Sentimental Chances (On-Going)

Chapter 23 : It Is Our Special Place

About half an hour later it was almost night time, and Roldan drove me to the inn with my scooter at the back of his pickup truck. He helped me take it down carefully. "Thanks," I said to him.

"Sure thing, if you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me," he replied.

"Appreciate it. Thanks again."

"Anyway, I better get home. See you tomorrow."

"Bye. Drive safe," I told him once he got into his car, then drove away.

You know, after our talk, I felt an emotional weight lifted off from my shoulder. So, I went inside, and Roy was there with Barry and Ms. Regis by the reception desk.

Roy darted to me, then rushed in to hug me.

I was stunned having his arm wrapped around me. It took several seconds, then I happened to glance at Barry with a stupid smirk on his face. Damn, I wished to slap him so hard that he would unrecognizable.

Anyhow, Roy pulled away from me, feeling somehow awkward about it. "Ahem... You alright?" he asked me. "I got worried."

"Very worried," Barry teased. Ugh... I really wanted to slap him.

"I'm fine," I assured Roy. "Sorry about earlier... I'm also sorry about leaving you in the studio. I'm also sorry that you had to... see me like. God, I'm so embarrassed."

"No, that's okay. Don't worry about. Where have you been? We were trying to reach you, but you weren't picking up."

"I was by the hills to take a breath and look at the mountains. The signal there is bad."

"Oh... Were you upset?" he asked me again.

"Yeah, but I'm fine now," I said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"By the way, about your friends... they're worried about you?" Roy told me.

"I know, I'll talk to them," I sighed.

Later, I just wanted to rest, so I went up to my room with Roy walking with me since he wanted to get back to his room. "Uhm... Hey..." he said softly as I was about to go inside.

"What is it?" I turned to him.

"It's great that you get an oppurtunity to teach photography in London. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

"Also, about Emmy, I get that she means well, but she shouldn't have done that to you," Roy said.

I remember feeling relieved that he was on my side, understanding how I felt about it. "Yup," I responded.

"I know what it's like for people, even your friends, thinking that they know what's best for you. I had a friend like that back in high school. Actually, he was like my online friend because we used to play this game. Being homeschooled was something we had in common, and we've met in real life too."

"What happened?"

"After winning a game, we were talking about college one night and he said that he wanted to go to ivy leagues schools. He got into Harvard, though."

"Wow, good for him," I commented.

"Yeah, anyway, back then I was thinking about taking a year off and just travel, you know. I was going to use some of the money my mom left for me after she died. Plus, I wanted to get away from my dad. I told my friend about it, and he said that it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard."

"That must have been annoying."

"It is," he exasperated. "Until the inevitable happened?"

"What inenvitable?" I questioned.