Jewel

Chapter 18

*18 years old, summer*

"Is this the last of it?" Blake asks as he helps me lug the boxes of my things into the U-Haul truck. Today I'm leaving for California instead of Savanna. Ursula tried her best to have Savanna model for Elite Photography. She sent Savanna on private interviews and had special sample modeling sessions. She even flew Sam out here again to see Savanna compete in the Miss Teen USA pageant, but he kept politely refusing to let Savanna be his model. I found it hilarious how much Ursula hated me for this.

It's the middle of summer and I don't exactly have a place to stay yet, but Sam wanted me to come as soon as possible. I wanted to have at least half of the summer to myself before I won't see Blake anymore. I'm going to California and he's going to Washington. This is the farthest away we've ever been from each other and I'm going to miss my best friend like crazy.

"Uhh, I think so." He drops the box on top of the other and we step back and look at the truck full of my boxes. I rest my hands on my lower back and take a deep breath. This is really happening.

Blake wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me to his chest. He places a soft kiss on my forehead and I let my arms find their way around his waist. "It's sure going to be different around here without my Mere."

"Stop." I beg. I can feel tears start pricking in my eyes. I pick my head up from his chest and look up at him. I don't say anything, I just press my lips to his. He tightens his arms around me and moves one hand to my cheek. After a little bit, I pull away and rest my forehead on his. "I love you so much, Blake Todd."

"I love you so much more, Meredith Cotton."

We hug for a little bit longer before sniffle and step back. "We should go."

"Okay." He forces a smile and takes my hand as we walk to the front of the truck. My bike is hitched to the back of the U-Haul truck and the little bit of belonging I do have are packed and ready to go. I can't believe I'm finally getting out of this place. I'm never coming back. I don't have anybody to visit here anymore because Blake will be in Washington; I'll just go there.

We start on our long journey down to L.A. It'll take us two days. He's dropping me off, then bringing the truck back up to Oregon and I feel awful that he will have to drive for two days by himself on the way back. I start work in a couple of days.

We take turns driving, and I nap a lot on my off turns. Ursula didn't even say goodbye to me, which I don't mind really. I'm sure she would have even thrown me a going away party if she could bother to pay the littlest attention to me to know when I was leaving.

We stay the night in a little hotel in northern California and try to enjoy the last bit of time as much as possible with each other while we still can. We are going to try to make this long distance relationship thing work, but I already warned him that I'm not very fond of the idea. It's not that I don't trust him, or that I would do anything, but being so far away from each other for so long is just not a good idea at all. I think it's kind of pointless to be dating if you can't go on dates, but we'll see how this works.

The second day of driving is pretty depressing actually. I wanted to leave Portland so bad, but I didn't want to have to leave Blake. I'm going to be so lost without him. The realization of our separation is becoming more real the closer we get to L.A. and it makes me sad.

When we finally make it to L.A. it is mid afternoon and I am supposed to check in with Sam at Elite Photography and he is going to set me up with somebody to stay with before the academic year starts. We park the U-Haul truck in the parking lot and head inside. Blake holds my hand for extra assurance and I give it a light squeeze to say thanks.