Between Ties

26. Jack and Rose

Rhyett's Point of View

I wasn't sure of what was worse...
The fact that today marks exactly twenty-one days since I had last seen Maverick, or the fact that I was driving and I had no clue of where I was going,

I don't know why I pondered that question when my heart screamed for him, I miss him.

I swallowed as I gripped the steering wheel of my car letting the road guide me out of town away from the city, the noise, my apartment and everything that I knew. It wasn't a happy place anymore and I had to get away even if it was just for a day.

His playlist switched to the next song that drifted in the air of my car, I still had his phone and I always find myself listening to his music, it makes me feel close to him in some way,

I was pathetic, but I was trying to cope.

This playlist he had titled "Purple Sky", I think it's my favorite one out of the seven playlists he had created. It's music was calm, drifty and romantic...very not him,

Or so I thought until "Purple Sky".

Ive been driving for 30 minutes now, I had just come home from school feeling another day of emptiness without him. After I had cried for about two hours, I gathered myself and just decided that it was time to leave, get out...

Get away, just for a while.

I glanced at the passenger seat of my car and noticed that my phone had lit up. It was a voice message from Blair.

I quickly picked up my phone that had rested on the hard copy of Maverick's empty application form for NYU. Tus had given it to me, he said he found it in one of Maverick's draws.

It's silly, but I'm going to fill it out for him. I guess I still had hope that wherever he was that he still wanted to go to NYU. I don't know, maybe I was hoping that he'd come back too if I somehow did this. I'm stupid,

But I love him.

I quickly tapped a few times onto the screen of my cellphone, holing one hand on the steering wheel and then lowered the volume of the music so I could hear Blair's message.

"Hey Rhy! I went by your apartment and noticed that you weren't home. I hope everything's okay, and I hope you're still coming to dinner with Tus and I...I think Kenzo, Addi and baby Vinnie are joining too...Anyway, Rhy...I need to tell you something." She paused for a second as my heart speed up as little but I didn't take my eyes off the road. "The landlord came by our apartment today, because we requested his banking information to pay rent and...and, he said that Maverick transferred money into his account, two years worth of rent. He's extending the lease and Tus and I don't owe the landlord a cent for two years, if I don't find a place to say and even stay here that long..." She paused to breathe as she was completely still shocked telling me this "I don't know, no one hears a word from him and he does this...it's weird. But hey....I'll give call you later Tus and I need to go grocery shopping, I hope to see you tonight. We miss you."

It ended as I just stared straight head feeling a lump in my throat as I corrected my breathing, I could hear my heart pounding and cracking in my head as I tried to calm my heartbreak.

Two years? Does that mean his planning to be gone for two years.

Why isn't he trying to reach me. Was I not worth it anymore?

I shook my head as I raised the volume of his music trying to not make myself think about the answer of that question.

I just need to keep driving.

Yeah, drive.

Drivings good, I nodded my head as I zoomed passed a giant billboard that read "Welcome to Harton Point"