"𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 class is in two weeks, May 8th. But, I'll probably need two days to finish everything around here first."
"Okay, sweetheart," her mother says, pressing the phone hard between her shoulder and jaw so her hands could cut the bell pepper into thin strips. "You know your graduation for Eden Hall is on the first of June, don't you? Your father can get everything from the school, but what else will you need before then? Are you going to be okay coming home soon?"
"Yes, I will be okay, Mom. I don't want you or Dad stressing too much over me. When is Drew coming home?" Rowan insists.
"The genius doesn't know, can you believe that? He said something about him and his friends planning on staying a few weeks in Providence. Haven't you spoken to him? He's closer to you than us."
"I called him once last week but he wasn't exactly..."
"Well, he's a frat boy. What can you expect?"
"From the future brain surgeon? I was expecting at least an awareness of who he was on the phone with. He thought I was Alex. I mean, I don't even sound like Alex. Do I?"
Amy's eyes pick up when the oven beeps and the front door opens. "Don't worry about it, Rowan Willow. Your brother is only a moron when he wants to be. Well, I have to go, okay? Your father just got home and dinner is just about to be ready. We love you."
"I love you guys, too. I'll talk to you soon," she says before hanging up, the button blinking a fast red at the pressure of her finger.
She folds a large gray shirt and places it at the foot of her bed, stacking a small pile of clothing until she transfers it into her drawers. The laundry basket empties bit by bit and, in her closet, she glances at her empty suitcases. She watches them momentarily, thinking that she'll be going home the next time she touches them. It makes her chest burn.
"I can't knock but I'm here!" someone shouts from the other side of her door.
Her eyebrows draw together and she smiles. "Why can't you knock?"
"Because I brought three freezing cold smoothies from the courtyard."
Rowan opens the door and sees Poppy Tinsley, a freckled beam of sunshine harboring untamable red locks. "Three?"
"Samir is coming. Did he not tell you?" Poppy asks, her chin positioned on the top of the pyramid of pale pink smoothies.
"No, but he usually doesn't," Rowan shrugs, reaching for one. "Let me help you."
"You know how I always think you're two floors above me when you're really only one? Yeah, well I made that same mistake again, and then when Jake answered dorm 315-"
"Jake?"
"He's the guy that lives there," she quickly answers. "He's gotten pretty used to me showing up by now. Anyways, I almost tripped down the stairs coming from the third floor. That would have really sucked."
"But you didn't," Rowan points out.
"Right. Anyways, I was talking to my parents a few hours ago and I was telling them that they needed to pick up my cap and gown from my high school for graduation, and they completely dropped the bomb on me that my mom never even graduated high school. Can you believe that?"
"Well, it was a different time back then."
"Guess so," Poppy murmurs. "Back when a 17-and-a-half-year-old couldn't have an education and a baby."
"And now they can."
"Who?"
"I don't know," Rowan shrugs. "Probably somebody, somewhere."
YOU ARE READING
𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 | 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬
Fanfiction"Tell me to stay and I will." He thinks for a long moment. If we were meant to stay in one place forever, we'd have roots rather than legs. "I think you should go," he says finally.
