Broken Carts ✔️

Aisle 34: Goodbyes

It wasn't easy to convince Lynette to give Ezra a chance. The key was, unexpectedly, to be honest about everything her brother had told me when I stayed over. This seemed to tip the scales more to the middle of the "who's to blame?" argument, and she agreed to have a conversation with Ezra. I spent most of that day holding my breath until Lynette called to invite me over to their place for "a celebration of getting the fuck over things."

Later on in the night, when Ezra and Sonja were having a heated debate about what constituted "good" pop music, Lynette pulled me to the side.

"Thanks for going after him," she told me. "I had my head in my ass, I admit it. I wouldn't have been able to keep 'Ra out of my life forever, he's basically a brother to me— oh, fuck, that's a weird comparison now."

I cringed while she laughed. "How are you feeling about everything?"

"Honestly? Better and worse," she said, still smiling. "Better because I have my roommate back, and I finally know the full story. Worse because I'm actually mad at Vinny now... which is a new experience for me. I know I'm going to have to talk to him about it, but Jesus, I don't really want to think about it right now— do you think my brother's a bad guy?"

I had to consider it for a second. "No. He's not bad, just a little narcissistic."

She sighed heavily. "Yeah. But hey, aren't you glad I didn't get the narcissism gene?"

"Says the girl who has told me, on multiple occasions, that the only item on her bucket list is to fuck her clone while another clone watches."

Lynette rolled her eyes. "That's not narcissistic. That's just a natural human urge."

Over the next few days, I packed my things to move to Brighton. I'd already set up interviews at every grocery store in town, confident at least one of them would fall victim to my charms and offer me a job. Jude helped get my things into boxes, chatting spiritedly about all the great things in store for me.

"Hey, do you want my car?" he asked one day as we tackled my closet. "I was thinking about it, and all I really have to do is walk to work, so if you want to take it to school—"

"Jude," I said blankly. "You have done enough for me. More than enough for me. Too much for me. Please keep your car. Besides, won't you need it when you move out of here?"

"Well, the thing is, I was kind of thinking I'd go back to school myself."

"Oh my God," I muttered in shock. "You applied to Brighton, didn't you?"

Jude let out a single, loud chuckle. "No, no! I figured I'd go to school online."

"Oh. That's cool," I commended him. "What for?"

"Remember how I was minoring in forestry until I had to drop it to focus on accounting?"

"Vaguely."

"Well, I figured I'd finish up my credits in forestry. What do you think?"

"You want to be a forest?"

"Forest ranger," he corrected me. "Part of the forest, I guess, but not like, a natural part of it, more like an extension of it—"

"That sounds awesome, Jude," I cut in. "You should totally do that."

He grinned toothily. "Thanks. Truth be told, I feel inspired watching you go for what you really want to do." His genuine tone of voice made my heart swell.

•

Following a successful interview and my subsequent acceptance to the music production major, it felt exhilarating to know that I was, legitimately, going to school to do something that ignited my passion. After so many false starts, I'd found my path, and I was on my way to shaking off the uncertainty that gripped my first two years at school. The only downside was, of course, leaving behind the people who had brought me to the right place.