My friend, My Ride, My One That Got Away

My friend, My Ride, My One That Got Away

By E. M. Areson

Alice set back looking much more like an old woman then a college sophomore should. Stress was a killer and trying to stay at the top of her class wasn’t the kind of thing that kept people calm. Grades, lectures, tests, exams! She rested her head in her hands.

For some reason, her thoughts went to Bow and the life he’d offered her instead. She hadn’t thought of him since… well since last week, but it wasn’t like you forgot your closest guy friend that easily. She set back. Yes, it had been almost two years since she’d seen him last. And yeah, they weren’t exactly on the best terms when they left. But they were still friends… Weren’t they?

She pulled out her phone and looked through her photos, way back. Back to the first couple pictures on her phone. There it was, a selfie Bow had taken of himself when he had swiped her new phone on the first day of freshman year of high school. She smiled, they’d known each other since he’d moved to the school in eighth grade. He’d never been popular so he fit right in with her nerdy friends. She hadn’t gotten very close to him until freshman year though.

She flipped through a few more pictures and saw one of Bow and his mom. They were laughing over a couple of burgers. That was the day her dad couldn’t pick her up from school. Their house was getting fumigated and he said he’d take her out to eat since they couldn’t go home until nine at night. His boss had asked him to stay late, he’d told her later.

Bow’s mom had come to pick him up too. Bow’s mom had asked if she needed a ride and Alice had explained everything to her. Bow and his mom hadn’t minded taking her along with them to McDonald's at all. In fact, they liked it so much they asked if she’d like to do it again sometime. The next time her day missed picking her up, Bow and his mom were there to save the day again. She’d learned his mom picked him up because they lived off the school bus routes and his dad worked a lot.

She looked at more pictures, scrolling through the rest of freshman year, then the sophomore and junior year as well. She stopped on senior prom. Her and Bow in matching dress and suit. He’d been her date. They’d had such a great time that night… The next pictures were of her cat than of graduation. Funny, she thought no pictures of the thing that almost changed the course of my life.

The last day of school senior year Bow had driven her home. On the ride, they talked. She had a full ride scholarship to any college she chose. Money was forcing him to stay local. He’d asked where she was going, and he bit his lip when she told him. He’d commented how far away that was and she’d agreed. He asked if she’d thought about staying local, of settling down in their town.

A heavy feeling seeped into her chest. How she had wanted to hear something like that since junior year. Him asking her to stay, be his girlfriend and start a life together. But, she had plans to fulfill. A life to live. She wanted to go places, see things and meet people. She couldn’t do that with a local education. She needed to leave for her plans.

So she had left. Left him, left the town, left her dad, left it all. She didn’t want to, but her heart had been divided and her plans won in the end. She closed the camera and turned the screen off on her phone. She didn’t have time for reminiscing. She had studying to do.

Photo By: Mark Cruz