Only one more chapter left...

Thanks for the reviews!

I do NOT own anything

Enjoy!

...

Chapter 2

My dream didn't exactly turn out to be what I thought. Not long after the fall term started, I learned that the scholarship was barely enough to pay the bills, let alone buy food or any luxury items like toilet paper. I realised quickly that I was going to need a job.

I managed to find a job in a smalll bookshop near campus. The manager was great, and let me work as many hours as I could to fit in. My classes and all the associated homework didn't leave much time for work. I was only earning enough extra money to keep me afloat.

During the first semester at Dartmouth, Chad and I emailed and talked on the phone every day. As Christmas came around, we realised that both of us were struggling to make ends meet. We barely had money to buy presents, let alone visit. The sadness we felt each time we talked started to be too much, and I think we both realised that we needed to let go.

As the years went on, the emails and calls got less frequent until the only contact we had was calls on our birthdays and at Christmas.

After working my butt off and going to summer school, I graduated early after only three years with my degree in Journalism.

I applied for countless position with as many newspapers as I could across the country, though I concentrated on Boston and LA. I desperately wanted to go home. As much as I hated all the bad memories associated with living in LA, I missed it. It was all I had known for the first eighteen years of my life. Don't get me wrong; I liked living in Hanover and I loved my job at the bookstore, but something always felt like it was missing. I never truly felt at home.

Unfortunately, the powers that be were not on my side. The only job I managed to find was with a local paper in Boston. I decided that a job in Boston was better than no job at all. In mid July, I packed up all my belongings, which now fit into three suitcases and a duffle bag, jumped in my aging truck, and headed for Boston.

Three years after starting as a Junior Copywriter at the Boston Herald, I worked my way up to a staff writing position, writing obituaries. It wasn't the most glamorous position, but at least I was writing.

I had been seeing James for a year and a half; he was an amazing guy, and treated me like a princess. The problem was that no matter how hard I tried to shake the feeling, I couldn't help but feel that not everything was right. I had a good job and was dating a great guy, but I just couldn't stop the nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me this was not where I was supposed to be.

I was reading an industry journal one day when I saw the ad. If it happened, it would be the answer to all of my prayers. I updated my resume, enclosed a letter of application, and sent it to the La Times. They had an opening for a Journalist for the Society section. It was as if the universe was telling me it was time to go home.

I had been waiting three weeks for news when the call finally came. They wanted to interview me and would fly me out the following week. I immediately organised the time off from work, and then headed home.

When I got there, I grabbed my cell. I considered texting Chad and telling him, I was coming to visit, but I decided to surprise him instead. I then rang James, and arranged to see him for dinner. We needed to have a long overdue chat.

James arrived at six pm just as the oven timer went off; the lasagne was ready.

We ate dinner in relative quiet, neither of us saying much. After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes and put them away, then joined James in the living room. He was watching ESPN, which was what he always did while I did the dishes.

"James, we need to talk."

He immediately looked at me, concern written all over his face.

"Sonny, nothing good ever comes of those words," he said, as he turned the TV off and gave me his full attention.

"James, I am going to La for a few days next week." A puzzled look crossed his face.

"What for?" James inquired.

"I have a job interview with the LA Times."

"What do you mean you have a job interview? You're planning on moving to La?"

"Yes, James, that is the aim. I want to go home; I miss La." Every bone in my body told me that it was time to go home, that it was the right thing.

"What does this mean for you and me?" The miserable look on Jame's face told me that this was going to be a lot harder on him than I thought.

"James, you know I think the world of you, but my future isn't in Boston. I am not comfortable here. I want to go home to La."

"What's there for you in La?"

"I don't know, James, but I know what I am looking for isn't here."

"You're not even going to ask me to go with you, are you?"

"James, I think you and I both know that the love we have isn't the forever kind of love. I will always care for you, but I want you to be happy, and I know you won't be happy with me."

"Who are you to tell me what will make me happy?" James put his hand in his pocket and pulled out what looked like a ring box. My eyes almost fell out of my head. "Sonny, I have been carrying this box around in my pocket for two weeks now trying to figure out the best way to ask you. Guess there's no time like the present." He took my left hand in his, and got down on one knee. "Sonny, I love you and I will love you forever if you let me. Would please do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

I looked down at the ring he was holding out to me, and instantly knew what my answer was.

"I'm sorry, Jamess. I can't, my answer is No"

I saw Jamess's heart shatter into a million pieces, but I couldn't give him what he wanted. I didn't feel at home with him; he was not my forever.

Jamess got to his feet, put the ring back in his pocket, and walked out the door. That was the last time I saw or heard from him.

Life is never a fairytale without lots of bumps down the road.

Like it, Hate it? Tell me in your reviews...