Shattered Appearances ✓

f o r t y - s e v e n: The Final Goodbye

Before I left for the airport, I stopped by Lucy's house to say my goodbyes. Since I didn't have the chance to tell her I was leaving before, she didn't know. I wanted to say goodbye to her and Bryson before I left. Since it was Saturday, and Bryson always comes over to play basketball with Dylan on this day, I knew he was here. I already had my suitcase in hand. My dad was going to pick me up from here and together along with the rest of my family, were going to drive to the airport.

I rang the doorbell a couple of times and after getting no response, I knocked.

"Zoe? What are you doing here?" Bryson asked after he stepped out of the backyard to meet me. I'm surprised he could hear the knocking since the backyard was huge. He was sweaty, but I ignored it and answered him.

"I came to say goodbye." I raised the hand that had my suitcase so he could see it.

"I thought you were leaving in August?" That was sorta true in a sense. I was originally going to leave a few weeks before school started so I could settle in. Then, I decided that leaving now was for the best.

"Change of plans. I'm leaving today. I have to be at the airport in a couple of hours."

He didn't say anything else but instead threw his basketball on the floor and reached forward to hug me. I playfully rolled my eyes but hugged him back anyway. Eventually, I let go because I didn't want his sweat to penetrate me.

Bryson must've taken too long because Dylan came out yelling.

"Yo, what's the holdup? I want to play ball." When he saw me, Dylan added, "Oh, you ditched me for her. Why?"

"Good to see you too Dylan. Anyway, do either of you know where Lucy is? I want to say goodbye to her."

"Yeah, she's upstairs studying."

"Studying?" I scratched my eyebrows in confusion. "School's over."

"She's weird like that."

I shrugged my shoulders and was about to head inside when Bryson told me, "Call me when you get home safely?"

I smiled at his overprotectiveness. "Definitely, unless I get eaten by zombies on my way to Maryland. Then you'll know why I didn't call."

We both laughed while Dylan shot us a weird look. Clearly, he had no sense of humor. To spare him the trouble of trying to comprehend my joke, I headed inside.

The house was as large as I remembered it. It had a modern feel to it, and there were rarely any family photos along the wall. If you didn't know someone lived here already, you would like it was a vacation home. It felt that barren. I headed upstairs to Lucy's room.

The door was half open but I knocked softly anyway. She looked up at me and gestured for me to come in. I took a seat on her bed and looked at her.

"Studying, huh? My only question is why?"

I looked at the textbook to see it read;

Business and Finance. Fifth edition.

"I want to get ahead of my studies. I heard university can be a bitch."

"I wouldn't know." I said before it became quiet. She glanced at my suitcase and then looked at me in confusion. Her face then twisted into a sly smile before saying, "Are you finally helping kick Dylan out?"

"No, I have more important things to do than throwing all of his clothes out the window. On second though that would be fun, but I can't. I have to be at the airport."

"What do you mean, you have to be at the airport?" She thought about it for a second when her eyes widened, "Wait, are you leaving now?"

"If I wasn't, then I wouldn't be here to say adiós."