Planning Your Future

Henry Returns! (Part 1)

March 25, 1991

Veronica's POV

I open the letter that sits on my desk. The handwriting definitely isn't my dad's or Jill's. I read the last line and see that it's from Henry Baldwin.

Dear Veronica,

I hope college is going well for you. I'm sure you are doing great at Harvard. Yale is going okay but I'm ready for another break. I also will be visiting Harvard to see some of my family. If possible, I would love to go to lunch with you. My treat, of course!

I also was recently told that you have been visiting Heather Duke in prison. But I don't want to give into rumors if that's all it is. Well I will see you this on the 27th.

Sincerely,

Henry

So Henry is coming Wednesday? Also, the 27th is the day before my birthday. Did he plan this? No! I'm just being paranoid. He wasn't listening when I told him my birthday. I can't tell JD because I know he'll freak out.

On Wednesday, I wake up and get ready for my Math class. When I walk in, Henry is talking to my professor, Dr Hidgens. I quickly take my seat towards the back. I'm not the best at math so I usually sit in the back. He turns around and looks right at me. I put my head down, hoping he didn't actually see me. Unfortunately that is proven to be incorrect when he sits next to me. "Hey! What're the odds?" He grins. "Yeah! It's crazy." I nod. "So what's up?" He asks. "Not much." I shrug. "You still dating that guy?" JD, you mean? The guy you caught me "cheating" with? "Yeah. We're doing good." I say. "That's good!" Professor Hidgens motions to him that class is about to start. "Well I'll see you after, I guess." He walks back to the front and sits by the professor's desk. So he's staying for the whole class. That's just wonderful!

"Hello everyone! I would like all of you to meet my nephew, Henry." Everyone says hi to him, but I keep my head down and work on some of my Creative Writing work.

After class, I exit out the back door and try to get to my dorm without him catching up. I think I've failed when someone comes up next to me. But instead of it being Henry, it's Aaron. "What, Aaron?" I roll my eyes. "Nothing." He says. "I'm not in the mood for your crap today." I tell him. "Wow. I spent two weeks falling in love with you for you to treat me like this." He pretends to act hurt. "Leave me alone." I raise my voice. "No!" He grabs my arm.

"Hey!" Henry comes up behind us. He takes Aaron's wrist and pulls it away from my arm. "Now I suggest you go." Henry says. Aaron gives me a dirty look and storms off. "Who was that?" Henry asks. "Some guy I had a thing with." I sigh. "Oh."

He takes me to the lunch that he had mentioned in his letter. "So Dr Hidgens is your uncle." I note. "Yeah. He actually told me you were in his class." He admits. "Why?" Why would Dr Hidgens know that Henry knew me? "You were accused of killing his niece." He reminds me. "Oh. Yeah." That makes sense, I guess. "So that guy from the hallway, you said you dated him? I thought you were dating Jason Dean." I was hoping he wouldn't bring that back up. "I am. We had a break for a little while but now we're back together." I explain. "Oh. Okay." He nods before making a face like he remembered something. He leans over and picks something out of his bag. It was a box with a pair of earrings inside. "What're these for?" I stare at them, not understanding. "Isn't your birthday tomorrow?" Wait what? "Wait, did you know my birthday was tomorrow when you wrote the letter?" I ask. "Yeah. I was already planning on coming to see my uncle and I figured I could see you as well." He acts in a nonchalant manner. "Oh. Well thanks." I put the box in my bag.

We eat and he walks me back to my dorm. JD is waiting at the door. Henry freezes when he sees him. "Henry? What're you doing here?" JD looks at both of us. "I was in town to visit family and asked Veronica to lunch to catch up." He tells him. "Cool. Well... see ya."

We go inside. "Why didn't you tell me that Henry was coming?" He didn't sound mad, just confused. "I didn't really want to see him, so why tell you? But as luck would have it, he's the nephew of my math professor." He laughs and kisses me. "Well... your birthday is tomorrow. What do you want to do?" He smiles. "I honestly just want to relax." I dramatically flip onto my bed. "Sure thing. But I do have some things planned. But nothing big." He lays next to me. "Sounds fun." I give him a peck on the lips.