THEM

Chapter 3

Aithne shoved another pair of jeans into her suitcase. How many weeks had the doctor said she needed to be there? She didn't know whether to
pack light or her whole wardrobe. It was nearing the end of winter, so the weather could be unpredictable. She glanced at the clock.
Shoot, she was going to be late for school. Even
though there was no use, her mother had insisted that she go to school until the very last day. To say bye to her friends.
As if she had any left.
She grabbed her empty backpack, wondering why she was even taking it, and headed out.

〜〜〜

As she headed towards the entrance of her school, she caught sight
of Jeremiah a few meters in front of her and sped up to catch up with him.

"Jeremiah!"

He turned around and his eyebrows shot up in surprise when he caught
sight of her.

"Hey." She said breathlessly as she halted in front of him, "Can
we talk for a second?"

His eyes widened even further, clearly not used to her approaching
him anymore. A pang of guilt passed through her.

"Of course, yeah."

Aithne wrung her hands. She had convinced herself to go and talk
to him, but she hadn't even prepared what she was going to say.

"So... um... as you've noticed... I've been a bit..." she paused, thinking
about how she was going to word it. "...off lately."

He stared at her for a while, wondering how to respond, before slowly
nodding.

"Sorry about that by the way." She continued. "I know I haven't
been very present, but I've been going through a tough time."

Jeremiah's eyes softened. "Oh, I didn't know. You know you can talk
to me about anything right? I'm always here for you."

Aithne nodded, knowing he wasn't going to pry further to know more.
He was just like that. He never insisted on anything. That was one of the reasons she had liked him.

"I know, I know, thank you. Anyways, I came here to tell you that
because of these issues, I'm going away for a few weeks. Just to get them taken care of."

"Oh, wow. I didn't realize it was that serious."
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as unanswered questions
swirled between them, accentuating the distance that had already grown between them. Aithne realized Jeremiah wasn't going to break up with her right after she'd announced she was going through a hard time. Whether it be out of respect, or pity, she slightly
resented him for being too kind to throw away what was already broken. She didn't want to be the one to break up either. She'd had so few interactions in the past weeks that she was already drained from this short conversation and didn't want to prolong it
by bringing up the subject.

Jeremiah cleared his throat and shuffled his feet. "Well, then.
Good luck for wherever you're off too. I hope you'll feel better soon. I'll call to check up on you?"

Aithne couldn't stand the cliché, overused phrases streaming out
of his mouth. Their relationship used to be so comfortable and entertaining. They used to tease each other constantly on the smallest, silliest subjects. She missed that. But, their connection had changed. She had changed.

"Sounds good." She highly doubted she would hear from him. "Thank
you." She added, looking into his eyes intently to show she meant it. He had silently stood by her, never criticized her for anything she had done, allowed her to be the sole decider of the time they spent together. Perhaps he knew how unstable she was or
perhaps it was his obliging personality, but she knew how lucky she was to have had him.