Westley has always known Claire. She's always been a constant in his life, whether it be as his babysitter, his secret Santa, as his pretend-girlfriend, his confident, as the person he could always rely on.
But she's also always been the girl he lov...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I'm eighteen years old and I'm starting college. My dad and my step-mother are off to their honeymoon so no one is there to help me move.
At least, that's what I think until Claire turns up at our house. She says I shouldn't be alone today.
I should have guessed once again, that Claire would pull through for me. She helps me with last minute packing and can't believe I still have my pink bunny. I still can't believe she knew to buy it for me.
We talk a lot on the drive to the university. We talk about my mom and how sad we both are that she's not there to see me off.
"She would have been so proud of you," Claire tells me.
I hope so. I don't know what my life would have looked like if my mother was still alive now, how my family would be.
Here's the very awful truth. If my mother hadn't died, I'm not sure my parents would have stayed together. They argued all the time. They barely had anything in common. They were drifting apart before my mother got sick. As wrong as it may be, her sickness bought them back together in the end.
And in some strange way, my mother made it possible for Dad and his new wife to meet. He met her in a cancer grieving group. I didn't know those existed, but apparently he and a bunch of people who lost someone to cancer would meet every week to process their grief. My step-mom lost her daughter to leukemia seven years ago. It broke her first marriage apart.
Honestly, I'm okay with the new addition to the family. The truth is, I'm actually relieved that my father got married. That way I won't have to worry about him being all alone in our big house while I'm gone. His nights won't consist of frozen dinner and bad TV. I'll be able to enjoy college because I know he'll be taken care of.
I'm really glad that Claire is here with me today. It's actually better that it's her instead of Dad. I love my father, but Claire is always been there for me in a way he never could.
Claire talks about her life too. She broke up with her boyfriend. I tell her it's a good thing because she really shouldn't be cheating on me so blatantly. She laughs. I had forgotten how much I loved that laugh, how much I actually missed it.
