A CARDBOARD BOX filled with heavy items was pushed to the side as I opened the front door with Ava and her suitcase behind me. I scanned the floor and found many other boxes scattered around the living room, taped up and ready to be taken to wherever it was going.
"Who's boxes are these?" I asked to no one in particular, curious.
"They're mine." I looked up and saw Nicole emerging from her room, another box in her hands.
"What's going on?" I questioned, realizing that many of the boxes had labels on them with Nicole's name.
"I'm moving out." Her lips were pressed into a thin line, sadness in her eyes.
"Oh, why?"
"I'm sorry, Hadley. It's just...it's hard being around you now. Every time I see you, I feel guilty about what happened between James and I. I hope you can forgive me someday and we can be friends again, but if not, I understand." Her lips were rolled in as she stared at a box on the floor.
"Nicole, there's something I need to tell you." I drew in a deep breath and brought her to the couch, "When Milo and I were in New York, we kissed."
She chuckled dryly, "You know, I'd be upset but I don't really think I have the right to be anymore."
"Of course you do. You two were still together at the time," I suggested.
"I guess that evens it out a little," she attempted a joke but no one laughed.
"You don't have to move out. Just stay here and let's just...move on from here."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's just too much for me."
She stood up and walked to grab another box from her room when I stopped her, gently grasping her arm. "Wait, where are you moving to? Another dorm?"
She shook her head again. "I found an apartment ten minutes away from campus. We're renting for now."
"We?" I asked, puzzled.
She drew in her lips again, "Me and...James."
"Oh."
"Are you two like...together now?" Ava chimed in from near the door. Nicole nodded as she looked down at her hands in her lap.
"I'm happy for you." I placed a hand on her shoulder and offered her a friendly smile, trying my best to hide my anxiety at the thought of Nicole and James now together.
She pulled me into a hug and held me tightly as a way to say thank you and another apology at once as I rubbed my hand up and down her back. "When you're up for it, text me so we can hang out sometime."
"Really? Even after all of this?" Shock and a glint of hope in her eyes.
I nodded, "Really."
∞
"I APPLIED to NYU."
"Really? When?" I asked as Stacey and I sat in the corner of Bella's once again. A couple weeks later after Stacey told me about her role in a Broadway show, she debated on whether or not she should apply to NYU for the fall semester, finally deciding to apply on a spontaneous whim.
YOU ARE READING
Three Years Later | ✓
Teen Fiction"He talks about you a lot, you know?" She said, her smirk clearly audible in the inflection of her voice, making me blush. "What does he say about me?" "Good things but nothing I ever doubted. Sometimes when I'm on the phone with him, he tells me...
