How We End

Chapter 01 "Ow!" I winced, rubbing the back of my head to relieve the pain, cursing under my breath. "Remind me to lower my head every time I pass there." Christian looked at me and burst out laughing. I glared at him, "Yeah, real funny." "Sorry, sorry." He slowly broke his laughter. "Stop sitting there like a big pile of nothing and start unpacking." I said sternly. "All right." He got himself up, made his way to the boxes and began to help me. Box after box, we were unpacking, fixing everything in their designated places. I don't know how long for, but the hours felt like days but in time, we were finally done. I headed to the living room and sank into the couch and turned on the TV, searching for any meaningful thing I could watch. I saw Chris walking toward me with two bottles of root beer in his hands. He handed me a bottle and sat down on the couch with his legs carefully crossed. "So, uh, have you spoken to your parents since?" I asked, not looking at him. "Nope." He said like it was no big deal. Christian Walker was my best friend. He had been my best friend since junior year and we had always been so close. Back in high school, I didn't exactly have a lot of 'friends' because for some reason, everyone thought of me as mean but that dosen't mean I didn't have any. First of all, Chris was in my biology class, I just knew he was. And it was so obvious that he was gay. But over and over and over, I kept seeing people making fun of him because he was gay, so one day I got fed up and told them to f**k off. Not that I liked him or had any intentions of being his friend, it was just that I hated the fact that he had to be treated differently because of his sexuality. Gradually, we became friends. Then, we became best friends. When we graduated from senior year, I got admitted into Stanford and so did Chris, so we rented a house not so far from school. "Chris-" "Grace, I don't wanna talk about it." He inhaled a deep breath. "Okay, okay." Chris' parents have always been so cultured and God fearing. When they found out that he was gay, they threw him out of their home, not even caring where he would go to or stay. I begged my mom and dad to let him stay at our place for a while. Then Chris' uncle, Stanley, heard of everything and took him in. He had been the one taking care of him ever since. It was like his parents didn't even care if he was alive. "You know, your parents are fucks." I said honestly. "I know, right?" He tried to laugh it off but I could still see the hint of sadness in his eyes. "So, you wanna grab dinner somewhere? I know none of us have the strength to fix something up right now." "Yeah, okay. I'll grab my jacket." That night, Chris and I went out for dinner at this amazing diner nearby and their food was marvelous, if I do say so myself. By the time we got back, Chris was tired and he went to his room to get some shut eye. I stepped into my room and looked around before sitting on my bed, thinking. New life. I had to adjust to this whole new life. Back in high school, it was my parents taking care of me and now it's like I've entered this whole new world where I'm responsible for that. I'm gonna get through college and get the f**k out. Changing into my nightwear, I tucked myself into my blanket and fell asleep. * * * * I woke up around 7:00 AM. According to my schedule, my first class for today starts by 8:30 AM, so I had enough time to get ready. I groggily got out of bed and into the bathroom. I tied my hair up in the messiest of buns and brushed my teeth. And then, I took a brief shower and got dressed. I wore a mint green chiffon blouse and a pair of white high waist jeans with a pair of my favorite black boots. I curled my hair down and did a little bit of makeup before getting to the kitchen to be greeted with the scent of pancakes. "Morning, Grace." My best friend greeted, flipping the pancakes in the frying pan. "I see you're ready for your first day in college." "Ugh, whatever." I said flatly, sitting on a stool close to the kitchen island. I didn't really see it as anything. It was college, not high school where you have to worry about silly little s**t like making friends or whether the hot guy at the back is finally going to notice you. It's just all about you. Nothing big. "Here you go." He said, placing a plate of tasty looking pancakes in front of me. There were like 2 or 3 stacked upon the other with chocolate syrup spread on the top of it. He sure knows how I like my pancakes. "Thank you." I muttered as I took a bite and let out an appealed sound. Having a best friend who cooks so wonderfully is a gift. "Chris, you are a godsend." He chuckled, "I know, I know." He sat across from me, setting his own plate of pancakes down and a jug of orange juice. I got two glass cups from the kitchen cabinet and placed them down. It wasn't long before we were both done with our breakfast and out the door to Christian's car. We arrived at school at exactly 8:16 AM. Chris and I got down from the car and I was about to walk away to my destination, Chris held me back. "Okay Grace, this is college. You've already screwed up high school, do not screw up this one. Be nice to people, make friends, try not to glare at everybody in class and if anyone tries to talk to you, make an effort. Understood?