One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

28 | See You Again

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome

And I don't feel right when you've gone away

You've gone away

You don't feel me here anymore.

-Seether ft. Amy Lee, "Broken"

Tallahassee, Florida

Rachel

"There," I whispered to myself. "Done."

I was in the library on campus, putting the finishing touches on the essay that was due the next day for School Law. I grinned and saved it to my Office 365 account and shut down my MacBook, putting it in my backpack and standing up, stretching my arms over my head.

On the way out of the library, I looked at my watch and realized it was already 11:00 pm and I hadn't eaten dinner. I trudged across campus to the student union where there was a 24-hour café.

I ordered chicken tenders and fries and took a seat in the corner of the café. I was about to take my first bite when I heard a voice coming toward me.

"Hey, Rachel," the voice said, and I looked up.

Of course, it was Alex.

"Oh, hey, Alex," I greeted him, suddenly nervous. "What are you doing here this late?"

"I was at the library working on our paper for Dr. Thomas' class," he said, and I laughed.

"Me too. I really procrastinated on this one," I admitted, taking a bite of chicken, gesturing to the seat across from me. "Sit down if you want."

He did, setting his food down in front of him and taking a sip of his Coke. "Same here. Can you believe Brittany had it done three days ago?"

My eyes widened. "No, not really, but good for her," I noted.

He smiled and took a bite of his salad.

We ate in silence for a few minutes until he spoke again. "So, Rachel, how are you? With Miles being gone and everything, I mean."

I sighed. "I'm better than I was, but it's March already, and I still can't seem to fully get used to him being gone. We hardly get to talk at all, and sometimes it feels like..." I trailed off, realizing the next thing I was going to say was probably unfair.

"Feels like what?" he asked, putting his elbows on the table and leaning forward, his brown eyes dark with concern.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "I don't know," I said, shaking my head. "Sometimes it just feels like I'm not even engaged," I muttered, twirling my ring around on my finger, hating myself for even thinking it, let alone saying it.

Alex sat back and folded his arms. "Well, I'd venture to say that's probably a pretty normal feeling among military significant others during a deployment like this," he offered.

I considered this. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean I like it," I said, pushing away my empty plate.

"Of course not. It was never going to be easy, Rach," he said, taking the last bite of his salad and combining our plates together, getting up to throw them away.

"I know that," I snapped, then my shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry, Alex. I'm just... I'm just stressed and frustrated. I didn't mean to snap at you."