“How long are you willing to chill before you get it?”
“Get what, exactly?” Rue snapped back harshly.
They’d been at each other’s throats for weeks, the back and forth showing no sign of stopping. The couple that was once as sturdy as a great oak tree with blooming branches, has lost its leaves. Who knew a simple disagreement over college could become this: a train-wreck heading full speed for the acquaintance zone.
Many high school relationships reach this point, where the conversation of different colleges at different locations comes up, and the question of long distance. One usually wants to, and the other, not so much. The point where the branches begin to whiter and drop to the forest floor. Rue had considered herself lucky. Both her and her partner, Ash, ended up deciding on going to the same in-state college. Or they were, until Ash got a scholarship at a school up north, like really up north, and they couldn’t pass up a free education at a private institution.
“I’m going to be in Canada, and you’ll be here. I’m not going to put either of us through that.” Ash replied.
“So what are you saying?” Rue steadied her breath, trying not to show the waver she could feel building in her voice.
“We—I can’t do long distance.”
They had finally said it; their confession. The pressured breaking point that snaps the sturdy tree in half.
“So this is it?”
“I guess. I’m sorry, my love.” When the dial tone reached Rue’s ears, the first thing she could feel was regret. Regret that she ever let this low life scum of a human into her life. Someone that would take her heart, just to leave it at the door on the way out, crumpled and wrinkled beyond repair.
They chose to go to a different college, not her! Why was she paying the price of their choice? Why was she paying the price of their love?