"What are you doing here?" I looked up at him, he hadn't changed much. He had the same look in his eye the day he left, the same gleam of hope that I learned he hung onto for dear life.
I was in the process of getting all my things to Jamie's car. I was moving my stuff to the dorms. It was hard to believe that it was fall again already, and the shock still hadn't set in that I wasn't going to be living under the eyes and protection of Cora and Jamie's parental supervision. Though I knew that this was what I wanted not even one year ago, now that my life had been changed, and I was given a chance, I was finding myself reluctant to go.
Everything Jamie and Cora have given me, not just in possessions, but in a future has been more than I could ever ask for or even expect to get. Cora had told me the truth about my past, herself, and even our mother, who I might add is gone, yet again. Cora and Jamie had been paying for all of my expenses that I would let them, though I had a job and I still felt the tug in my heart that made me feel bad that I was dropped on their doorstep even though I know it's not how it was. And then Jamie, who made me apply to the U in the first place, helped me get my act in gear, and helped me get in. He had been the main reason I even had a future, even if he said that it was all me and my hard work, I know that I couldn't have done it without him.
"I'm going to the U too, remember?" His voice was the same too, deep but smooth to the touch. I heard the same loving sound, vibrate out of his mouth, what I hadn't known was that I had been longing for it until he spoke right then. I just looked at him, speechless, he was the last person I would have ever thought to see here, right now, at my door. "Well, don't I get a hug at least? I mean I did come all the way out here, to see you." Hearing this made my hear jump, the butterflies in my stomach to flutter lively, and this statement also snapped me back into reality.
"You had to come here, you're going to school here," I looked up at him, and could see that he was now scowling playfully. "And while you're here, you can help." I smiled at him and held out the suit case that I had been in the process of carrying out to the car. He took it, returning a smile back at me, making my heart ping once more.
"Just as sarcastic as ever I see." I was about to say something back but Cora cut me off.
"Oh my gosh, is that really you Nate!" It was a statement in question form, a rhetorical question if you will. She pulled him and my suit case into a hug, a smile playing on her face. You could still see the tears that she had cried this morning. She has been doing that a lot, she too wasn't fully ready for me to leave, but we both knew that I had to move on to the next chapter of my life.
"Yup, in the flesh." Right then Nate and Cora started moving towards Jamie's car, my bag still in his hand.
I looked at them, and noticed that Nate had changed since he'd left. He was more muscular, able to see his pecks and muscle through his shirt. His hair was lighter, probably from all the sun he had been getting down there in Arizona, and I could tell earlier that his eyes changed from light brown to dark brown, like his hidden emotions hidden inside were itching to get out.
Nate and I kind of fell out of touch, not entirely, but grew apart. The first month and a half I was always talking to him, whether it be through the computer, or the phone, we were always in touch. But the distance started to get hard, both of us longing to be with each other, and for the things to be how they used to. It went from one night not talking, to two, to three, and so on. It became a few emails every now and then, like catch up for what had gone on the week or two we haven't spoken. I'm not really sure how or why it happened, or even the exact day that the separation became too much, we both just kind of went on, like it was all normal to be how we were. But there was one thing that didn't change at the end of every phone conversation we had, or every e-mail we sent, even though it may not have been often, they always ended with an "I love you." Something that didn't even happen when we were together, but just sort of happened when we were so far away from each other, like another link to help us stay connected, together, and a feeling of being just a little bit closer.