School Bus [m. clifford]

78

Laura sat at a table in the corner of a small coffee shop about twenty minutes away from where they were staying. She had twenty bucks in her pocket and picked up a poetry book and a coffee.

It felt nice for her to be sitting in the window with the sun shinning down on her as she read words that made her feel something.

Part of her mind was still thinking about her friends enjoying themselves out in the city today. But she was mostly glad she was alone. Laura had never had time alone on a vacation like this. She was appreciating every moment of it.

Sipping her coffee and flipping through her book, she was at peace for the moment.

At almost every point this summer she's been with somebody in the group. She was with Michael a lot, and then they'd spend time with their friends on top of that. There was part of her that missed being alone. She was rarely ever alone anymore. Now having Chloe put marriage in her head for some reason, was making her feel like she'd never be alone again.

Laura didn't regret anything with Michael. There was no thought in her mind to leave Michael. But now she was feeling suffocated. It wasn't anything Michael was doing though. She didn't know what to think anymore.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

She quickly looks up to see a guy, maybe a couple years older than her. Moving her coffee closer to her she shakes her head, "Go ahead."

"Thanks." He replies, taking a seat.

Laura was partially annoyed somebody was around her, but there weren't many options to sit so she couldn't blame the guy.

The spot she was in was in front of the windows. She put her book down as she sipped on her coffee as she watched people walk by outside.

"Are you from around here?"

She looks over at him, shaking her head, "Around Syracuse."

"Oh, nice, I grew up in Utica." He tells her.

Laura smiles, "I was born there."

He chuckles, "No way."

"What brings you to Boston?" Laura asks, deciding to continue a conversation with him.

She's been alone for a couple hours now, and has been so used to being around others. Talking to somebody right now was something she sort of needed.

"College. I don't go home for the summer though, clearly. I live here with my grandparents now."

"What do you study?" Laura questions, genuinely curious.

"Economics."

"Same! I'm starting at Duke soon."

"Duke? Shit, congrats. Wow."

"Thanks." She smiles. Every time somebody congratulated her on Duke she would get an overwhelming feeling of excitement.

"I know you're probably stressed about moving on to college, but I promise, you'll love it. It's not as bad as adults say it is." He tells her.

She nods, a small laugh escaping her lips, "Thanks."

There's a quick pause as Laura finishes her coffee, before she speaks up again, "I need to head back to my friends now. I hope you have a great day."

"Thank you, good luck at Duke."

"Thanks!" Laura calls as she grabs her stuff to leave the cafe.

Her walk back to the house was full of thinking about her future. Her future with her education, with her friends, with Michael. The time between high school and college is weird. Stress is high and it feels like so much is coming to an end.

Arriving back at the house Laura was still a bit confused. She didn't even know what she was thinking anymore.

Laura closes the door behind her, a sigh falling past her lips. She hears somebody clear their throat, making her look up.

She forces a smile, "Oh, hey, Ashton. I thought everybody was out."

"They are. I decided to stay back. I was hoping... maybe we could talk?"

"Yeah? About?" Laura questions.

"Everything today." He tells her.

"Oh, I guess. Yeah."

"Come here." He calls, sitting on the couch, waiting for her to join him.

She makes her way over, sitting down next to him. She was nervous, for her and Ashton don't spend much time alone with each other.

"Laura, I know we don't talk one on one about things like this too often. But, I really care about you. I care about everybody here. I kinda just wanted to talk though."

She smiles, "Yeah? What's up?"

"Is everything okay?" He asks.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah."

"Chloe and Jada had an interesting conversation..."

"In front of everybody?" Laura asks, now somewhat concerned.

"Yeah. A loud one too. About how maybe you aren't okay with the way Chloe is so close with Michael and involved in your relationship."

"Fuck. I didn't want this to happen. I love Michael, so much. It's just hard sometimes when he doesn't open up to me, but Chloe knows every little thing about him. Then she'll bring it up. I just- I know I'm being sensitive. But I want Michael to trust me. I get it's hard for him but I will never leave him. I'll never hurt him. He's everything I could ever want."

"So if you're talking about him like this, why'd you get so upset about Chloe and the marriage thing?" He asks. "Sorry, she told me that part."

"Of course she did."

"Hey, I made her. She just wants the best for you both. She saw the worst of Michael every time a girl hurt him. She sees how unbelievably happy he is with you and wants to make sure things go well."

"But when you throw the word 'marriage' out there when we're just out of high school, it's scary." She tells him.

He sighs, "I know. You just say you'll never leave him, which means, you know, never leaving him, which you also said. So, in many cases like that, people get married."

"Fuck, Ashton."

Ashton looks down, "I know. I'm sorry. You don't really like me and whatever, but I don't want see this group fall apart."

"No, Ashton. You're one of my closest friends, I just get irritated when you're kinda right. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it normally hurts."

"Hey!" He whines, trying to hide a smile.

"Come here." She tells him, hugging him tightly.

"Everything will be fine, okay?" He replies.

Laura pulls away from him, nodding in agreement.

"I'm going to start making dinner in a bit for all of us to eat together when they come back. Everybody is going to be civil and if we need to talk it out, we will. So I want you to get ready, and if you'd like, you can come help." He lightly chuckles.

"Yeah, of course. Just give me a little bit and I'll join you." Laura smiles, standing up to go get ready.

She wasn't sure how tonight would go, since she still didn't even know how she felt about everything. But she was sure that her friends would all get along. Though they've never had disagreements like this, whenever they did, they were always okay so quickly after. They were always okay.

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I changed the book cover pls let me know if it's okay??? I'm so stressed about these things??? bc I'm gonna change all my book covers??? if u haven't read my other books go check them out!!! we love self promo!!!