Kind Hearted (Patrick Kane)

34- Moving Up

Patrick

"It has been done" Tori announces as she comes into the apartment before closing the door behind her. I had been hanging out with her dad on the couch/her bed as we watch some episodes of Jersey Shore. We weren't allowed to watch it when Tori was around but her dad quite enjoyed it. Even though he didn't need me over any more he still liked the company, and honestly do did I.

"What's been done" I wonder as she heads straight to the kitchen like always.

"I turned in my two weeks at the restaurant this afternoon" she says and her dad and I both kind of freeze.

"Seriously" her Dad asks. I mean she's been fighting him on this for as long as I can remember.

"Yeah. I realized that my holding on to that part of my life was keeping me from moving forward to a better future. I didn't want to get rid of that job because it was so important to me. It was something that I knew would always be there for me when I needed it. It's where I started my life in this city and it was hard for me to say goodbye.

But I want to move on. I want to keep moving forward in life, and that means that I have to say goodbye to my friends and the people I've come to love and trust. I have to let go to be able to go anywhere than isn't backwards. It's something I needed to do" she explains.

"I feel like I just witnessed a breakup. My heart hurts" I say grabbing my chest and Tori giggles.

"Don't feel bad. I also told the landlord that we weren't renewing the lease" she says and my eyes go big.

"I'm sorry, what" I ask and she giggles.

"I got on the laptop at work and sent a email to the landlord. I told him that we will not renew the lease then I turned in my two weeks. It was a very exciting five minutes of my life" she explains.

"So you're moving in with me" I ask.

"I sure hope so. I don't think I can move into another place with my dad" she whispers loud enough for him to hear.

"Hey now. I don't smell that bad" Andy scoffs and I laugh.

"Oh you know I'm gonna miss you like crazy" she smiles.

"You can't get rid of me. Even if I die I'll still haunt your dreams" Andy claims.

"Great. We all win" she laughs.

She gets settled in for the night and her dad goes to bed a bit early. Even though he's better now his medication still makes him tired and he doesn't like falling asleep on us when we're watching movies, even though we both know it's not his fault.

"I'm honesty really surprised you did what you did" I insist. "I've never heard you say no before and you just said it twice today."

"It wasn't easy" she admits. "But it needed to be done."

"I hope you didn't do this just for me" I insist. I would hate for her to feel like she had to ever do anything because of me. I didn't want who I was to change anything.

"I did it for us" she claims. "Everyone once in a while I look at myself in the mirror and ask one simple question. I ask myself what I would do right now if I could do anything. If there would be no consequences and no "buts" or restrictions. I look myself in the eyes and say, if I could have anything in this world right now what would it be?

Then I realized that if I could do anything right now, and I mean anything, I would just run away with you. I would run away and never look back. And since I couldn't do that, I figured I would do the next best thing and that was to assure myself that I could still be with you. That I could always be with you. And that is what I did" she explains.

"I still feel kind of bad" I sigh.

"Think of it this way... have you been to a funeral before" she asks.

"Ummm yeah. But not recently" I answer a little cautiously. Not really sure where she's going with this.

"Who was it for" she wonders.

"My grandmother" I tell her.

"Was there ever a point that when you were sitting there you wished she was alive so you could do something with her? So you could show her something or tell her something one more time" she questions.

"Yeah. All of that stuff really" I admit.

"Well I hate having that feeling. I don't want the day to die on me and not take advantage of what is given me. I don't want to look back to yesterday and play twenty questions. I don't want to let these moments pass me by and me not do anything with them. Like your grandma, I'm never getting that day back. And I don't want to spend the rest of my days looking back and asking god for a chance to do it over again. But all I can do now is move forward. And I am" she explains.

"What's it like being a actual genius" I ask and she giggles.

"I'm not a genius" she claims.

"You are. You are by far the smartest person I know and you prove it to me every day" I insist.

"I just... I don't want to mess this all up. I know that out of everything to ever happen to me, you're the best thing. And I'm not afraid to admit that I'm scared. Everything is so new and exciting and scary. I'm happy to be doing these things but I'm giving up everything I know to chase after everything I could possibly be with you" she explains.

"It's okay if you're scared. But I'm not going to let you fall" I promise.

"I know you want promise me these things. But a lot of these things are out of our hands" she insists.

"And we can't worry about that stuff. Just worry about what we can control. Like the fact that you are well on your way to having a new bunk mate" I smile.

"Yeah. That is pretty exciting. I just got to figure out where to keep my dad" she explains.

"What about the apartment complexes across the street? It's well within walking distance and even has a nice little place for him to read the newspaper in the morning with a killer view of the city" I explain.

"That sounds great" she smiles.

"Are you sure you're okay with all of this" I wonder. I don't want her doing anything she'll regret.

"Yes. I'm a hundred percent sure. We're going to live a great life together. Create amazing memories and take this city by it's horns" she insists and I smile.

"Sounds good to me."