18 Going On 30 || h.s. au

five

THREE YEARS LATER
UNIVERSITY GRADUATION
SPRING

New friends, new opportunities, new cities, new studies, the list goes on for what going to university brings a student. Their eager minds are fed with a new way of life as they begin the next chapter of their lives away from home. Some go into it with a skip in their step, others with hesitation as the new normal brings them worry.

In order to accept all of the new, one has to let go of the old. High school is now in the past, their childhood bedrooms are no longer the place they go home to every night. Old jobs where the afternoon shift is on the schedule are a thing of the past. Sometimes, even, best friends become old friends. Physical distance turns into real distance, as friends slowly but surely drift apart until they're mere acquaintances.

Priorities change, and sometimes you can't help the inevitable.

This was the case for Maddie and Harry.

When they first found out that they would be on opposite ends of the UK for university, they swore to each other that distance would mean nothing. They were best friends, they were like peanut butter and jelly, their bond was strong enough to survive the miles.

They spent every minute of their last summer together. They both got jobs at Honey's, always taking shifts together. They went on vacations with their friends and families together, and a day never went by when they didn't sit at the pond together.

Maddie left first. She said goodbye to Holmes Chapel and headed off to the University of Edinburgh almost two weeks before Harry left for the University of Brighton.

Their families threw a going away party for her, they were all so happy for her and the next chapter of her life. But she could only keep up the cheery facade for so long, because later that night she silently cried on Harry's shoulder at the pond. Holmes Chapel was all she had ever known, and she was scared for the unknown.

When Harry waved goodbye as her car drove away, silent tears fell down his cheeks too. It was killing him, letting her slip through his fingers like that. He had regrets. He regretted not telling her the truth. His truth. He regretted committing to a school so far away from her, because how the hell was he going to survive without her?

Two weeks later he arrived at Brighton. He wasn't as sad then, because he and Lainey had talked non-stop since she left. He's heard all about how beautiful the campus is, how much she loves her roommate, and how terrible the food in the dining hall is.

He walked throughout campus with a skip in his step on the first day of classes. He still has Lainey, how could he ever think he would lose her? The two had a magnet between them that pulled them back together every time.

The first few months were wonderful. Both enjoyed their studies so much. They were both making so many new friends, too. Maddie would see pictures on social media with Harry in them that made her laugh at how drunk he seemed to be.

Living near the beach also certainly worked in Harry's favor, Maddie also thought. He got tan. His hair took on a new style and it looked like he started to work out, too, because his black t-shirt now fit tight around his biceps.

All of the pictures where he was surrounded by girls certainly put a pit in her stomach. Thoughts of him forgetting about her plagued her mind constantly, but the only thing that comforted her was knowing that he's known her so much longer.

It all started when Maddie didn't come home for summer after their first year. She got a summer internship, and it was too immense of an opportunity to pass up, so she stayed in Edinburgh. She was so busy that she barely had any free time, but she loved it. She was getting hands on experience for her degree and was so caught up in all of it that she would forget to catch up with Harry most days.