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"Milk" Beck referred to the bar they played all the tirinned at Rowena

"Aw, that was kind of sweet" Claudia looked as surprised as the rest of us

He shrugged "I can do sweet I do kno to tone down all this raw aniroaned "Annnnnddd… he’s back"

Laughing, Jake relaxed against his seat, his ar to miss," he shot , I nodded "Yeah, I’ to miss that too"

"Well," Lowe scratched his chin, "I just learned more about Jake and Charley than I wanted to know"

As everyone laughed, I leaned forward, looking attoit in, knowing that there would probably never coreat friends and saying goodbye--it was a bittersweet certainty of college

My phone blasted in roaned

"Way to ruin the

I rolled my eyes at them as I pulled out my phone "It’s hter in my voice, "Hey, Dad, can I call you back, I’’s happened," he interrupted, his words so grave, unease rolled up froer in my other ear to block out the noise around me "What? What happened?"

"You need to come home, Charley It’s Andie"

The world narrowed, black shadows creeping in at the edges of ht "Dad?"

"She’s been in an accident She’s in a coma You have to come home, Charley You have to come home"

"Oh Go--" The black swarmed my vision and I couldn’t breathe

"Charley?"

"Oh ?"

"Charley? Charley!"

"Ji on?"

"Charley, are you okay?"

"Oh God… no… we’ll get her ho to be okay We’re here"

"Charley…"

Chapter Fifteen

After almost nine hours on the road, we pulled into aBeck had driven this tiovers in the backseat The three of theht but only Jake and I had alcohol We got a little wasted at dinner and I could only put it down to strained nerves on both our parts

Waking up early to get on the road was not fun but our pale faces and self-pity see that kept hiood spirits

For the most part Jake and I were quiet in the back of the car because ere feeling ill Even e stopped at Ogallala, Nebraska, for lunch, ere ot us back on the road, Jake attempted conversation He updated one from total player to devoted boyfriend when he e Apparently the she-player he was dating didn’t give up playing like he did, however, and they broke it off when they started sopho a library assistant now Really quiet, shy Luke’s a different person around her"

"Good different?"

Jake grinned "Yeah, definitely I thinkup How scary is that?"

"What’s scary is the part where we’re growing up," I said dryly "Do you feel it? Grown up, Israd schools-- Every tiht now, I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut"

Suddenly concerned by the anxious tone underlying his words, I turned toward hiht? It’s what you want to do with your life? This is the next step that you want?"

He thought a"Yeah It’s what I want It just sometimes feels like it’s couess we all feel that way We just have to suck it up and get on with it"

"You don’t sound so sure"

Jake’s eyes reassured e part of o back a year or two--pause the inevitability of responsibility and adulthood I’ve fked up the big stuff before I don’t want to do it again"

It was"You won’t You won’t because first ti whether you’d fk anything up Your head wasn’t anywhere but in the moment you were in Now you think about consequences, how everything we do affects our future It’s called the learning curve, Jake" I grabbed his hand and squeezed it without even thinking "You won’t repeat the saers slide throughwent fro ainst skin An innocent touch sohtly over s

Biting back a gasp, I wrenched my hand from his and rolled my head on the cushioned headrest to stare deter, a state I’d never been in before We were on the Lincoln highway and after passing through Cheyenne, there wasn’t much to see except plains, mountains, and trees It was beautiful Peaceful

"Charley?"

Jake said my name so quietly and with such depth, I froze I looked up front to see Claudia and Beck deep in conversation about whichit up on her iPhone

Sure they weren’t paying attention, I looked at Jake feeling a rapid flutter in my chest "Yeah?"

"I’m sorry," he said "For the way I acted last tiain, unable to y accepted You’re allowed to be angry with

I felt resentful Trapped

I lanced sharply up front, noting Claudia and Beck had grown quiet, alert I shot Jake a look of ad I didn’t want to discuss this and definitely not here where we had no privacy, he turned away and watched the passing scenery too

In the early evening we arrived in Laraht We found a motel, took a nap, and then went for a walk Thewith streetlights that looked like gas las dated back to the 1800s, all the storefronts ell kept, and the streets were clean in a way that rerill" Claudia pointed to a place just across from the train tracks

"Let’s do it" Beck threw his ar across the street to the bar

Feeling Jake’s eyes on me, I turned to him "What?"