Away

Part One

September.

Jorge

"Are you excited?" Benji's voice rings through the phone attached with a small picture of him, slightly out of sync with the audio.

It's been really hard having him so far away. Although it's only been a few weeks, I miss him so much it hurts. Not being able to touch him, feel him, kiss him has been nothing but painful.

He's doing so well in America, though. He's made a lot of friends, most of them being on the football team, and has been doing great in his classes. He even had his first game yesterday. They won, but Benji was only in for two plays because it was his first game and he's a freshman.

I hated not getting to watch him. Cheer for him. With the time difference, I even got up at four in the morning to talk to him on the phone so he could tell me all about it.

Usually, when I'm getting up and ready for the day, Benji's getting ready for bed. We text as much as we can, but not enough to fill the gap in my chest. And since we're both in school, we've decided to only FaceTime once a week, on Sunday mornings (for me, for him it's Saturday night). I get up early to talk to him and he stays up late. We talk on the phone for hours, but I'm always left wanting more.

Maybe it's selfish of me to be so sad that he's gone. I was the one that told him to go, after all. I'm glad he did, and I'm beyond happy that he's enjoying himself. I just wish we were together again.

"I'm mostly nervous," I give Benji a small smile. Today, I move into my dorm. I decided to go to the local college so I could be close to home, I'm not ready to give everything up just yet. "What if I don't get along with my roommate?"

"He'll love you. It's hard not to," I feel my cheeks get hot at his words. God, I miss him. "But I still don't understand why you didn't just pick Drew to be your roommate."

"Drew has other friends, probably some he'd rather share a room with," I laugh. Drew and Olivia are going to the same college as me. I wish I could just share a room with Olivia, but it's against the school rules.

"Baby, you guys are friends now," Benji rolls his eyes at me, making me giggle. "We spent so much time together over the summer that you got closer to Drew than I even am."

He's right. Drew, Olivia, Benji and I did everything together over the summer. We all got super close, and I still hangout with Olivia and Drew, but it wasn't the same without Benji. Plus, being around a happy couple reminded me how far away Benji is.

"Well, it's too late now," I shrug my shoulders. Benji gives me a wide grin.

"What's your roommates name again?"

"Camron, I think," I yawn, looking at the clock on my nightstand. It's a little past ten in the morning. We've been talking for over four hours now.

"He even sounds nice," Benji says.

"You can't tell if someone's nice or not by their name," I laugh. I hope Benji's right, though.

"True," Benji smiles at me. He stays silent for a second and gives me a look that I know all too well. My heart hurts, knowing what he's about to say. "Baby, I need to go to bed. It's midnight, and I have to be up early for practice tomorrow."

"Okay," I give him my best fake smile.

"I love you," Benji says with a small smile.

"I love you, too," I look at my lap when my voice cracks.

"And I miss you, so much," Benji sighs. "Text me all day and tell me how it goes, okay?"

"Sure," I spend a good portion of my day texting Benji, even if he doesn't respond because he's sleeping. I tell him everything, from what I'm doing, to the conversation I had with my mom. He always reads them and texts back when he's awake, doing the same thing throughout his day. It's nice to wake up to, almost like I got to live the day with him.

"I love you."

"I love you," I let out a loud sigh when he hangs up. I lay back on my bed, staring at the small, black screen of my phone, hoping he'll pop back up.

I lay in bed for a while longer, holding onto the teddy bear Benji got me before he left. I close my eyes and try to imagine it's him, until I get frustrated that it's not and get out of bed.

I go around my room, double and triple checking that I have everything I need for today. It's only across town, but I want to make sure I have all of my stuff for college.

Once I'm sure I have all my things, I take box after box downstairs. They fill my moms car to the brim.

"Are you ready?" My mom smiles at me, sliding the last box into the backseat. I nod my head and smile, taking out my phone to text Benji and tell him that all my things are packed and that I'm on my way to my dorm. I take a picture with my mom and the car behind us and send it to him.

My room is empty when we get there, so my mom helps me unpack and set up my room. It's small, only big enough to fit a bed and a dresser on each side of the room. There's a small desk on the wall in between the beds, separating the room slightly.

When my mom leaves, I sit on the bed, texting Benji to tell him about my room. I put my clothes in the dresser and make my bed, trying to distract myself from the anxiety that's growing every second that goes by. I'm scared that my roommate and I won't get along, or that he'll hate me, or something.

A few hours go by, before the door opens and I'm greeted by a tall boy with blonde hair carrying a box. I feel like I know him, but I can't figure out where.

He smiles at me. I know that smile. He's the boy that asked for my phone number when Benji and I were broken up.

"Hey."