• Mae •
This was not the night that Mae thought she would have when she got off the train with Chris. She was feeling good about where her life had gone, she had a pretty good home life, or two home lives she supposed, and now she had a new friend to share the lonely train rides with.
When she first walked into her dads home, the one that she had lived in full time for the first few years of her life before her parents divorce, she could tell that the energy was off. Something about the home felt empty, and she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She knew for a fact that her dad was home, as well as his girlfriend, Amanda, as she had seen her car parked in the driveway.
Hushed voices began to emerge as she made her way through the house toward the staircase that would take her to her room. The voices seemed to be coming from the kitchen, but they were so quiet that Mae could only make out a few words.
Move. Lowell. Maisie. Closer.
With absolutely no clue what they could be talking about, and a feeling of dread beginning to settle in her stomach, Mae pushed away the urge to get closer and eavesdrop and instead moved toward the stairs once again.
They creaked under her weight when she got to the third stair. While she wasn't trying to be sneaky, she silently chastised herself for interrupting the conversation happening in the next room.
"Maisie? Is that you?" Her father called out, he was the only one that she allowed to call her by her full name, it just didn't feel right coming from other people.
"Yeah, I just walked in. I'm setting my stuff down and then I'll come to dinner."
She heard a hum of acknowledgment and continued up the stairs, walking slower than normal as she wanted to delay the inevitable conversation that she was about to have.
Dumping her bag onto the bed, and flopping down next to it in an attempt to calm her growing nerves. She couldn't think of what in the world they could have been talking about, but she knew that it involved her in some way.
The air was a little tense when she finally entered the kitchen, but not in an angry way, which she very much appreciated. She did not want to have to endure a talk about how her father and Amanda had decided to go their separate ways. She loved her mother to death, but over the past few years, her dads girlfriend had become like a second mom to her. The air was instead, filled with uncertainty and a touch of excitement.
"Mae, we have some news for you, and we would like to ask for your opinion on something." Amanda spoke up when she sat down at the kitchen islands along side her.
"Honey, Amanda and I are getting married." Her father beamed when he told her, and it was possibly the best news that she could have received.
She hugged them both and gave them her congratulations, asking about timelines and plans for where they would live as they didn't live together yet. That's when the air changed.
"We have discussed the possibility of moving into Amanda's home. Back in Lowell. But we wanted to talk with you about it first." Her initial reaction was one of pure happiness, she could see her father and Amanda more often if they moved closer to her, and she could save a bunch of time and money without having to take the train between houses.
The train. Chris.
If they moved out to Lowell, she wouldn't take the train ever again. Or at least way less frequently, which means that all the time that she had spent wondering about the boy on the train, all leading up to their two quick conversations, would have been for nothing. Because she would probably never see him again.
Still, it wasn't a good enough reason to make her father stay in Boston. Plus, Amanda's home was much nicer and cheaper as it wasn't in a big city.
She nodded, thinking it through. She knew that her opinion was important to her father, and she knew that at the end of the day, having him in Lowell with her was the best option. But she still felt a tug at her heart at the thought of losing a friend. A friend that she had just made, too.
"I think that's a great idea! I'd love to have you closer to mom's house so that I could see you guys more." She beamed, hugging the two once again.
If Chris was meant to be in her life, they would find a way. Sure, they had only just met, but they had been aware of each other for so long that it was inevitable that they would meet again someday. And she had time before the move, it wasn't like it would be happening tomorrow.
"We'll still be here for a little bit, me and you, Maisie." Her father hugged her a bit tighter, and she was glad that her life would be changing for the better soon.
After dinner, while she laid on her bed, she noted that she wanted to get Chris' number, or at least his SnapChat. She just had to figure out how in the world you ask for something like that.
