One Last Look

10

Ben was staring at the paper in his hand.
His eyes wide and mouth agape, he could barely believe what he was seeing.

Burkham studios had sent him a letter, stating that they wanted to promote him to the main artist in charge at their studio in Colorado.
They had just lost theirs, and they wanted Ben to replace her.

He was dumbfounded.

He sat down, elbows resting on his knees. His face contorted as he tried to sort out the messy rampage of thoughts in his head.
This was a huge step.
A small smile settled on his face as he thought of how amazing for his dream art career this was, and of his love of traveling, and how he'd even be closer to his parents, who he rarely got to see because of the distance.

But...what about El?

His smile vanished.

Moving to Colorado means moving away from her...unless she came with him.
But, he could never ask her to do that. To uproot her life and drop everyone and everything she cared about to go to a place where she'd have no job, no family, and no friends.
It wasn't fair to her.

But...he couldn't leave her.

How could he let go of the one thing he loved most in the world?
The one person who was always there.
The one who understood.
The reason for his smile.
His everything.

His eyes betrayed his despair.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks.
He was in too much pain to notice or even care.

A long distance relationship could work, he reasoned. But after being with her for so long, he knew he would miss her presence, her soft way of making everything seem lighter, and more comfortable.

He was scared.
His breathing had increased rapidly until now he could barely get any air.
He needed to calm down.
Painstakingly, he attempted to slow down his breathing and take deeper breaths.

"I need to focus on something calming." He thought.

He closed his eyes.

Immediately an image flashed across his mind.
His first day at the coffee shop.
He could practically smell the coffee steaming, the customers bustling, and the cash register dinging, as he relived that moment.

The moment he met El.