Weathered Love

LEAH

The next day, during lunch, I had just sat down to the lunch table and, noticing that everyone was there, I said, as quickly and painlessly as I could, "So, Derek and I broke up."

And, surprisingly, saying it didn't make me want to break down in tears. It still made me sad, but I could say it without my voice cracking, and without feeling a deep and dreadful sense of loneliness.

"I'm so sorry!" Karen said, giving me a hug. "Is that why you didn't want to go out?" she asked, realization suddenly dawning on her. I nodded.

"Sorry about that," Caleb mumbled, looking guilty. I noticed Ivan shoot him a death glare from the corner of his eye and I had to give him a warning look. He shrugged and returned to his food.

"Well that sucks, he was a nice guy. Unless he wasn't a nice guy in which case I'm glad he's out of your life," Jenna said, going from piteous to rage in a split second.

I laughed at her sudden mood change. "No, he was a nice guy," I assured her. "We just realized we wanted different things and it wouldn't make sense to stay with each other."

My phone beeped and I glanced at the screen to see who messaged me and had to do a double take. I quickly picked up my phone and read the message more thoroughly. I squealed.

"What's up?" Ivan asked.

"Leah finally answered my message!" I said, overjoyed.

"What's going on with her?" Jenna asked. "I haven't heard from her in, like, forever."

"She said they don't celebrate Valentine's Day over there," I answered, looking up. "She's responding to a Valentine's Day message I sent her in February," I explained in response to their confused expressions. "And that she misses us, and that she's actually sending us a gift but it's going to take a while to get here, but that it might get here by the time I read this message."

I was confused by the last part, but I figured since she was in a remote place, maybe mailing things to us wasn't as fast as it was in the USA. I finished my meal and then headed to my locker early so I could put my phone away and get my other textbooks. I had to pass through the front hall to get to the stairs closest to my locker.

As I was walking through, I bumped into someone with oddly familiar, frizzy hair. When I managed to get my bearings and see who I bumped into, my jaw dropped. "No way!" I said, giving Leah a long and tight hug.

"Is this the surprise you were referring to in your message?" I asked.

Leah nodded, smiling. She was a lot darker than when she left, no doubt from doing mission work outdoors. Her hair was even frizzier, but still somehow tame, and the rest of her looked the same. Not that I was expecting a drastic change in her, but I was still happy to see she was basically the same Leah as when we left.

"Tell me about everything!" I enthusiastically demanded. "You didn't say much in your messages. I assume you didn't have much time or computer access but still, you gave me virtually nothing and I need to know what happened while you were gone! Wait, why are you back, is everything OK?" I asked, suddenly realizing she was supposed to be gone for good.

Leah's smile got a little sadder. "Everything will be OK, my dad got sick while we were there and medicine isn't quite as advanced there, so his best chances were to come back home," she replied.

I gave her another long and tight hug, this time in an attempt to take away some of her hurt. "I'm so sorry hun," I said. "Can I do anything? Help you out? Wave a magic wand and take away his illness?" I joked. She snorted, which eased some of the tension.

"Thanks," she said. "You could tell me about anything that's new here and help me take my mind off the fact that I had to come back prematurely."

I nodded, linked arms with her, and walked with her up the stairs. I told her about Caleb and Karen (I left out that I had a thing for him), about my new personal record in track, and even told her a little bit about Derek.