Secrets Beneath Teenage Love: The Heart Of Anastasia

Chapter 7 | Not Goodbye After All

Friday, November 27th
Location: Ana's bedroom

After a rough week of finals Anastasia was able to breathe and be excited for New York. Even though she was nervous to see her final grade in Biology and History nothing could stop the smile etching across her face as she thought about Manhattan, spending time with her Aunt, and seeing Luke. Everything would be okay as long as she didn't focus on her other distractions. She walks into her room, sets her bag down, and lays across her bed in the calming silence.

A few minutes later, Anastasia walks into her walk-in closet and twists the knob. Her eyes quickly scan the room, searching for her turquoise suitcase. Spotting it on a high shelf, she reaches up and pulls it down. As the turquoise suitcase thuds onto the floor, a jacket falls down at the same time. She gazes at the jacket, and a rush of memories, both good and bad, floods her mind. From the image of him holding his leather jacket as he walked into the cafeteria to their breakup. It felt like the breakup affected her more deeply than it did him. She picks up the leather jacket and places it alongside her suitcase on the bed. With a mix of emotions, she unzips the suitcase and starts packing warm clothes for her trip to New York. However, her attention keeps getting drawn back to the jacket, and thoughts of him fill her mind.

Ana grabs her phone from the bedside table and sees two unread messages from Luke. She quickly swipes her finger to the left, and they disappear. As she runs her fingers over her phone, she stops on the texts with Dean. Scrolling down, she is flooded with old texts as the words "princess" and "babe" pop up on the screen. Her heart begins to ache as she comes across a picture of them, with her wearing his leather jacket and his arm around her waist. She quickly brushes away a tear from her eye, as she thinks about all of the moments they shared. It's hard to believe that their relationship fell apart in such a short time because of someone who doesn't even matter anymore. She closes the picture as her mind begins to think about Luke and how unfair she was being to him.

Taking a deep breath she presses the back arrow as all her messages appear. She clicks on the messages from Luke👑. Feeling numb she looks over the simple but sweet text from him. On Tuesday he wrote, Good luck on your Biology exam 🌹. She reads it but doesn't answer. On Thursday night he texted again, Goodnight beautiful, I hope you had an amazing day. Don't stress too much about exams, I know you will do well. Reading over the messages, her heart felt like it was tugging on her emotions. After talking to Julie, she wasn't sure if she should give into how she was starting to feel about him, but she did know she didn't want to lose their friendship. That's the only reason she felt her fingers tapping against the keyboard as her cursor moved from left to right. Sorry, I didn't reply I've been super busy with finals.

As she puts her phone next to her, thoughts of Luke and Dean fill her mind while she's packing her travel essentials. Ten minutes pass as she places her suitcase near the door and turns back around, her gaze fixed on Portman's leather jacket. She knows she should have given it back after they broke up and kissed; but he never asked for it back. She holds on to that hoping he didn't just forget to ask for it back. But she's heard that winters in Chicago are almost as terrible as winters in New York. Maybe letting go of the jacket will help her heal as the door closes on her and Dean. But if she was being honest she wasn't entirely sure she wanted that door to close. Instantly , her head and heart are silenced as the ringing of her phone fills her ears.

Hello? She answers.

Hey, we're meeting up for pizza. You should come. The voice of her best friend replies.

I don't know, do you think Dean will be there?

No, he's leaving for Chicago tomorrow.

Okay, I'll come for a little bit.

Okay see you there.

She grabs the leather jacket and her purse calling Jordan. As they talk she quickly walks down the stairs and outside locking the front door.