How to be Forever Alone [#Wattys2020]

31.

I'm absolutely insane and I know it.

A normal person wouldn't just run out of their house and tell no one where they're going, but here I am. A girl, who I guess at this point is not afraid of anything that might come at her.

I make it to the bus station in just ten minutes of sprinting off and on, almost worried that my mother might have decided to come after me in her car. Luckily, I made it there in one piece without any close encounters.

I bought a ticket and sat for an hour or so, texting Chase to let him know I was coming before the bus left for Sudbury.

The scenery is always the same on any trip through Ontario. Trees, pine trees, then some maple trees, more pine trees and then maybe some oak trees. That's it! It's all you will ever see unless of course, you've found yourself in Toronto.

But Sudbury...

Now if you've ever heard of the place it's probably for one of three things.

1. The Big Nickel.

2. Their science museum.

or,

3. That it's quite the mining town.

That's not to say that those are the only things that are there. In fact, for most twenty-something-year-olds, it's probably most known for also housing Laurentian University.

I would say a good portion of my high school graduating class ended up there, including Chase.

By the time the bus arrives at the terminal, it's mid-afternoon and the clouds had turned gray and covered the sky from end to end.

I might only be five hours from home, but the weather feels so much colder and Fall was still so far away, at least it was in my head.

And then I saw him. His brown curly locks of hair shining in the little light that was there, and wearing his iconic tweed coat we found together at a thrift shop a few years ago.

I couldn't help but run to him and wrap my arms around his neck as he twirled me in a circle.

It was almost as if I thought I would never see him again, but he's here and I've missed him so much.

"Hello," Chase says through my squeezing.

"Hi," I reply, still holding on to him.

We don't move, but I feel him hug me tighter.

I nudge my head up a little and holding back all my overwhelming emotions as I say, "I've missed you."

"I know," he replies in his sarcastic manners.

"There's so much I want to tell you," I can barely hold it all back.

Finally releasing each other from our grasps, Chase takes my hand.

"Well then," he smiles at me, "we better go get started."

I follow him to his old beat up car, complete with wood panelling along the side, and I place my bag in the back seat.

Sitting inside, I buckle my seatbelt and Chase finally starts his car and turns the heat on.

I can sense my feet tingle as the warm air hits my shoes and then all the way up to my hands.

Seeing that Chase has never owned a manual car in his life, we jolt for a moment before he's able to get his footing right, and we head off to his apartment.

Most buildings still made you feel like you were in Ottawa, they all look the same. It was no exception to the apartment building where Chase lived. It reminded me of Flint's building. Those same red bricks, yet these were much more faded in colour either because of the sun or the fact that no one had ever taken a pressure washer to it.

We park and I unclip myself from the seat, open the door and proceed to reach for my bag full of unwashed clothes and a stupid notebook.

"So what do you think?" Chase asks looking up to the building, eager to hear my response.

Slowly hushing my voice I reply, "It's amazing..."

"That's it? Amazing..." he says mimicking me.

"It's not like I've never seen an apartment building before," I tell him, lifting the corner of my mouth into a smirk.

He brushes off my comment and leads me inside up the stairs to his second-floor apartment.

The walls are all painted in an eggshell white colour and on the edge of the one large window in the living room sits a lone zombie Chia Pet.

Chase catches my staring at the plant, "Do you like it?"

"Your?" I point at the zombie plant.

"Yeah!" he excitedly picks it up and places it in my hands. "His name is Holden."

"You named it?" I laugh as I question.

"No," he shakes his head, "he already had one, it was written on the box."

I hand him back Holden rolling my eyes, "Of course he did."

He places him back in his spot, making sure his placement is perfect to try and catch any amount of sun it could find through the small spaces in between the clouds.

I look around a little more trying to discover all the other things that could be hidden about. This not including Chases collection of rainbow gems, because I already knew they existed and they weren't really hidden. They were simply arranged neatly on the second-hand coffee table separating the TV and the worn-out navy blue leather couch.

My bag was finally getting to me as it strained on my shoulders, so I turn to Chase who's texting someone on his phone, "Where can I drop my bag?"

"My room," he says not leaving his phone alone, "it's the one at the end of the hallway. The other room belongs to my roommate."

"Well duh," I reply caustically.

"You'll meet her later when we go to the party," he goes on.

"Party?" I ask surprised, just as I reach his room.

I plop my bag down on the gritty carpet of his room before popping my head out the bedroom door.

"I didn't agree to go to a party," I say not too bothered by seriousness.

"Well too late, I already told everyone you're coming."

Parties never end well, at least not for me...