Caroline
The bright light from the sun outside is hitting my face, probably should've closed the curtains last night I think to myself. I remember standing there by the window looking out as James drove away. We said our goodbyes outside by his car and when I came in I didn't want to hang out downstairs with my dad. I needed to be alone.
I came up here and looked out at James' car parked in the street. He sat there for a long time before looking up at the house and driving away. It wasn't goodbye forever or anything but this will be the most distance we've ever had between us.
From the day I was born and he was in the bassinet right next to mine thru the 18 years that followed with him living two streets over and now he'll be 1600 miles away in Arizona when I'm in Tennessee. When we started senior year and college became top of mind I knew this day was going to come, he's always wanted to go to ASU and me, well I just wanted to be somewhere far away from Washington. What I hadn't planned on was James and I getting into a relationship and even though we're not together anymore and haven't been all summer it still made it harder to see him leave.
I'm lying here now thinking about last night. I was sitting with dad eating dinner picking my phone up every five minutes checking it.
"Hey. Earth to Caroline. Did you even hear a word I said?" My dad is asking me waving his hands in front of my face.
I look up startled putting my phone down. "What? No. Sorry. What'd you say? I'm just waiting for a text from James. He said he'd let me know when he's on his way. He's leaving for Arizona today so he's gonna stop by before he goes."
"That's going to be a tough one. You and James haven't been apart since the day you were born. You were so pink and wrinkly, bald. We had to make sure you had a bow on your head and a pink blanket so everyone would stop saying what a precious little boy we had. Not James though, that boy had a full head of wavy blonde hair. You two were inseparable from day one. If they took you out to the nursery James would cry and cry until you were back in the room. You did the same thing."
"Ok so this isn't really helping." I say grabbing my phone to check it again.
My dad gets up from the table and grabs our plates. "Sorry, I guess it's not. I'll shut my big emotional mouth and save it for the day you leave for Tennessee."
"How 'bout not even then?" I say giving him a smile. He's been so different since that night we talked in the hospital. I guess after losing your wife the thought of almost losing your daughter too can change you. He's like he was before mom died. It's been nice. My phone beeps, I look over at it. I've had it attached to my hand all day waiting for that text and now I don't want to see it. I pick it up.
*Hey Boyer. Be there in 5.*
*K*
I'm still sitting at the table pulling at a string on the placemat when the front door opens and James walks in. He buzzed his head! What was he thinking? He's walking over to me his dirty blond hair looking dark brown since it's so short, his hazel eyes a little more greenish than usual because of the dark green sleeveless shirt he's got on, he's wearing black basketball shorts and a pair of Jordan's. I'm just staring at him shaking my head.
"Not a fan of the haircut?" he asks coming to lean on the table next to where I'm sitting.
"What did you do?" I say getting out of my chair and reaching up to rub his head.
"The guys from the team took me out last night and we might've gotten a little drunk. Someone suggested we shave our heads and well, the alcohol, all the testosterone. We couldn't resist."