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "Ugh." I groaned. "Under. Stood?" He asked again. "Okay." I sighed and started walking away from him. "Bye sweetie, have fun on your first day!" I heard him from behind me. "Thanks. You too." I said to him and made my way to my class. I was studying literature, Comparative Literature. Mostly because I just loved it, I loved everything about it, I loved studying it, I loved the life that it brought. I loved creating literature. I loved all forms of it, poems, novels, every single thing about it was so intriguing to me. Chris, on the other hand was studying photography. It was also his passion. Immediately I stepped into class, I had a seat and watched the long day commerce. After hours and hours of learning, I was done for the day. I made my way out of the learning theatre and out of the department building. Walking to Chris' car, I decided to give him a call. It rang out two or three times before he picked up the phone. "Grace." "Hey Chris, where are you? I'm done with all my classes." "Um, I'd be there. Could you just wait like 15 or 30 minutes? I have some things I've gotta do." "Sure, okay." "So how was today?" "It was okay." "Make any new friends?" "Uh, nope. What about you?" "Yeah. Just a few." He chuckled. "That's great. I'm gonna find something to do while I wait for you." I said to him. "Stay where I can find you." "No problem." I hung up. I looked around for anything I could possibly do to kill time, then not too far away, I spotted an ice cream stand. God, I can't remember the last time I had ice cream. I began walking over to the stand, making a mental note to stuff our refrigerator with buckets of ice cream very soon. I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my jean. I took it out of my pocket to see the caller ID read Mom. I hit accept. "Hey mom." I said, carefully passing through people. "Hey sweetie, how are you? How is your house? How's Chris? How's college? How was your first day? I'm sorry I couldn't call last night, I got home late and my battery was flat and I was tired so I just-" "Mom, mom! Slow down." I said, making a left turn and down the walkway. She laughed nervously, "Sorry, sweetie. I'm just stressed." "No problem. I'm fine, everything's fine, the apartment's fine, Chris is fine, we're all fine." I answered her. "So how are you doing? How's things at home?" "Good. It's all good." I stopped in front of the ice cream stand and said to the man, "Strawberry chocolate chip." "Cup or cone?" He questioned in a friendly tone. "Cone." "Coming right up." He smiled. "So mom, how's work?" "It's all good, sweetheart." I felt her smile. "Here you go, miss." The ice cream man handed my order to me. I heard my mom saying things I couldn't really make out when I said, "Hold on a sec, mom." I paid the man his money and took a bite out of it, and God, was it wonderful. "Oh okay, but--" I heard my mom again but I wasn't really listening when I asked the man for another one. "Okay, miss." He smiled again. "Uh, mom, what were you saying?" I asked, taking another bite. "I was telling you about how your father's doing. He got a promotion at the company." "That's great." Was all I said. "Grace." "What?" "Can you at least pretend to be happy for him?" "Here, miss." The ice cream man said, handing me over my ice cream cup. Then I paid the man his money and said, "Wrap it up for me please." "Grace?" My mom's high pitched voice sounded through the phone. "I am happy for him." "Are you sure?" The man handed me the bag and I gave him a curt nod of gratitude. "Uh, mom, can I call you back later?" "Yeah, but um, before you hang up-" "Yes?" I took short strides away from the ice cream stand. "Mommy loves you." She said rather sweetly. "I love you too--" Then all of a sudden, I was pushed from my side and the ice cream flew out of my hand and into the road. I don't joke with ice cream. "Shit." I cursed under my breath. I definitely wasn't thinking about any thing else in that moment when I ran into the road to pick it up and that was when I heard screeching of tires. I felt a car halt just a few inches away from me, causing the breeze to swat my hair to my face. I pushed my blonde hair backward and heard the car door open. From the corner of my eye, I could make out a male figure. "Are you crazy?! Why would you just barge into the middle of the roa-" Then I looked up at him, and he stopped for a moment, just staring at me. "-road like that." He said, his harsh tone changing entirely. ------