( when the stars forget us! ) ↳chapter twenty-one↲
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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❝ YOU HAVE A ROOM HERE. ❞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TALIA PACED AROUND her room that same evening, staring at her phone before finally pressing on the call button. The line rang three times before a low, groggy voice came through.
"Hello?" Embry mumbled, his words slow and thick with sleep.
Talia's breath hitched at the sound of his voice, deep and unguarded. Her heartbeat quickened involuntarily, a warmth creeping up her neck. "Hey... Did I wake you?" she asked softly, already knowing the answer.
There was a faint rustling on his end, like he was sitting up. "Yeah, but it's okay," he said, yawning slightly. "What's up? Everything okay?"
She sat down on the edge of her bed, clutching her phone tighter. "Yeah, I mean, kind of. I just—needed to talk to someone, and you're—you're someone I wanted to call."
His voice perked up a little, his concern palpable. "What happened?"
Talia hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip. "I got into this program I applied for. It's this high school senior program for vet medicine. It's for the rest of the semester. It's in Washington, in La Push. I didn't tell anyone I applied because I didn't want to jinx it, but..."
"That's amazing, Tali," Embry interrupted, his tone shifting to excitement. "Why didn't you tell me? I would've been rooting for you this whole time."
She let out a small laugh, her voice wavering. "Thanks. I'm happy about it, I really am. But it caused this huge fight with my parents last night. My mom's mad I want to leave. She said some pretty harsh stuff. My dad's on my side, kind of, but he made me promise I wouldn't quit the program or I'm not welcome back."
Embry was quiet for a moment, letting her words sink in. "Wow," he finally said. "That's... a lot. Are you okay?"
"I don't know," she admitted, standing up to pace again. "I want to be excited, but it feels like I can't be. My mom acted like I was betraying her, and I get it, but I'm not trying to hurt anyone. I just... I want this for me, you know?"
"Of course," he said, his voice firm. "You're allowed to want this, Tali. You're allowed to do something for yourself. That doesn't make you selfish."
Her phone pressed to her ear as she spilled everything. "I just... I don't know how everything got so messy," she said, her voice tight with frustration. "I should be excited. I got into this program—this amazing program—and all I can think about is how upset my mom is. Like, she's mad at me for wanting more." She paused, letting out a shaky breath. "And now I don't even know how I'm going to get to Washington, let alone pay for everything once I'm there."
