Camryn Quinn is finally getting what she wants...sort of. Moving into a dorm and away from her not so supportive father is a good first step, but like everything with him, it comes with strings. She must attend the college of his choosing for at lea...
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The next twenty four hours feel like a ploy for Gabi to prove her point. After we hugged it out, we both agreed to one more day together, and then I would return to reality and face everything waiting for me back home. The good, the bad, and the heartbreaking.
We met her friends at Centennial Park to enjoy the rare sixty degree weather in November. Within twenty minutes I could see why she likes them. Each one seems to compliment her best qualities. Anu, the reserved environmental major, is so timid until a topic of passion is brought up and then she makes a very convincing argument. PreMed Linely who doesn't hold back her true opinion, and then I met Sam. They connected when he spotted her Pugs Not Drugs sticker on her laptop. He's unbelievably cute and sweet. Alyssa would bet on them being a thing by winter break.
Every single new sight, and destination only proves the truth behind Gabi's words. Her confidence oozes from her pores as she shows me around her new city, and trepidation leaks from mine.
I don't like it here. I don't belong here.
The campus is beautiful, but the city feels crowded in a way I've never felt in Columbus's art district and historic neighborhoods. And listening to Linley groan on and on about the MCAT, and applications, and organic chemistry. I don't want to be a nurse. I don't want to have to practice bed side manner, or memorize drug names, or have to take more science courses than necessary. I just wanted to feel closer to my mom. I just wanted to stay close with Gabi.
We spend our last evening together filling in the blanks still present in both of our lives. Tensions finally seemed to calm once we both acknowledged our new busy schedules, and lives. Gabi made one thing clear, one of us isn't more at fault than the other.
"We're doing exactly what we're meant to do in college," she swears while showing me the textbook for her intro to marketing class. "Which is why we now need to figure out what you're doing with your life."
I'm reluctant to agree, but as I'm showing her the latest issue of The Daily Scoop, her tone takes a serious turn. "This! This is what you need to pursue."
"Taking pictures at football games?"
"No!" her head shakes with a ferocity that nauseates me. "There has to be a major for this. Photography in journalism. I can't believe I never thought of it. You've always been the most yourself when you're behind the camera.
But then it's my turn to disagree with the same force. "No. I mean I just started doing this. I'm still not even sure I enjoy it. And the editor is this short stack with a major power trip. I'll probably end up fired before the end of the year if he keeps true on his promise to release anyone 'with the journalistic integrity of a pea.'"
"But these are amazing! And editors change. Alyssa knew what she was doing pushing you towards the newsroom," Gabi says as she flips through the rest of the pictures on my laptop. Other games this season, bits and pieces of the things we've done for the list, and a few from even before that. Before I really knew where I stood with Taylor and Alyssa. I stop her scrolling when I get to one in particular. Of Taylor and Alyssa at Harry's, his arm slung around her shoulders, holding her in a headlock. Alyssa's nose scrunched with laughter. The sudden pause gives Gabi the chance to study the bottom of the screen, and the inscription printed beneath the picture.
