When The Sun Goes Down

Chapter Two

"Stop!" Nina yelled.

"What? Why?" Camila asked.

"It's Benny!"

"We don't have time to stop, you are going to miss your flight!" Kevin said.

"I don't care, stop the car."

"No." Nina watched as Benny approached Vanessa and the others, out of breath. He knew he was too late. Nina felt tears forming in her eyes again. She wouldn't see Benny for another four months, and he could be in love with someone else by then. When the taxi reached the John F. Kennedy Airport, the Rosarios thanked the taxi driver. They lugged the suitcases through the airport doors and into the lobby, where Nina signed in. Outside of security, Kevin and Camila had to say goodbye.

"Goodbye, mi amor." Camila said, kissing the top of Nina's head.
"Goodbye, Nina. We love you." Kevin said, hugging his daughter. "You are gonna change the world someday." He whispered. Nina's eyes widened. As she watched her parents walk away, a wave of sadness washed over her. She couldn't stop thinking about the last thing her father said to her. It was the same thing Benny told her in July, when they were talking about the day Nina would go back to Stanford. Benny had said "if we should drift apart, let me take this moment just to say, that you are gonna change the world someday". That same day, he and Nina had promised that they would think of each other every night at sundown. Nina was already missing him like crazy, and she hadn't even left NYC yet. She dragged herself through security, and had to run through the airport to reach her terminal on time. When she was settled on the plane, she put in her earbuds and opened the music app on her phone. No text messages. She was hoping that Benny would have texted or called to say goodbye. Nina hit play on her favourite album and switched her phone to airplane mode. She decided to open her gallery, but it just made her even sadder. Endless pictures from the summer whizzed by as she scrolled. Her and the girls at the salon a day before it closed down, her with Vanessa and Usnavi at the local club, and her and Benny at the carnaval. She had a thousand pictures of her and Benny; sitting on the fire escape to watch the stars, eating piragua, swimming at the local pool, and taking walks. Reflected in the pictures was her love for Benny. The two looked so happy in all of the photos, but Nina's happiness had disintegrated that morning. She didn't have a single friend at Stanford, and would be living alone in her dorm, so she didn't even have a roommate. The last school year had been incredibly lonely for Nina, but one good thing was that she knew she would never fall in love with a guy from school, since she didn't talk to anyone.

"Where are you headed?" Asked the person sitting next to her, startling her from her thoughts.

Nina paused her music."What?"

"Where are you going?"

"Um, I'm going to Stanford University."

"Me too! What are you studying?"

"Medicine."

The guy looked impressed. "Wow, you're a doctor?"

"Well, I'm training to be one. What about you?"

"Psychology."

"Nice. We're both studying to become a type of doctor."

"What's your name?"

Nina thought that this guy was a little too chatty, but at least she wasn't lonely anymore.

"Nina."

"Nice to meet you, Nina. I'm Oliver." He extended his hand, which Nina shook. While Nina just wanted to get back to her music, Oliver kept talking. It was kind of nice, though, to have someone to talk to. At least this way she would know someone at school, even though there was a slim chance they'd run into each other. Eventually, Oliver decided that he wanted to nap, so Nina got to listen to her music again. When the plane landed in California, Nina woke Oliver up. The two collected their luggage and went their separate ways; Oliver was staying off campus with a relative who was picking him up at the airport, and Nina had to hail a cab to get to school. When Nina got to her dorm, the first thing she did was call her parents. They were happy that she landed safe. Then she called Benny, but he didn't answer, so she called Vanessa and Usnavi. Nina spent the rest of the evening unpacking. Just before she left home, Nina had printed out her favourite pictures of her family and friends and bought picture frames so she could display them. She took the photos and small white frames out of her suitcase and put the pictures in the frames. She had brought five photos: her with Vanessa, Daniela, and Carla on a shopping night; her with her parents; her and Benny when they went to see a movie; the sunset over the city, taken at the top of the fire escape; and a view of Washington Heights, also taken on the fire escape. Nina set the frames up on her clean white desk. She had always been incredibly organized, with nothing on her desk, but photos of home were an exception. When she was finished, she ate dinner alone in the food court. She stared out her dorm room window at around 6:30, waiting for the sunset. As she watched the sun descend into the horizon, she thought of her adorable, hilarious, intelligent, kind Benny, and wondered if he was thinking of her. It occurred to her that the time zone was different than in New York, so technically they wouldn't be looking at the sunset at the same time, but it was still nice to think about.