Twenty Candles (Part of the Tx3U Trilogy)

21. Day Thirteen - Raven's Day

 

            She stares blankly down at her phone, waiting for two specific people to at least send her one text wishing her a good birthday. There’s one from Quincy, one from Lopez, a paragraph from Alosa, and even one from Masslie. Where’s Prius or Malcolm’s?

            After a few more hours she gives up completely on getting some kind of message from either one of them, altogether. Whatever, she thinks. Maybe it was too much for her to think either one of them could even think about her right now.

 

            “Babe!” Quincy calls out. “Is this mine or yours?”

            Lopez comes in from the other room and looks over at what Quincy’s holding in her hands, an oversized T-Shirt with the Rolling Stones logo on it. “I think that’s yours,” he says. Quincy nods, tossing it back down on the floor. Right now, she’s rummaging through the closet of their place, taking out all the clothes that belong to Lopez, and placing them in a suitcase, while he’s getting all his knickknacks, everything that belongs to him.

            “Kay,” Quincy sighs. Lopez stares at her as she searches through the closet, he walks over to her and wraps her in his arms, once again.           

            “Come with me to Cambridge,” he says.

            “Lopez,” she whispers back.

            “I don’t understand why you changed your mind. Just because we’re not getting married doesn’t mean we change our entire plan.”

            “Lopez,” Quincy sighs, she rotates her body to face him. “I was only going because we were getting married, but, now that I think about it. I have a job here, a career. I was giving it up for you, but I think I should stay here. You though, Cambridge and Harvard, that’s your life.’

            “Quincy, you’re my life, don’t do this,” Lopez gulps. “You can get a job out there, I’ll be in university, you’ll be working, we’ll even be closer to Masslie, we could visit her anytime! We had it all planned out.”

            Quincy exhales a deep breath, “I know that was our former plan. I just, I really want to stay here. I like it here.”

            Lopez gazes deeply into Quincy’s eyes, what’s she doing. Is this punishment for him calling off the engagement? Why is she intentionally hurting him, second-guessing their plans, saying it was all his idea? The plan was to get married, move to Cambridge because he’s going to attend Harvard, and live there happily, why does the plan have to change immensely?

            “What does that mean for us?” he dare asks.

            “We’ll figure something out,” Quincy promises him. “Long distance isn’t so hard. Beside, we’re not even that long distant.”

            “And you really don’t wanna move with me?” Lopez raises an eyebrow.

            “I’m not ready yet, to give up this place.”

            “Quincy. This has nothing to do with me calling off the engagement. Does it?”

            Quincy goes silent for a minute, hesitant. “I hope not,” she says more to herself than him.

           

            Tomorrow being the final day, and Raven not here to celebrate her birthday. Today is more like a packing day, preparing to head back to their lives, more than anything else, really.