Until We Meet Again

24

Alex's POV

"Yeah mom, I understand, trust me I've got everything." I say into the phone for the millionth time.

"Are you sure, because the drive to California is too long to bring you stuff that you forgot?"

I look around my dorm room just for the heck of it. "Everything is here, mom."

I can tell she's wanting to ask again but stops herself.

"Don't worry mom, I'll visit as soon as I can," I reassure her.

"Why did you have to choose the farthest place to go to school?"

"Because mom."

"Is it because he's there?"

My heart clenches at her bringing him up. Ethan, the love of my life, did the unspeakable three years ago. He cheated on me and led me to believe he actually still loved me for days.

"No," I tell her even though I was lying.

I applied to school here but never thought that I would get accepted. I had forgotten about it as I had forgotten about Ethan. My acceptance letter came into the mail two years after he admitted to cheating. A part of me warned me not to come here, but another part wanted to know how he was doing. Of course, I listened to my heart instead of my head and moved to California to either find Ethan or go to school. I don't know which one yet.

"You know he shouldn't be the only reason you went to school there," I could sense that she didn't mean anything by it but it still hurt.

"I'll talk to you later." I tell her, hanging up the phone. She's probably going to chew me out later for it but the longer I stayed on there the more she was going to interrogate me.

I lay my phone down on the table beside me. A few things like my bed and the table were provided by the university, other things I had to shove in my car and hope things didn't break. I looked over at the mess I still had to clean up and the photos that needed to be put up. This would have been easier if I had my parents with me.

Just as I'm about to start putting things away in the closet, a knock sounds at the door. I open it to find a short boy with glasses looking up at me. His blue eyes remind me of Ethan's and I look away, clenching my teeth.

"H...h...hey s..s..sorry to interrupt," he has a slight stutter when he speaks.

I can see that he's not very social. I avoid his eyes as I look at the crate of stuff he's shifting from arm to arm. Stepping back from the door, I watch as he slowly enters the room and about drops the crate on the floor. I hold back a laugh, shutting the door behind him.

"What's your name?" I ask, taking a seat on my bed in the only clean spot available.

He glances at me in the corner of his eye and then jerks his attention back to his crate of stuff. His black hair falls over his left eye a little, creating the sense of mystery on his face.

"Austin," I can barely hear him mutter.

"So Austin, where you from?" I pick up a picture frame containing my parents and put it on the table.

"I live on the other side of town," he replies.

I nod my head. So he's a California kid, I look him over again and realize nothing about him screams Cali.

"I'm from Connecticut," he answers my unspoken question.

"I see."

"So what about you?" I can tell he's getting more comfortable with me.

I place another photo of my parents on the table. "I live a long ways from here," is all I tell him.

"So, what made you come here?" He turns around and looks me in the eye.

I shrug my shoulders, "it's Cali so why not?"

I can sense that he doesn't believe my didn't care attitude but he doesn't push it. I start to appreciate him more, maybe I got it good with this one.

"Here you need help?" I ask him, taking the picture from him.

He looks at me and then at the photo. I look down at it, taking in the smiling faces. The other boy in the photo has his arms wrapped around Austin. I look back up at him, seeing that his eyes had went wide and a shade of pink covered his cheeks now. I set the photo down on his table, acting like I didn't care because I didn't.

I can see him relax in the corner of my eye. So, my roommate is gay, who would have thought.