Since Birth

Chapter 5

                              Julianne's POV
The summer was flying by in a haze of boat days on Lake Washington, hikes in the mountains, and day trips to Seattle. While most of the year here is pretty dreary, the state comes alive during the summer. There's nothing more beautiful than Washington on a sunny day.

While it's been a summer to remember, it's also been full of tears and goodbyes. One by one, all of my friends have been leaving for college. Since University of Washington doesn't start until late September, Tanner and I are some of the only people left.

Vivian left this morning. I haven't cried that hard since my grandma died a year ago. The two of us have never been apart longer than 2-3 weeks, and the thought of not seeing her for months is too much to bear. She's going to thousands of miles away in Arizona. We'll both be adjusting to our new lives, making new friends, and slowly our friendship will fade to be a happy memory. Even with all this technology nowadays, friendships are not the same when you're not together.

I'm cooped up in my room, rewatching Grey's Anatomy for the 4th time. The show was only fueling my tears, and I was an emotional wreck. I hear my phone go off under the covers but I'm too lazy to check it right now. Five seconds later it starts going off like crazy, and I gather up the energy to grab my phone.

I have 16 texts from Tanner, all saying to meet him outside "RIGHT NOW!!"

I throw on a pair of flip flops as I walk out the door. I'm currently wearing pizza patterned pajama shorts and a sweatshirt, but who the fuck cares, it's midnight.

As I hop into Tanner's car, I look at him confused. "Strange man, why are you trying to abduct me?"

He laughs gently and then speaks quietly. "Vivian left today."

"Yeah, and...?"

"And I knew that you'd be a mess and that you needed to get out of the house. Let me guess, you were watching Grey's."

I grumble in acknowledgment. "Yes, you know me too well."

Slowly becoming more enthusiastic, he explained further. "Anyway, since I knew you needed some cheering up, I'm going to take you out for ice cream."

"Really? What's gonna be open at midnight on a Tuesday?"

He smugly replies, "Dairy Queen, duh!"

"Ohhhh, goddammit I'm stupid."

He denies it, and we continue down the road. We settle into a comfortable silence, just the two of us breathing and the sounds of the road outside the car.

Once we reach Dairy Queen, he pulls through the drive-thru and gets us both blizzards. After picking them up he parks in the parking lot and we recline our seats all the way back.

We start talking about Vivian again, and then we move into talking about graduating, and then talking about our new school. He brings up the state of our relationship, much to my dismay. "So, we're just friends right?" Tanner asks me.

"Of course dude! Always have been, always will be." I respond confidently.

I can't help but notice his expression fall a little bit. "Yeah, yeah, I know bro!! Homies for lifeee." He responds nonchalantly.

What follows next is what got my head spinning. After he responded we both roll over in our seats a little bit and just look at each other for a while. The moon was coming through the sunroof and softly illuminating both of our faces. We didn't say anything, didn't do anything, didn't even move. We just stared, and I've never felt more vulnerable. It feels as if he can see me, all of my problems, all of my insecurities, all of my doubts and all of my fears. However, I'm not scared of it. I trust him. And when I start looking deeper into his eyes, when I enter those pools of swirling greens and ambers, I can see him too.

I slowly move my hand towards his, and he moves his to find mine. We intertwine our fingers and continue to look at each other.

Everything is changing and I'm terrified. I'm sad, I'm excited, and I'm nervous. But here in this moment with Tanner... I just know that everything is going to be okay.