Grey Skies

Chapter 29

This is the end of Davis and Iris ): Thank you guys for all your support- I really love these characters with all my heart so it's a little hard to let them go. Enjoy!

Posted the chapter to my new story called At All Costs- check it out (:

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I met Beth at Annie's for coffee. Her short hair was growing out and stopped halfway past her ear. She had on a knitted headband to keep her face warm. Despite the fact that it was March and most of the snow was melting away, the cold was brutal. Beth runs her hands up and down her coffee cup.

I take a sip of my tea and lean back in my chair. It was only 9 am on a Sunday and Annie's wasn't too busy yet. Most of her business came later in the afternoon. Beth sits forward and picks at her chocolate chip muffin.

"So, how has everything been going for you?" she asks.

"Good," I say. The last couple of months have been good to me. I applied for the nursing program at the school and was accepted, so I was going to be starting that next semester. Sarah accepted a master's program for next semester at a school two hours away. We promised we would visit each other every weekend or every other weekend depending on our schedules and workload. I was just happy to finally have her closer to me.

I haven't spoken to Davis since that one night. I woke up the next morning, naked and with the worst hangover in my life. Flashes of the night before came to me slowly, me embarrassing myself in front of that woman, me yelling at Davis for being with someone else, me puking in his bathroom, and me standing naked in front of him. I nearly stood up and ran out of the room without getting dressed, but his arm was wrapped around me and I let it stay there until he woke up half an hour later. After we got dressed, he made us breakfast, and then we said goodbye. It has been two months and I feel better about him too. Despite how embarrassing that night was, it did help me come to terms with it being over.

"How about you?" I ask. "Are you exciting for the upcoming season?"

"Oh, I'm not playing next season."

"You're not!"

"I have to take six classes and there's just not enough time to do all of that and play on the team."

I take a sip of my tea. Beth is a lot like me, so I expected her to be upset with the fact that she wasn't playing anymore, but she was oddly calm, even relaxed.

"You're okay with that?" I ask.

"I love playing soccer, but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. At some point, it needed to end."

I nod, looking out of the window. The street was nearly empty except for the occasional car passing by. If Beth had said this to me a couple of months ago, I would have called her crazy. I would have dragged her to the field myself and forced her to shoot a ball around until she understood that soccer wasn't something that just ended. I still don't agree with her that it needs to end, but I do understand that it isn't the most important thing in the world. I wish I had understood this when I had injured my ankle on that field, or maybe even the first time I ever injured it. Then again, if I didn't feel this loss I wouldn't feel as secure as I do right now. I would have just lived a life without soccer at all, and now I I had my life, my priorities, and soccer was still there. I had all of my memories and I still was able to watch the sport and feel that same thrill as if I was playing myself.

Beth and I decide to head back to the school. She had class and I wanted to meet with a counselor to finalize my schedule for next semester. After my meeting, I stop by the library to print out a couple of readings and run into Austin in the student center.