The Second Time's the Charm

Chapter Eight

Before getting up for the day Justin made love to me. Once we were up, we got ready to head to my parents house. I told Justin he needed to go talk to Sam. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I had come between them. When we got to my parents house, I saw Sam sitting on his front steps, as if he was waiting for us to be there. Justin kissed my cheek and walked over to Sam. I waved at Sam and smiled. He waved back looking sad. I went inside to see my brother. He was at the kitchen island drinking coffee. When he saw me he offered me a cup.

"So what happened with Justin and Sam? Sam came over with a black eye. He looked pretty upset." He said, pouring my coffee.

"I don't want to talk about it. They're both just being idiots. And I couldn't tell you about Sam. He doesn't talk to me anymore." I said taking a sip of my coffee. I needed the caffeine.

"Sam still cares about you, Katie. You know he's always liked you, he's just upset about you and Justin. Can't be mad at him."

"No Alex I didn't know Sam liked me. I must be blind, because I never noticed that he had feelings for me. I don't get why you all have to rag on Justin. He's not the same guy he was two years ago." I said getting defensive.

"Sam should have told you a long time ago. He has no right to be upset with you if you had no idea. No one is ragging on Justin, Katie. We all love that you two are together. He is a completely different person which makes us all happy. I'm glad he takes good care of you. Him and Sam will work things out, they always do. Do you two have big plans before he leaves for basic?" He said, attempting to change the subject.

"Not really. I'm working this summer and he's still training. I want to save up to go to his graduation. I've been hoping that Sam would go with me. But I guess I'll figure it out for myself." Just then Justin walked in with Sam behind him. 

"You two finally fight it out? Are we all done being stupid?" Alex said punching Sam in the arm.

"We're all good now. I'm sorry, Katie. Congratulations on graduating." Sam said. He walked over and gave me a hug. "I really am sorry. I promise to make it up to you." I looked over at Justin and he smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Okay. Where are mom and dad?" I asked Alex.

"They're over talking to Justin's parents. They should be back any minute now."

At the end of every school year my parents planned a big barbecue. This year it was being combined with Justin's parents. They wanted to do a going away party for him. My dad and Justin had been spending lots of time together getting ready for Justin to leave for basic training and his other training. My dad had sat me down explaining how hard it was going to be for Justin, especially in basic training. My mom had been with my dad when he was going through all the training, so he said she could help me through it all. I wasn't worried. I had school to get ready for and I had gotten a job with Justin's mom. She was a lawyer and was always hiring new receptionists. I gladly took the job. I had savings I'd been adding to since I was in middle school. I had always taken small jobs for neighbors and was always getting money for holidays and birthdays. Justin and I had talked a lot about his military plans. Once he was stationed somewhere he wanted me to eventually join him. I'd have to save up to move myself close to him and get an apartment. For now I would focus on working and going to school. In all honesty I tried not to think about Justin leaving. I was going to miss him a lot, but I knew he was doing what he wanted. I promised that I would write him letters everyday and be there for his graduation. Sam was home for the summer and so was Alex, I wasn't going to be entirely alone. Michelle promised to make my summer fun to keep my mind off Justin. 

The barbeque had gone the best that it could have. Michelle and her family came. All mine and Alex's family who lived close came. Justin had all his friends come and his family. People kept asking Justin and I when we planned to get married, which always made me blush. We didn't plan to get married for a while. Now that I was out of high school and on to college, it was expected of us to get married. Sam even stayed for the party. He seemed a lot happier than he had the day before. It made me happy knowing that Sam and Justin had fixed things. Hopefully I could patch things with Sam as well. I hated not being close with him anymore. Justin and I had ended up leaving early. We only had another night in our hotel room. We stayed up late talking.

"I'm happy you and Sam are good now." I had said after we had taken a bath. We were just laying in the bed watching whatever was on the TV.

"I am too. I asked him to keep an eye on you while I'm gone. Alex has his own girlfriend to worry about. Sam cares about you almost as much as I do, so I know that he'll make sure you're taken care of. My parents also plan to take care of you as well. My mom keeps pressuring me to propose to you. Even your dad keeps dropping hints." He said grabbing my hand.

"I just graduated high school. I feel like I'm so young to get engaged. Of course I want to marry you one day. I don't want it to feel rushed and forced though." I told him.

"No, I get it. I want it to be special. We will be married one day. I don't ever want to be with anyone but you. I want us to be married with a family of our own." He rolled onto his stomach so that he could face me.

"You know that I want that too. I at least want to finish college. That way I can get a good job to help provide for our life together." I ran my fingers through his hair.

"Katie, I'll always make sure you are taken care of. I don't want you to ever worry about money or anything. Okay?" He always got upset when I mentioned working and helping out.

"Okay. I want to work though. Especially while you're away. I need to occupy my time and what better way than to make money." Justin had told me many times he was worried about me being sad while he was away. He gave me a key to his house so I could stay there if I wanted. I had spent a lot of time in his house, especially during my senior year. My parents eventually allowed me to spend the night with Justin. He spent some nights at my house too. "Seriously, Justin. You don't need to worry about me. I think that I'll be okay. You'll see at your graduation. You just need to focus on getting through all of your training." I constantly assured him. Deep down though I was terrified that he was going to forget about me. I had to remain strong and composed for him though. He needed to focus on doing well for himself.

Justin's ship off day came faster than I ever expected it to. I had spent the night at his house with him, helping him to pack his bag. I could tell that he was nervous, which was completely normal. My dad had assured him that he was going to do great. I drove Justin to the location he was meeting everyone else shipping out, with his mother. He was allowed to use his phone until they got to the training base which was two days away. From here he was just going through final paper work and traveling. Justin had said goodbye to his mother first. Giving her a big hug and kissing her on the cheek. He kissed me and hugged me, but he said he'd see me later. I hugged him tight and told him again that I'd write to him. His mother and I watched him go into the hotel he was staying at, then she drove me to Michelle's house. I was spending the night with her, we had some planning for college to do. Since we had requested to be roommates, we needed to plan our decor and who was buying what.

When I walked into Michelle's room she had lists spread all over her bed. She also had different color swatches. Seeing me she ran over and pulled me into a huge hug. I hugged her back, after leaving Justin I felt fine. I mainly felt numb, like it hadn't hit me yet that I wouldn't see him for two months. He had texted me letting me know he was okay and he'd keep me updated as long as he could.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked, pulling away from the hug and looking at me.

"Michelle, I'm fine. There's no need to worry. It's two months, then I'll be able to see him. For now we have things that we need to do. By the way you do realize we can't paint our dorm room." I said moving aside some paint swatches to sit on her bed. I laid back and put my hands over my head, reminding myself to breath.

"I know, I'm just getting ideas for colors in the room. I'm really digging this mint green and gray scheme honestly. I just can't commit to one scheme right now. There is so much that could change by the end of the summer." She had no idea how much was going to change by the end of that summer. Or even by the end of the year.

"Then let's just have a normal night in. We can worry about all this towards the end of the summer. I'm in the mood for some cheesy chick flicks." I said, starting to move all the stuff off her bed. I was meeting Sam the next day to hang out.

"Good idea. I've recently gotten my period and have had the worst craving for some ice cream and popcorn." She said, putting all the stuff from her bed on her desk. Mentioning her period made me think about mine. I suddenly realized I hadn't gotten it at all since my graduation. When I looked at my calendar on my phone, it had only been a week late. I shrugged to myself, I had been extra stressed this past month. I'll give it another week, it will come. Michelle and I had watched multiple movies that night while eating our weights combined in ice cream and popcorn.