Rylee
Ask
Presley
That would be so pathetic.
Rylee
You’re right. Stealing makes you seem cool.
Presley
Not aiming for cool.
Rylee
Are you okay?
Presley
…
Rylee
I know you hate goodbye.
You won’t even say it on the
phone to me.
Leaving won’t erase him.
Presley
Goodbye sounds so final.
Rylee
But sometimes it’s okay for
things to be over. Look what being
over with Emmett did for you.
Tears burned her eyes. She didn’t want to do this, but for the first time in her life she also wanted to do it. Properly. Rylee was right. Letting go of Emmett, going on this trip without him, had shown her new pieces of herself. Ones she would take back into her regular life. She didn’t want to say goodbye to the Kellers. To Beckett. But she wanted to thank them for everything they’d given her: their support, laughter, the feeling of being included. When she went home, she’d look for those things in any new relationships. She’d be stronger. She’d put more value in her own ideas and worth. Goodbye didn’t have to be an end. It wasn’t with Emmett. It could be what this whole experience had been: a beginning.
Rylee
Take the shirt. It’s more useful.
Presley laughed. She was going home a new version of herself. Surer of who she was and who she wasn’t. She didn’t like the bikes, but she enjoyed the walks, the subtle scent of the water, and the stars. God. She could close her eyes and still see them. She felt like she was the tiniestparticle in this huge galaxy. But she was part of it, and she hadn’t truly felt that way before now.
Presley
I’m better having met him.
Rylee
