A Spring "Break"
Sue had had it! She just couldn't stand to be at the East Indy campus for one more day…
It just hurt too much. He was everywhere she looked.
This was her junior year at East Indy, and now that he was in med school at nearby St. Matts', she saw him all the time; at the commons, in the library, at the 7-eleven, walking across campus with the sunlight glinting off the highlights in his hair and that smile.
And he was always walking with the "same girl." Oh, they had different names—Sara, Kelley, Laura, Patti—but they were all the same: tall, blonde and gorgeous.
It was high school all over again, and she was the same old, mysteriously disappearing Sue Heck. Though he was so much nicer than her own brother, she did not need or want ANOTHER brother.
She had to get away from Gumford, from Orson, from Sean Donahue and go somewhere where no one knew her; a fresh start.
She had only realized within the last year how her feelings for Sean had deepened. When he'd gone out on a date with her roommate, Lexi, her heart had ached. Lexi had walked into their apartment when Sean was visiting and Sue had mysteriously "disappeared" again.
Sure, she'd had a "crush" on him when she was fourteen. He had been so sweet to her, and over the years they'd developed a real friendship. Even when he left for Notre Dame, they'd kept in touch. One time during her freshman year at college,when she had been especially homesick, he'd even sat up with her all night on the phone until she'd fallen asleep.
They had been hundreds of miles apart for four years now, and she had always missed him. But now that he was so close, she missed him even more.
But no, Sue Heck did not need ANY man to validate her; even if that man had deep, soulful brown eyes and smelled like sandalwood. She had figured that with time she would get over him, but with each passing day, she only fell harder.
So, here she was at Willard Building to talk to her adviser and apply for a semester abroad for the Spring. Hopefully, she could get the extra financial aid. She just had to swing it; Springtime in London or Paris!
Though sometimes she'd find herself lost in a daydream about what might have happened if she'd gotten to Orson on time on the night of the Chancellor's Ball…
She would have climbed out of the Winnebago and knocked on his front door in her stunning red gown. He would have opened the door and she would have turned to face him, "Suzy Q, what are you do—?" And he wouldn't have been able to finish his sentence because she had looked AMAZING.
Maybe, he would have gently cradled her face in his hands and kissed her, so softly. She would have felt it everywhere. And, she'd never want it to end…
No, no more daydreaming. She had to clear her head and her heart of Sean Donahue once and for all and concentrate on her possible semester abroad.