Unfinished Business

24

Eight years earlier

With our high school graduation right around the corner, my stomach is in knots. I received my acceptance letter from NYU for fashion design but haven't told Wyatt yet. Why would I when this acceptance letter will be the thing that tears us apart?

Couples can be strong during long-distance, but not when one-half of the couple doesn't plan on returning. Darlington can't supply me with the dream I'm after, and New York can't supply Wyatt with his. And no matter how much I love him, I don't expect him to stay with me. This relationship has always had an impending sense of doom looming over us, and now that storm cloud is about to break free, I'm not sure I'm ready to face it.

"Hey, darlin'." Wyatt opens his arms out for me to jump into, and I wrap my legs around his waist, nuzzling my head into the crook of his neck. I'm going to miss the way he smells. I'm going to miss how safe I feel with his arms around me. Just thinking about being all alone in New York makes me teary-eyed, and before I know it, I'm sniffling into his t-shirt. "Whoa, what's goin' on?" He pulls his head back to analyze the tears streaming down my cheeks, and then he sits down on the bed of his truck that's already opened, right in front of the pond where we had sex not even three months ago, I completely lose it.

I shake my head, refusing to say what's on my mind. I can't tell him I got into NYU. I don't want to tell him. The minute I say it is the minute it's out in the open and it's going to happen. I'm excited about going to my dream school, I've worked my entire life for it, but having to leave Wyatt is leaving a gaping hole in my chest that I'm not quite sure will ever be filled again.

And I let him lose his goddamn virginity to me. He was saving himself for marriage, and he said I was going to be his wife one day. How is that ever going to happen when neither of us wants to sacrifice for the other? I'm a selfish bitch for taking his virginity. I should have stopped him that night. We never should have taken it that far.

"Darlin', breathe for me." He strokes a hand over my hair that's tied up into a messy bun, holding me against his chest as I cry out all of my feelings. I don't want to say it, I really don't want to, but if not now, then when? I can't tell him after graduation and just up and leave him. That wouldn't be right.

So I take a couple of heaving breaths and just blurt it out. I tell him I got into NYU and that I leave at the beginning of July to get settled into the dorms. I tell him that I've been dreading telling him ever since I found out because I'm not sure where that leaves us. That I don't know if we'll be able to survive it.

When Wyatt first showed me this pond, I loved hearing all of the birds chirp and the wind blow through the leaves. Even in the winter Wyatt would grab a bunch of blankets and we'd cuddle up in the bed of his truck, listen to music, and eat whatever snacks he brought that day.

But now, sitting here in this god-awful silence, I'm afraid to think that this pond might turn into my least favorite place. The place where I break Wyatt's heart.

"So, you don't even want to try?" He asks. "It's not like long-distance is impossible, Macey, and no one loves each other more than us. I believe that with every ounce of my bein'."

"Wyatt, I don't plan on returning to Darlington, and you have no plans on coming to live with me in New York. We have to face the music at some point, right? No matter how much we love each other, and no matter how much we may want this to work, it's not going to."

"Then I'll move to New York," he says in a pleading voice. "I'll talk to my parents, and I'll come with you. I'm not lettin' you go, darlin'. I can't."