Abandoned in the woods, after having bared my soul to the woman I love.
Anger replaces sadness, and I toss the photo in the suitcase and zip it up. It’s time to officially leave all the heartache and bullshit behind me here at Berkeley. I’m starting a new life with my friend Gray, and all my focus needs to be on the company, not some girl.
But she isn’t some girl. She’s the girl.
Fuck! I want to scream. I’m so tired of her being on my mind.
“Dude, are you ready yet? Did you pack all your panties? I’m not sure what’s taking so long.” Gray bounces on the heels of his feet, impatient as always. He’s wearing his typical outfit, pastel shirt with khaki shorts and Sperrys. He’s your typical frat, boy except he wasn’t ever in a frat.
His blonde hair is slicked back and parted to perfection, and his blue eyes shine with excitement. He is like a kid in a candy store, and he isn’t even in our store yet. The man lives off anticipation.
“I’m ready, jeez. Stop getting your panties in a twist.” I take the handle to my suitcase and start to the door.
“I’m so excited to see Spokane. I did some research, and it has a small-town vibe to it. It has prime property overlooking mountains. I made an appointment with a real estate agent to show us around. I figured we can talk to a construction crew after we buy a plot of land. What do you think?”
“I think you’re five steps ahead, like you always are,” I say to him as I turn off the light and shut the door. I don’t bother looking back toward the room where I spent all my nights creating this app to try and forget about Everly. That’s what this company was started on. That anger, pain, and constant attempts to put her behind me.
I had no idea my heartache would take me here. Owner and CEO of LifeRight Financial. I guess I really have to thank her for what she did, or I wouldn’t be where I am today.
“Someone has to be prepared.” Gray claps his hands together. “We have a few hours before our flight leaves. How about we have one last hurrah before leaving?”
“That’s what last night was for, and the previous night, and the night before that,” I say with a smile. Gray loves to party and find any reason to celebrate. He even partied and celebrated a test he failed one time because ‘that’s life, and I love life’. His exact words.
“Yeah, but that was last night.” He frowns, as if I kicked his puppy or something.
I roll my eyes at his sullen expression and sigh, glancing at my watch. “Fine, but we aren’t getting too crazy. I don’t want to be hungover or wasted when I get to my dad’s house. I’d never hear the end of it.” My father is a very wealthy man, but when I went to college, he made sure I had to work for what I wanted, just like he did.
So, while many people never believed I didn’t have a dime of my dad’s money, I really didn’t. All the money I have, I earned, and I have to say, it feels fucking great.
“No, just enough to feel great before getting on the plane.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and shoots a wink to a blonde chick with a lot of tattoos. Gray definitely has a type. The type that makes mom’s nervous. It makes me laugh because he is so clean-cut and preppy, yet the girls he likes are complete opposite.
We pass a few friends and say bye as we make our way out of the front doors of the dorm. A car is there with our own driver—Gray insisted. And the older-ish man grabs my luggage and puts it in the trunk next to Gray’s.
“Hey, Trevor. Can you take a photo of me and my brolio here?” Gray asks the driver.
“Of course, sir.”
Gray slaps me on the back, and we stand in front of the building that we have lived in for two years. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and it couldn’t be a better day to say goodbye and close a chapter to life. Gray throws his arm around me, and I smile.
“On the count of three, sirs.”
“Wait, on three or after three? Because that’s important,” Gray asks.
I slap my palm against my forehead and groan, “Dude, just be ready.”
“After three,” Trevor, our driver, says with a little smile.
“So, four. That would be four,” Gray corrects.
“Oh my god, Gray. Just shut up and smile already. You’re making me want to drink, and it isn’t even noon yet.”
He rubs his hand down his shirt and grumbles, “It matters.”
This time, I throw my arm around him and put him in a headlock. “It doesn’t matter.” I ball up my fist and give him a noogie, messing up his perfectly parted hair.
“Not the hair! Not the hair!” he shouts.
I let go and laugh as I see his precious blonde locks standing up. He looks like he got electrocuted. “Personally, I think it looks better.”
“Asshole,” he chuckles with a teasing glint and throws his arm around me again. “Okay, let’s try this again. On the count of ‘after three’, which is technically four.”
I don’t have time or the energy to get into that again, so I smile. Trevor seems to be having a good time, so it’s hard to be annoyed at Gray’s technicalities.
“Looks
