Coffee Dates and Breaks

Chapter 1

     "Open it!" Jake exclaimed.

     "You know I can't do it myself.  Someone open it for me."

     "Sweetie, this letter could hold the answer to the rest of your life.  You are a extremely amazing, talented, self sufficient,  woman now you have to do this on your own."

     "Okay.  I'm doing it.  Deep breath Kate.  Deep breaths." I heard the paper tear.  This envelope from Yale possibly had the rest of my life in it.  "Someone else read it to me I can't." My dad picked it up carefully as if he was going to break it if he wasn't super careful.

     "It says Dear Katherine, blah blah blah blah, accepted.  Accepted.  Accepted! Kate you are going to Yale." My whole family and my boyfriend hugged all at once. We all jumped up and down! I could not believe it. I start to cry while everyone I love jumps with glee around me. This is what my entire life has lead up to. I'm going to leave my little town of Glennville, my family, my life as I know it, and Jake.

      Jake. I have to leave him. His shy smile and angelic voice that he never used in public.  His soft touch and messy hair.  His love for books and for me. His extremely emotional eyes. His slightly scratchy voice from belting out show tunes in when he thought no one was listening.  The way he looked at me before he kissed me for the first time.

      Just everything about him made me want to give up my dreams and stay with him forever. I know that I would hate myself for not taking this opportunity. Not just everyone gets accepted into Yale and I was not going to give that up for anything.  This has been my dream since I was able to read.  I was not going to give it up over some boy.  Even if he was the most amazing boy in the world.

     "Sweetie, no need to cry. We are so proud of you. I have to go call my mom and let her know she has a genius as a granddaughter. Not like she needs me to tell her that." He ran off to go call my grandmother that I barely ever saw. My mom gave me a great big hug.

     "Love you sweetie. There are no words to describe how proud of you we are." She left and helped dad make the calls to family. My little 10 year old brother said something that resembled "Good job" under his breath. Then it was just me and Jake.

     He had picked up the letter after my dad set it down and hugged me. He looked at it as if it were a work of art. "This is amazing Katie. I'm not just trying to copy your parents but I am so proud of you. Don't cry." He rapped his arm around my shoulder. He has held me like this hundreds of times, but this time feels even more special than the first time. Possibly because it could be one of the last ones.

     "Don't tell me not to cry. I will cry if I want to. It's not like I could stop if I tried. This is the moment I have worked my whole life for. I just never imagined it to be semi sad thing. I thought that once this happened I would be the happiest girl in the world. I never imagined you."

      "Hey don't be sad because of me. I will make it. We knew this wouldn't last forever but we still have a summer to spend together."

       We had already talked about this and we both agreed that we were not going keep the other back and we both knew there is no way that we could do that and stay together. He wanted to explore the world and write about it. Poems, novels, short stories, songs... you name it. I wanted to go to school, then go to more school, then go to more school, then practice law. My late night hours and long days at school added to his need for adventure we could never work in the real life.  That didn't make this moment any easier.

      "Anyway no crying when there is cake."

      Just at that moment my parents and brother came back into the room wearing Yale shirts, hats, and carrying a cake with the seal on it.