Via walked into her shared room and flopped herself face-down on the bed. After a few minutes, the bathroom door opened.
"You're back," Seth observed, drying his hair with a towel vigorously.
"I'm back..."
He hanged the towel on a hook on the bathroom door. "Are you alright? I didn't get to ask after Tia dragged me off last night..."
"Why did she drag you off?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
He quickly shifted his focus up to meet her eyes. "I... don't know. I guess because she wanted to vent to somebody..."
"...That makes sense."
"Yeah, probably."
"Did your Irish friend miss you after you left?" she teased.
He laughed. "Ah, well...."
Via raised an eyebrow. "Interesting..."
"It's not that interesting."
"You don't think so? You're having more success with the opposite sex than Owen is."
"Uh, thanks?"
"I meant that as a compliment to you, as well as a slight to Owen."
"Oh."
"Do you fancy her?"
He tilted his head. "Well... yeah."
She grinned. "You should tell her."
"Maybe, but why bother? We're just gonna be leaving soon anyway..."
"Perhaps you have a point."
"I mean, imagine you liked someone here - Pickford, I mean - and then you found out you had to move..."
"Easy enough."
"Would you tell him?"
Via sighed and slowly sat up. "You're right.... I haven't even told anyone this. I'm... moving away at the end of summer."
"...you are?" He slowly sat down next to her, looking over as she stared ahead blankly.
She nodded. "You're the first person I've even told."
"Not even Keely?"
"Not yet. I just don't feel like now would be a very opportune time to break the news."
"How long have you known?"
"A couple of months?" She shrugged. "Before graduation, anyway."
"Huh..." He slowly switched his gaze from her face to the wall in front of him. "Wow."
"At the same time, though, I feel bad not telling her. But, between you and me, I think she's got some attachment issues. I think it's got to do with Phil. And not just for the obvious reasons. There's something odd about that boy."
"Honestly, I think if you've put it off this long, you might as well tell her now..."
"Do you?"
"Well, yeah... you really should've told her sooner." A thought struck Seth, and he looked back over at her. "Why are you moving back anyway? You're 18, you don't have to stick with your family if you don't want to..."
"They're.... they're not moving back. I am. For university."
".....oh..."
"I just... I don't belong here, Seth. I never did. The whole time I've been in the States, I've always been That British Girl..."
"You're not, though..."
She shook her head and stood up. "I don't belong here... Nothing personal."
"Are you sure you're making the right choice?"
She sighed as she looked over at him thoughtfully. "I don't know. I'd like to think so."
"But you're not sure."
"Can we ever really be sure of something like that?"
"...No... no, I guess not..."
His shoulders slumped as she disappeared into the bathroom.
- - -
"Tia. Glad you're here," Owen said as she entered the room.
"Owen." She nodded shortly as he looked up at her.
"Look, um... it's become sort of obvious lately that this... isn't going to work out between us."
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, watching his face carefully.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Yeah... yeah, it sure looks like it..."
"Mmm... I sort of figured that when you stormed out with that girl last night..."
He shrugged. "Nothing happened between us, if that makes you feel any better..."
She casually slid her hands into her pockets. "You know, it actually kind of does..."
"But, um... that whole thing did kind of tell me that... we're not ready to do something like this together."
She slowly nodded. "Right, yeah... we should probably stop seeing each other..."
"But boy, we had somethin'," he said as he leaned back, grinning. She smiled slyly in return as she leaned against the wall.
"Yeah... yeah, we did... hmmhmm..."
He laid back, folding his hands under his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "Hey, um, it's not gonna be weird for you sharing a room, is it? I mean I'm sure we could switch..."
She frowned as she looked over at him. "No, I don't... I don't think that'll be an issue..."
"Guess we'll see, anyway..."
She bit her lip and tried to silently clear her throat. "I-I'm just, uh, gonna... gonna take a shower really quick," she explained hurriedly before disappearing into the bathroom.
"O-.... okay," he replied to the empty room, right at the same time the bathroom door was hastily shut. Seconds later, the faucet was turned on, and all he heard was the drone of the running water.
Tad short, yes. In case you haven't noticed by now, usually when I write a shorter chapter, it means the end is in sight.