Forever & Always

Chapter 32

When we got home, it was back to the grind. School was going by monotonously slow and I had picked up a bunch more shifts at the diner because I was out of commission so long because of my rib. One of the positive things from the week back though was me officially sending in my acceptance fee to NYU, which felt like a huge weight off of my chest. 

I told everyone I could about my decision. Tony, Mrs. Roberts, my grandparents, and everyone was thrilled. I still had a couple of months left of high school though, but since the hard stuff was out of the way, I could just relax now, thank God. As you can tell, I'm a pretty uptight person, so getting that huge endeavor out of the way was like the biggest hurdle I ever had to get over. 

Like I said, school was boring, but it wasn't all bad. You could tell it was approaching the end of the year because the seniors were getting sentimental. You will always have those people that realize it's all going to be over soon and they're about to enter the big, bad world, so they start being nice to everyone in the hope that they'll go out on top. Unfortunately, it just makes them look like phony morons, but for people like me, it's as entertaining as reality TV. 

Shane told me that he had sent in his acceptance fee for U of Kentucky and he was already mapping out how long it would take to get from there to NYU. 

"Eleven hours and twenty five minutes," he read from his phone one day at lunch. I laughed seeing the look on his face go from hopeful to disappointed. "Is it really that far?" 

I nodded. "Yeah, the map on your phone isn't actual size, my friend," I said, but kissing him on the cheek. "That's why we have Skype and FaceTime." 

"Oh fine, I'll have to settle for that," he said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "But you better pick up." 

"Can you two please figure out where to draw the line?" Lacey asked. "It's like, get a room already." 

I flipped her off playfully and returned to my food. It wasn't long before my phone started to vibrate. I didn't recognize the number that was coming up. Just to be sure, I looked around the table to see if maybe someone was prank calling me, but all of their phones were on the table and faced down. I hit the green button to pick it up. 

"Hello?" I asked.

"Riley," I heard the voice come through, slightly cracking from poor service. 

"Chris?" I asked, recognizing his voice immediately. "Oh my god, how are you? What's going on?" 

He laughed on the other end. "I'm great actually," he answered. "I know this is kind of sudden, but I'm heading home on Friday, and I want to make it a surprise for Mom, so I was wondering if you'd be able to pick me up from the airport." 

My heart started pounding excitedly. He was finally coming home! For good! Oh thank Jesus. 

"Yes, of course," I said, trying not to yell out of joy. "When do you think you'll be getting in?" 

"I think around 4, if that's possible," he said, his voice breaking up slightly. He must have been calling from a pay phone or something. 

I told him it would be fine and he hung up since I wasn't really supposed to be making phone calls in school and the teacher by the exit door was glaring at me. That could have been because I was on my phone, but it also could have been because he was there because of the fight between me and Annie and the principal wanted monitors now. Oh well, now you're doing something worth our tax dollars. 

"Chris is coming home," I announced to the table, resulting in claps. 

"I didn't get to meet him last time," Lacey complained, "and since I hear so much about him, it'd be nice to put a face to a name."