Atlas

Two

Grace

"I THINK I LOVE YOU." Dimia screamed. "NO DON'T LEAVE ME."

Reece and I looked at each other and tried to hide a laugh.

"Always so overdramatic." Reece walked up to her and kissed her cheek. "Overdramatic, haha, get it?"

Dimia rolled her eyes. "You're so lame." 

I watched the two love birds argue as I sat on the stage with my feet dangling over the edge. 

Dimia had just performed a solo for us as practice, and I had never seen my best friend so happy as she was after a performance. 

"That's why you love me." Reece chuckled. 

Dimia rolled her eyes. 

"I have to go meet my roomate, it's almost 5. I'll see you girls later." He gave Dimia and kiss and ruffled my hair. 

"Bye."

Once Reece had gone, I joined Dimia on the floor, cross-legged. We were at a hall where the show was being produced, and we had stayed here for so long that Dimia and I were the only ones left.

"I hate this." She whined. "I miss home."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you, really?"

"Yeah, I mean no." she scratched her head. "I love theatre. And I'm so glad we got this opportunity - all three of at the same university, but I miss home."

"I know." I smiled. "You... being here... it means a lot."

"I love you two."

"We love you too." I leaned in and gave her a hug. Chuckling, I messed up her perfectly curled hair.

A few months ago, my childhood friend Reece and I had decided after high school, we were going to make something of our lives. We both loved science, and he loved medicine even more. Senior year, the both of us spent months trying to figure out where we would study.

We grew up in Seattle together. I met both Reece in primary school and Dimia in middle school, and we were inseparable ever since.

The problem came later. I knew I wanted to study near Yorkshire, where my mom had grown up. The only problem was – that was in another country, thousands of miles away from where I had grown up.

My mom was supportive, dad wasn't. "You like the idea, Grace. You won't stand a week." But my mom had convinced him and when Reece's grades came out, it was clear his parents wouldn't let him study anywhere near Seattle.

At that point, Reece had pretty much made up his mind to come study with me, and we both applied to a university a few hundred miles from Yorkshire. Reece got into the medical program, and I chose public health. Reece had also got into unversities in Leeds and Oxford, but his final decision was to come with us. 

That left Dimia, who had a budding opportunity in Gilmore. But nope. "I WANNA GO WHERE REECE AND GRACE ARE GOING!"

"But darling, the program here is just as good."

"No, that one's better."

"And you're sure you'll get in?"

"I can try."

She got in. A few months later, we were all packing our bags. Reece's dad and my mom came with us to help us settle in, but things weren't as hard as they had told us they'd be.

"Babe, aren't you moving to that new place today?" Dimia cut me out of my thoughts.

I sighed. "Can't wait." We'd only been in this country three weeks, and my first choice of apartment clearly hadn't been the best. There was mold growing everywhere. It had taken me three real estate estate agencies to find a new place.