The Redemption Stage (Book 2: The Second Chance)

Departure (10) Mel

Our last week spent together for possibly the rest of our lives... But even I doubt that's the case.

Grayson was leaving for a college in Oregon tomorrow, Joy was taking the news better than we expected her too. I think they talked about it before today.

Joy was leaving next week for Texas, she always dreamed of going back to her home town and spending her college years there. She was going to stay with her family there.

I enrolled for the college in Ohio, by Jax was still slightly torn. He was weighing his options. I wasn't mad at him for not wanting to go to Ohio, it's understandable why it's not his first choice.

His whole family went to college in Texas, he's lived in a small town Maine for so long, he's never been to Ohio, he wants to choose the right school that would get him a good job in the sports field.

Joy and I were telling him to try and get a scholarship for football, but he said he wasn't keen on playing in college, so that's crossed off the list.

I let him decide and not try to push the subject, it was ultimately the one choice that could determine the rest of your life.

The four of us decided to have a throw a departure party for Grayson. Our parties aren't like the usual kind, mostly because it's just the three of us and them the person that's leaving but...

We went out for lunch at a fancy restaurant, then to the mountains to watch the sunset, came back and went to the city to eat at a fancy restaurant again, then explored downtown and all, looking at the City Hall and how cool it looked at night with the lights illuminating it.

By the time we got home, it was one in the morning and Grayson had a flight to catch in two hours. We was really tired, as were the rest of us, but that didn't stop us from having a bonfire in the Peters backyard before he left.

When he finally had to go, Jax helped load his stuff into the car and drove him down.

"You're not going with him to the airport?" I asked her, she was a little teary eyed.

"No, it'll make the goodbye harder. We talked about this a few days ago, we're going to try long distance." She said, rubbing her eyes.

"You two will make it work, I know you will." I said, putting my arm around her and we watched the fire.

"What about you two? He still hasn't decided a college and almost all the deadlines are in two days almost." She asked.

"I don't want to be that girlfriend though that forces him to go I the same college as her. Sure, we talked about it before, but... I don't know. I could ruin his whole career by forcing him to do something, I don't want to be that person." I explained to her.

"So you're telling me you're willing to break your own heart so he can pursue his passion?" She looked at me incredulously. "That's so stupid!"

"It may be stupid, but it's not my choice. This is his choice, not mine. He's torn between Texas and Ohio." I tried to calm her down, but she stood up, my arm falling from her shoulder.

"I'm so yelling at him, there's an obvious choice. I'm pretty sure we both know what that is." She said, you can tell Joy was annoyed by her brother.

Jax got back a few minutes later, he came back to the backyard and Joy started yelling at him immediately.

"Are you stupid? There's one college meant for you, how are you so blind? Someone you love is willing to break her own heart so you can pursue your dream! Idiot!" I cowered in the background as Joy scolded her little brother. I didn't really know where she was going with this...

"It's Ohio obviously," She took a breath. Wait, did I hear her right?

"Wait Joy-" she cute me off to continue.

"She's willing to destroy her heart for your happiness." She pointed a finger at the boy.

"I thought you meant Texas, wait Joy-" I tried to cut in, but was interrupted once again.

"If you go to Texas with me, I will personally make your college experience the worst ever. Ever." She said, hushing me.

"You really don't have to go to Ohio, do what you want Jax." I finally got in. "Are you done?" I asked Joy.

"Umm... I was going to tell you... I enrolled for Ohio yesterday... I was going to tell you today..." He said awkwardly.

"You did?" Joy and I said at the same time.

"Yeah... Umm... Mhm." He said.

"That's amazing!" I said, giving him a hug.

We all sat down around the fire for the rest of the night, we finally finished up when the sun started to rise again.

Everyone was tired, but we stayed awake anyway.

It was just like old times, staying up until the next morning and acting like zombies, being weird and awkward around each other. It makes me think back to all our memories that we've made for twelve years.

From when we were 6 to now, we're 19... Wow. Everything that's happened and I wouldn't trade these people for the world.