“That’s great news. I understand it’s very expensive. How are you swinging the cost?”
Her head jerked up and I could see tears of joy in her eyes. She jumped out of her chair, tackled me and put me in a bear hug.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for understanding. I was scared you’d be mad. You’ve just come back and now I’m leaving you. I should’ve known I could count on you to understand. I’m so sorry for not putting more faith in you. Our friendship means so much to me. I was afraid I’d lose it.”
“Tami, you never have to worry about me like that. I know this is important to you. Does it suck that you’re moving several hours away? Yes, but we both knew that at some point we would need to have a long-distance friendship. No matter how far apart we are, we’ll always be friends. I’ll love you wherever you are.”
I looked over at the back door and Beth was smiling. She could tell we were fine. My friendship with Beth had also gotten closer since I got back. Maybe that was a good thing if Tami were to leave me. I needed to be surrounded with friends who had my best interests at heart. Beth, Alan and Jeff were all good friends. My new friendships with Lily and the football guys also looked promising.
Then there were the potentially game-changing friends. Cindy, Suzanne and Tracy could potentially be much more than just friends. The dream girl was Peggy. If I could ever break out of the ‘friend zone,’ I would be over-the-moon happy.
The one that didn’t seem to register was Tina. I’d lost my virginity to her, but the way things ended just made no sense. Looking back, I was a little sad I’d lost my virginity to her. There wasn’t a real connection there. I would rather have waited and lost my virginity to Suzanne. Even though she told me that what we did was a one-time thing, I didn’t think either one of us believed it. I really had done a lot in a short time to get a nice support team around me.
Not having Tami here every day would be hard because of the nine years of history we had. We hadn’t talked for the past five months, but for me this had been good in a strange way. I’d had to learn to stand on my own. Before, I would always bring my problems to Tami, and she would solve them for me. She’d always been my compass that guided me through life. Not having her around over the summer had been hard for me. Uncle John knew he couldn’t allow us to communicate or I would have never grown up. I think the reason I hadn’t pushed harder to reconcile with Tami was that deep down I knew our relationship had to change. She couldn’t just fix things for me forever.
Would I need her as a sounding board? Hell, yes. The thing I knew was that she had my back 100%. She’d never done anything that wasn’t in my best interest. Even when she told me to get lost five months ago, she had done what was best for me. No relationship was ever equal, and I knew Tami had given me more than I had ever been able to give back. She never cared, because she knew I would lay down my life for her.
I knew we would always be best friends. Distance wouldn’t change that. With video chats, it would be almost as if she was here. Was it a big deal she was leaving to pursue her dreams? Yes, in the sense that she would finally get what she wanted, but it wouldn’t change how I felt about her. I knew deep down I loved her and she loved me. Someday, who knew?
Tami suddenly surprised me when she leaned in and kissed me. In the ten years I’d known her, she had never kissed me. This kiss wasn’t about passion. This was about healing our relationship. I pulled her into a hug and we remained lip-locked for what seemed like eternity. It was the perfect symbol of our love and friendship. When we finally broke apart, we both had tears rolling down our faces. My throat was so constricted with emotion I couldn’t say a word.
Seemingly, out of nowhere, Beth stepped up and smiled at us.
“I take you guys have made up?”
Tami hopped off my lap and I stood up, pulled Beth into an embrace, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Yes, we’ve made up, and thank you for being our friend. I love you too.”
I really didn’t know what had gotten into me being so much more affectionate with Beth. It just felt right, and she didn’t seem to object.
“Come on in, guys. Mom made a cake and we have some ice cream. We’d all like to hear about Tami’s great opportunity.”
Beth led the way. I took Tami’s hand and we walked in as if we were a couple. For some reason we needed the contact to assure each other that this was real. We walked into the kitchen, and Tami and I both saw it was German chocolate cake, our favorite. We broke out into big grins when we saw two big glasses of milk waiting for us. When the cake was served, there was a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Mrs. A had really made an effort to impress.
“I’ve been accepted to Wesleyan Academy starting the fourth quarter. They do things differently there. Their school year is broken into four equal quarters instead of the two-semester system we have. I’ll be starting when the October quarter begins.”
“What will you be studying?” Mr. Anderson asked.
“Premed. That’s always been her dream,” I said.
“Yes, they have a fantastic premed curriculum. They have it set up so that by my senior year I’ll be taking college-level classes. The plan is this should cut at least a year off the time it will take me to become a doctor. They also have close ties to Stanford, Johns Hopkins and many of the other better medical schools.”
“How did you get in? It’s my understanding that Wesleyan is very exclusive, many times invitation-only,” Mrs. A said.
“Actually, that’s a funny story. Over the summer I decided not to play baseball because it just wasn’t any fun without David.” She squeezed my hand to let me know everything was fine. “I decided to learn to play golf. One of the few people I knew at the country club was Bert. Turns out his dad, Dr. Nelson, is involved with setting up scholarships for deserving students who would benefit from an education at Wesleyan Academy. Last week they had a fundraiser for the scholarships, and I was invited. At the event, it was announced I was the first recipient. As a bonus I discovered Bert’s a nice guy and we became friends.” She gave me a direct look and then clarified. “I said ‘friend,’ not ‘boyfriend.’”
Everyone laughed when they saw my sheepish look.
“The last two weeks have been very busy getting all the details worked out. I’ll continue to go to school here until the end of September.” She looked me in the eye and said, “David doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to help me get ready to go and spend a ton of quality time with me until I leave.”
“I think that sounds like a great idea. Just let me know your plans and what you need me to do,” I said.
Tami and I were able to spend some time catching up. It felt like things were as back to normal as having only a few weeks left with your best friend could be. We would make it work.
WHEN I GOT HOME, MOM, Dad and Greg helped me move into the garage apartment. By nine, I was exhausted. I curled up on my bed and slept ten hours straight.
Chapter 9 – Did I Get You in the Divorce?
Monday September 9
I took a quick shower and did my hair. This doing-the-hair thing was a pain. I went down to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before school and Greg was there. I just ignored him and ate a bowl of cereal.
“Do you want a ride?” he asked when I was done.
I stopped and looked him in the eye.
“Okay, sounds better than riding the bus.”
On the way to school, all I could think about was Tami leaving. It wasn’t until I was almost to school that it began to sink in what she’d said. She said she loved me and I had told her I loved her too. Was that even possible? Did I love Tami? There was more to this than I knew. As my uncle taught me, just get through one day at a time and eventually things would work out.