His words died off as I pushed the glass door open, turning to look at him over my shoulder and giving him a reassuring smile. Even though his words mirrored the thoughts frantically running through my head, I just had to get out of there. The bus was suffocating me and the people on it were, too. Even Bobby, though I know he was really the only one that cared.
The traffic whizzed by me as my bare feet stepped onto the side of the road. I realized I probably looked ridiculous as the bus slowly pulled away. I moved into the grass, plopping myself down onto my suitcase as the whir of headlights started to blur together, and I blinked my eyes rapidly, not letting myself break down, right here, right now.
I needed to keep it together. I needed to get my life back on track. This wasn’t going to bring me down. I was a strong ass woman, and I wasn’t going to let this get to me. And right now, I just needed to get myself the hell off of this highway.
Chapter 2
Nick
“What do you mean it’s over?” I repeated back to the girl that had just dropped this bombshell out of nowhere down on me. The same girl that I had been dating since middle school. The same girl that I had planned on marrying and spending the rest of my life with.
“I mean it’s over, Nick.” She enunciated each word slowly, as if she were talking to a child. “I don’t know what else to say really to help you understand it any better.” I followed her into our bedroom of the tiny apartment we had shared since moving in together almost four years ago, all while she crammed things into two empty suitcases, not even bothering to look at me as she told me it was over. Whatever the hell that meant. This had to be some kind of fucked up joke.
Kara’s blunt personality had been the first thing that had drawn me to her. When she had kicked one of my best friends in the balls for picking her last for the dodge ball team during gym class, I think I had instantly fallen in love. Everyone always teased that I was drawn to her in-your-face attitude because I was such a laid-back guy, but I didn’t care. Our relationship worked; at least I thought I did.
“Kara, just stop for one damn minute. Please,” I added when she let out a loud huff like I was irritating her for needing an explanation. She twirled her petite figure around, planting her hands on her hips, staring back at me with an icy look in her green eyes that I hadn’t ever noticed before.
“Look, Nick, I just can’t do this anymore. I’ve tried, God knows I have freakin’ tried with you, but I can’t. I don’t want to be stuck in one place for the rest of my life. I need to get out of here.”
“Then why didn’t you say something?” I asked, baffled that I hadn’t heard a word of this before today. Fate must have intervened when I decided not to take an extra shift at the resort I managed like I normally did. If I wouldn’t have come home, she probably would have been gone without an explanation. “We can go anywhere you want, do anything you want to do. Just let me pack a bag. I’ll have to call Leo to let him know I’ll be gone for a while, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
She shook her jet-black hair furiously, holding up one finger to me. “You don’t get it, Nick. I don’t want to be stuck here, but I don’t want to be stuck with you, either.”
I felt like she had slammed a ton of bricks into my chest, pulling my heart straight out as she did so, and stomping all over it with those boots she always wore even though we lived in one of the warmest states around. I had no fucking clue what to say to that. Stuck with me?
Apparently, she didn’t really care what I had to say to that either because her frenzied packing picked up once again. I watched silently as she removed every piece of herself from the apartment, but when she pulled the leash off the hook by the door, I had finally had it.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” I grabbed at the leash, which started a game of tug of war between us. Maybe I was trying to use that leash as an anchor to somehow save the relationship I had no clue was in trouble, but either way, I had to stop her.
“What does it look like? I’m taking Gunther with me.” She gave me a look of disbelief, like I was the bat-shit crazy one right now.
“The fuck you are.” I snatched the leash out of her hands quickly, dangling it above her head as she tried to reach for it. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, what exactly you’re doing by ending all of this, but there’s no way Gunther is going with you.”
“Oh, please, Nick, don’t be such a baby, it’s a freakin’ dog. I think you’ll be okay.”