Blank Pages by Alice Darlington

Author:Alice Darlington
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

“I QUIT LIFE.”

“What?” Jules questioned from her blanket fort on the couch. She muted the TV, presumably assuming from my face that I was close to having a meltdown, which was a pretty spot-on assumption.

“I just completed my last final. It sucked. So did the three before it.”

If I’d had class the next day, I’d have been protesting with signs on the quad. Give me a break, or give me death. Okay, so not death, but like a couple hours of migraines or something. Thankfully, Christmas break was officially starting in the morning.

“I’ve been trying for months to step out of my comfort zone and nothing’s happening. I’m failing at life.” Half of my senior year was over, and I’d done nothing. I was in the same place I’d been in at the end of the summer. A whole season had passed with very little change in my life.

She rolled her eyes at the dramatics. “You are not failing at life. You’re living. Besides, giving Ben a chance was really far out of your comfort zone, and that’s going great.”

“I don’t want to just get by, though. It is going great, but I told you, I didn’t mean dating. I want to do more than endure. I want to flourish under the things that should break me. I complain about college, I know, but this is the time we have to do the fun stuff, the non-responsibility stuff, and I feel like I’m wasting it.”

“Then do it!”

“Do what, though?” I asked her.

“Whatever you want.” She shrugged. “What do you want to do, Lex?”

“Go somewhere.” Wanderlust had hit me hard. I was tired of living my life around due dates. How dare responsibilities get in the way of my impromptu travel urges? Wanderlust doesn’t care about prior engagements. “Anywhere.”

So that’s what I did. I had a rough plan of exploring the nearby areas without constraint.

“Be safe.” I felt his breath more than I heard him. He kissed a line down my cheek before planting one on my mouth.

“You know I’ll be here tomorrow right?” I half-laughed like I didn’t enjoy the attention.

“For one night, and then you’ll be home for weeks. This is like a practice goodbye.” All the oxytocin being released in my body from his hug was making my brain swirl. Maybe I didn’t really need this time to myself. Maybe all I needed was to stay in his arms for the next forty-eight hours. It was tempting, but I still wanted some adventure.

Thankfully, the drive wasn’t a bad one. With no traffic and the right music, I enjoyed my time alone singing my heart out to the open road.

Before I even made it to the city limits, I veered off the highway in search of the peace promoted by a natural setting. Ignoring the monotonous tone of the GPS informing me it was redirecting, I followed the signs for a waterfall nestled on the other side of a wooded park.

After parking and grabbing my camera, I followed the walking path to the pool at the bottom of a thirty-five foot waterfall.

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