Frustration -SERIES- [Part 2] Headphones & Reveries [boyxboy]

Chapter Nine

'Okay,' Josh said sternly, regarding his printed timetable seriously. 'We have a lot to do and a limited time in which to do it. Is everyone present and correct?' He looked up to see Rachel, Jackson, and I blinking back at him stupidly.

'Did you and Rachel knock heads and switch personalities this morning?' I asked.

'Since when do you care this much about seeing San Francisco?' Jackson asked.

'Since I'm probably going to be living here in a few months,' Josh retorted. I glanced at Rachel, who was remaining conspicuously quiet.

'Right,' Jackson snapped his fingers. 'Of course. We're going to Stanford today, aren't we?'

'We certainly are. Go Cardinals. Sports. Freedom. America. Is everyone ready to go?'

We trooped out of the hotel lobby after Josh and into an Uber, driving the forty minutes out of the city to his future campus. I felt my mood dropping slightly the closer we got; it made me unreasonably jealous that Josh was going to be on a different campus with different friends - without me. I noticed I wasn't the grumpiest passenger though; Rachel was staring despondently through the car window, far from her usual gregarious self.

'Hey you,' I said quietly as soon as we had gotten out of the car, Josh and Jackson pulling ahead slightly as the former let his excitement guide him.

'Hey,' Rachel replied, smiling unconvincingly.

'It's not going to be as bad as you think it is,' I told her, nudging her slightly with my shoulder. 'At you'll be on the same continent. In the same country even. It's only like a seven hour flight between here and Rhode Island.'

Rachel sighed. 'I know. I'm just going to miss him, you know? And it just... Doesn't really seem like he feels the same way.'

I glanced ahead to Josh, who was looking around enthusiastically and comparing his surroundings to a campus map he'd gotten his hands on.

'That's because he's an idiot and he's not thinking about it properly. Just you watch; in a month when you guys get your Leaving Cert results and it all becomes very real, he'll get just as depressed as you.'

Rachel made a face. 'That's not what I want either,' she muttered, rolling her eyes. 'Just a little recognition that we're going to be apart for the first time since we've known each other and that he might miss me too.' She looked around, glowering. 'I hate Stanford,' she added in a hiss, but I knew she was mostly joking.

'You guys will be fine,' I told her. 'I'm the one who has to worry. I don't even know where I'm going to be living after this tour yet but it will probably be Europe. I'll be much further away from either of you than you'll be from each other. What if you both forget about me? Then what will I have?'

'A rockstar boyfriend, a blossoming modelling career, and a supermodel best friend?' Rachel suggested, grinning.

'Yeah, but aside from that.'

I finally got a laugh and she elbowed me. 'You better visit me. I'm not kidding. At least twice a year I want you sleeping on the floor of my dorm room.'

'Twice? Yeah right. I'm thinking more like one or two weeks every month. I'm gonna see if I can get Brown to issue me like an honorary student card or something. I'll drink coffee, sit in the library reading books I don't understand, it will be great.'

'And obviously you'll spend the other one to two weeks per month down here in sunny California with me,' Josh interjected, obviously having overheard the latter part of our conversation. 'And I won't make you sleep on the floor either. Spooning or nothing.'