Elliot and Julia have a complicated relationship. Since they met in the seventh grade, the only heart-to-heart conversations they've had have been strictly over text. But they don't mind this lack of intimacy. If anything, they enjoy it.
Don't thi...
Christmas couldn't come early enough. As much as I loved being away from home, I still missed actually being home. It was nice knowing that I could go home for a while but not be forced to stay and I could see my friends.
Julie and I took a flight together and had a whole crowd of people waiting for us when we got back. Our respective parents, some friends, they were all there. They bunched us all into a car somehow and took us back to Julie's family's house where dinner was waiting. My mom had provided the food and it was glorious.
Afterwards, our friends dragged us off to another friend's house where everyone home from the holidays had gathered. That's when Julie and I were separated, each pulled to our respective groups of friends. All of my friends wanted to know about the Oregon girls and I'm sure all of Julie's friends wanted to know about her "Ice Cream Guy" as she called him, AKA her new boyfriend, Jeremy, an Engineering major.
Once I had convinced my friends that they were in fact not missing out on anything in Oregon, they asked about how it was going with Julie. They had all thought that I would be kicked out of the state by Thanksgiving and wanted to know how I survived.
I kept my mouth shut but it made me think about how things had really changed in the months I had spent in Oregon. I had changed a lot but Julie had gone through a "caterpillar into a butterfly transformation."
Seeing Julie at college made him realize she had turned into the girl your mother hated (mother's don't like girls who look like they can replace them in your life) that you were a little scared of but couldn't stay away from. She was that girl but somehow not as disastrous. Maybe because I knew she was still the same person but this side had just been hiding. That feeling stayed with me even way after we had returned to campus.
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"Where's Jeremy tonight?"
"He's still out of town with family."
"That sucks."
"Why?"
"What's the point of having a boyfriend if he's not around on New Year's Eve?"
"I don't know, having someone that cares about you?"
"That's deep for a college girl."
"That's judgemental, even for you."
"Whatever."
"I don't see you with a date either."
"Yeah but I'm single. I'm supposed to come alone and leave with a date."
"I see. How's the search going?"
"I think there are definite contenders here tonight."
"Well don't stand here talking to me, go get some."
"Yes ma'am. I'll come by if you want someone to kiss at midnight."
"Nah I think I'm good. Maybe I'll find my own date for tonight. All very platonic, of course."
