The End Is Only the Beginning

15. One Step Forward...

15. One Step Forward...

"What's going to happen when the summer ends?"

Aaron and I were both in my truck, on our way to his cousin's house to drop him off after another day spent together at the beach.

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked.

I exhaled slowly. "Aren't you going to miss me when you go back to New York?" Silence. "I know that I'm going to miss you."

Aaron's hand rested on my thigh, squeezing softly, but my eyes remained on the road. "Of course, I'm going to miss you," he said, like he was speaking through gritted teeth. "But we have a few more weeks together before we even have to think about that."

"But what's actually going to happen?"

His hand tightened on my thigh briefly before Aaron moved it away. "I guess we'll move on," he decided, "eventually."

"Fuck." I felt sadness rush over me as silence filled the car once more.

Aaron's hand rested on my own this time, our fingers intertwined. "It's going to be fine. We're going to be fine. You're going to meet someone wonderful, and you're going to move on. Sure, you might think about me every now and again, just like I'm going to think about you every single day for the next year," Aaron spoke. "But we are both going to be fine."

He pulled my hand up to his lips and they grazed my knuckles. "Promise me you'll try to move on?"

I could feel his eyes on me.

"I promise," I replied, unsure if I was telling the truth.

--

After a restless night, I awoke on Saturday morning with the thoughts of Aaron and the events of last night in my head. There was also a text from Eli on my phone, it simply read: 'Is tomorrow to early? We could go for an early jog, followed by breakfast. My treat.'

I replied with a simple: 'That sounds great!'

            Which was why I was awake- and ready for the day- at the ungodly hour of six o'clock in the morning.

Dressed in gym shorts and a plain t-shirt, I made my way into the kitchen.

"How come you're up so early?" My mom was sat at the counter, nursing a cup of coffee while idly stirring a bowl of oatmeal in front of her.

I grabbed a glass from the drying rack, and a banana from the fruit bowl. "I have plans," I announced, grinning at the look of interest on my mom's face; yes, my family were a nosy bunch, and yes, I kind of enjoyed it. "I'm going out with a guy from my track team."

"At six in the morning?"

"He wants to go for an early morning jog," I answered.

"In the rain?"

I hadn't even noticed the gloomy weather, but it was only raining lightly so it probably didn't require our jog to be called off entirely. "Maybe it'll give me a new lease of life," I spoke dramatically, pouring a good amount of orange juice into my glass.

Mom grinned at me. "I still don't understand why you need to go on this jog at six though?"

"Because Eli said he's going to take me out for breakfast afterwards," I continued, and my mom pulled a face which looked like I had said something completely scandalous. "How come you're up so early anyway?" I questioned, biting my banana after drinking some juice.