She has the driest sense of humour and will always keep you smiling. She never asked what was wrong, she probably assumed the most that anyone would, already homesick and scared of being on my own. I was the opposite, I was ready to leave home and be by myself. To reset.
She had already been settled in for a week and showed me around. She was the pick me up I never asked for and I didn't know that I needed.

"I know why you need to go, but what am I gonna do without you?" She continues to frown like I have a logical answer for her, I raise an eyebrow towards her. "You will find something to do, hey maybe you can google how to get over fear of flying" She throws one of my pillows at me which makes me laugh.
"Fiiiiiiine, I'll come see you.. Eventually"
I continue to pack up the rest of my things into the boxes, Ivy is no help. When I got here I didn't expect Minnesota to be my fix for everything and I knew I was going to need time to figure myself out. The second I found out I was accepted to college it was my out. My ex boyfriend Bryson and I had broken up a couple months prior, my Dad was on the fence about letting me go to college, the problem wasn't even because I was leaving, it was because of the profession I was studying.
My Dad has never been into my media interests, especially my photography, until now. When I received an assignment a few weeks ago asking for an off campus work placement to capture things of 'Ourselves, our elements and not always captured', I immediately thought of my Dad's hockey team. They have recruitment come out every season to pick one person for their next NHL season, so far 3 players from my Dad's senior team have been picked, but that was a fair few years ago now. I figure if I can take some pictures and videos for recruitment to see, it will also show my Dad that I know what I'm doing and how serious I am when it comes to all of this. That was the only reason he agreed to the gap year, he wasn't happy at first, but when I offered not to be paid for my photo's videos and make player profiles to send off to recruitment, he didn't have any more no's left in him to argue. He booked me a return ticket so he knows that I'm set to go back. I have two years left when I go back to Minnesota, which is okay. I intend to finish. But I needed to go back and face the music I ran away from, I also missed home a little, mostly my grandparents who I adore and always ask me to send them a new picture everyday.

I finally pack my suitcases and leave instructions for Ivy to post me some boxes of my other things. "Don't go getting into a new roommate relationship while I'm gone Ivy." I sit the note down on her desk and turn around to look at her. She's wrapped her arms around me giving me the biggest hug in the world, "I would never cheat on you" she makes me giggle which warms my heart, she's been the best type of person to enter my life and I can't fault her. "What time is your flight?" She releases her embrace around me and looks so sad at me when she asks. "Not till 5pm, but I have to be there like an hour early so I need to leave here at 3:30ish" I look at my watch to check the time, it's 12:30pm which it hits me how much time I actually have left til I leave. "I might hate airports, but I will drive you there" she looks so brave and sounds so sarcastic I can't help but laugh some more.
"How kind of you" I chuckle. She grabs one of my suitcases and rolls it to the door "Ivy what are you doing?"
"Well Tate, we have very little time to do one last fro yo run so we are getting fro yo, I am buying and you can't say no" I smile "I can't say no to you"
She smiles at me opening the door for me as I grab my other suit case and hand bag and start heading out the door. "By the way, if I hear of Bryson giving you any shit or being a shit, I will personally take a long train ride to come and tell him he is a shit"
I roll my eyes as I shut the door but it makes me smile how protective she is and how much she really doesn't like him. "I promise it'll be fine and I'm really okay now, it might be weird when I see him but I don't think it's going to hurt, I've mended, I'm better and I'm... taller" I smirk to her and she rolls her eyes. "He's a ice hockey player, he's even taller and even more of a shit"
"So you don't like Hockey players or just him?"
"Both"
"I promise I won't let him get to me if he tries, besides I'm pretty sure my ignoring his texts gave him the hint that I don't want his apology or excuses for cheating on me. He knows what he did and saying sorry doesn't always fix everything"
"If I had to say I'm sorry to you would it fix everything?" She's really trying to keep me calm "Ivy you've been fixing a broken heart you didn't break or is yours, of course it would" I smile to her as we get into the car out in the parking lot.
"Your heart is mine now boo, all the boys need to be ran by me to share it with them"
She grins at me as we get into the car and drive toward the fro yo joint, when we pull up she tells me to take a seat outside and she'll get the round. She brings me my favourite, mango & coconut with passionfruit drizzle.
"Oh! You have to tell me if you find a new man!" Pointing at me sharply I can't help but shake my head "I don't want one, honestly, after the one date with Seth I just didn't have the energy for it"
"You forget he also wasn't the best choice at all to go on a first date back out into the world?" I don't say anything as I put some fro yo in my mouth, I look out across the carpark and all the other little stores around realising I won't see this for a while, or have my snack dates with Ivy for a long time. "I just want my Dad to take me seriously, I want to focus on the recruitment profiles, take some photos, make some videos and build a website for him if I have to. I won't have time to focus on anything else, besides there's not many options left back home"
"Hmm whatever, just you wait, maybe you'll never see him coming"
I giggle as I finish eating the fro yo, Ivy stands up with me heading to the car to take me to the airport, we pull up in the car park and she helps me take my bags out of the boot. She shudders as a plane flies over the terminal close by.
It makes me giggle "Ivy, the planes are not going to crash into the terminal" Stands up straight frowning to me again "You never know, it could happen"
"You've never even been on a plane to know if you hate it, what happens if you end up loving it, you may never see it coming?" I smirk to her
She gives me a little tap on the arm realising I threw back her own words she gave me earlier, we take a moment to look at each other and have one last massive hug.
"Please text me and call me and snapchat me, just don't forget I exist"
"Ivy I couldn't, you'd come and tell me that I'm a shit" she laughs and rolls the suitcase toward me "Thank you, and thank you for taking me here and being the best"
"It is my pleasure to be the best" I roll my eyes laughing giving her another hug
"I'll message you when I land okay"
"You better!" I head inside, I look back to her and wave and she waves back aggressively. I know this is the right thing to do, let's just hope I don't regret it. I should've tried to find somewhere to rent or at least roommate with someone for the time being but there weren't many options available last notice, but staying with the grandparents is a better option than staying with Dad. They've always been so supportive. It finally hits me in a wave once I'm on the plane that I'm heading home, leaving Ivy and Minnesota but this is what I need to do and this will cover a lot of ground for me in the long run.