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Prologue

August 19th, 2017

    "Promise you'll text every day?"

    "I'm going to text you every hour." Wyatt is quick to reassure, holding his pinky out for me to interlock mine with his. I roll my eyes at the childish action, but don't hesitate about locking our fingers together, "and call you all the time. It's gonna feel like I'm not even gone."

    We currently sat on my bed, our knees touching as we sat across from one another. This wasn't an unusual position to find us in. Wyatt and I had all of our important conversations here. This is where he told me he was leaving.

    We've been best friends for as long as I can remember; our moms were best friends all throughout high school. Mom told me she and Nikki always joked about having kids close in age, so they could grow up being best friends. They never imagined it to be a reality, though.

    That was until mom got pregnant with me and Nikki with Wyatt shortly after. We were born a month apart, and our moms liked to joke that we've best friends since the minute we met. According to them, I'd been crying, and as Wyatt was placed next to me, I stopped. Immediately comforted by his presence.

    As we got older, Wyatt and I began forming dreams of our own. Growing up, all we'd ever talk about was what our futures would be like. We wanted to move to the city after high school, where we planned on going to NYU. Wyatt would join their drama program, and I'd join their creative writing program.

    We have so many plans.

    I guess in a way, our childhood dreams are becoming a reality, just not at the same time as one another's. After months of sending in auditions tapes and going to callbacks, Wyatt did it. Finally, he got a role in a movie, and not just any role. He got the lead. Casting had been looking for a fresh face and claimed they saw "unlimited potential" in my best friend. I was obviously ecstatic for him. This was all he's ever wanted.

    That didn't mean I wasn't going to miss him, though.

    "We both know that's not true," I shake my head, not yet disconnecting my pinky from his. Wyatt doesn't make an effort to either. Instead, he lowers our hands. Our interlocked pinky's now lying between the two of us. I allow my gaze to follow our hands, frowning at the sight.

    Wyatt and I have never spent many days apart. We grew up facing everything together. And now, we are both about to face the biggest changes of our lives, and neither of us is going to be there for the other. I know Wyatt will be fine; he'd always been much more outgoing than me. Everyone who meets Wyatt loves him within minutes. I, on the other hand am a lot quieter than my best friend. I've always been terribly awkward around new people; making new friends came easier to Wyatt than it did to me.

    What was I supposed to do without him?

    Like he could read my mind, Wyatt ducked his head slightly so he could look me in the eye, "You're gonna be fine, Marles." He reassures; his thick brows furrowing in concern as his green eyes stare into mine. Wyatt has always been able to tell what I'm thinking and vice versa. We had good practice after being best friends for so long.

    "Do you think my parents would let me finish High School online too?" I question, a small smile forming on my lips at the thought of it. Besides school trips to the city, I've never left Cold Springs. The world was so big, and I've seen none of it. "I could be your assistant or something?"

    "I wish," Wyatt mumbles, rubbing a small pattern on my hand. People who didn't know Wyatt and I always assumed something was going on between us because of stuff like this; even our families would tease us from time to time. But things like this were second nature for Wyatt and I. "but you have dreams too, Marles. You're going to graduate, and then we'll both move to the city... okay?"