Be My Forever

Chapter 40

My leg was jumping up and down. Waiting rooms never did anything good for my anxious self. Minutes ticked by, and the skin on my arms prickled. Elijah appeared in the doorway, smiling warmly.

“Evelyn, please come in.”

He motioned me to sit, so I let myself plop down on the stuffed chair. It was the very same chair I had sat on during my interview months ago, and I had been given the opportunity to get a job here.

“How have you been?”

“Good. I passed all my exams.”

“Excellent. I’m sure you excelled at all of them.”

Not that I really remembered much. After my mental breakdown, I’d pushed that knowledge aside. Danté had looked at the email with the results and told me I had an almost perfect score. Instead of looking myself, I had trusted him on the matter. I was graduating anyway so it didn’t matter anymore.

“I did.”

“What can I do for you?”

I breathed in deeply. It did nothing for my racing pulse. I had no choice but to just be upfront about it all. Even though I hated to disappoint.

“I came to decline the job offer.”

If I wasn’t sure I had caught Elijah’s full attention, I was now. His brows creased ever so slightly. Elijah took off his glasses.

“Did another practice offer you a better job? If so, we can negotiate the conditions.”

I shook my head. It was flattering to know that he didn’t want to let me go so easily.

“I didn’t search elsewhere.”

Which was a first for me.

“Then may I ask you why you’re declining?”

“My boyfriend and I want to travel for a while. While he does it to volunteer, I want to go for the adventure. I still want to work here, but if I don’t try it now, maybe I never will. So I can’t accept.”

For the first time in forever, I had not made intricate plans for my future. I had given Danté free reign on the destination. He had come up with two.

“Are you sure? You would be a great asset to our team, but I can’t guarantee the job offer will still be open when you come back. If we find another promising candidate, they will be the person that takes your place.”

I exhaled, smiling. It was time to move on. Life wouldn’t wait for me. Knowing that I might not get in here after our travel didn’t seem as scary as I had feared. Even if this was still the dream, with Danté by my side, I would be able to live the life I wanted. No matter where that was.

“I am sure.”

“Well, if I can’t convince you to stay, I can at least ask you to come back after your adventure, if that is still what you want. I don’t know if we can still offer you the job then, but please let me know when you get back. Maybe we can figure something out.”

“I will,” I promised.

Elijah opened the door and followed me to the front of the practice. “Where are you going?”

“Kenya, then Vietnam.”

Danté had even convinced me to do some volunteering too. There was a program for nutrition in Kenya. In Vietnam I wouldn’t do anything except for traveling and taking cooking classes. I would enjoy the six-month break and just live life without planning ahead too much. Weird, I know.

“Enjoy your trip.”

It probably wasn’t politically correct to do so with the person who might become your employer. I didn’t care and gave Elijah a hug. The man patted my back before I let go.

“Thank you.”

***

Chloe hit me in the face with a wet kitchen towel. Why did I always pick the aggressive friends out of the ocean of people? I grabbed the towel and took it out of her hands before she could attack me again. She scowled at me.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving!”

So Kristen had already told her. Last night, I had called her to ask if I could work full-time at Hot Stuff for a few months; I needed some extra money for traveling. Danté and I had agreed that we would leave the country as soon as I had officially graduated. And since the ceremony would be in October, it still gave me a bit more than three months to prepare. Kristen being Kristen, she had squealed in delight when I told her my new plans and had immediately accepted. It was weird to know that this part of my life would come to an end. Hot Stuff had been a second home, and Chloe had been like a second big sister.

“It was rather clear that I would stop working here after I graduated.”

She let herself fall on one of the bar stools, her chin resting in her palm. Was she sad? I knew I was. That was part of growing up, I guess.

“I know, but I didn’t think that you graduating meant you leaving the country. Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

“I didn’t know it myself until last week.”

My father believed this to be the biggest mistake of my life: going abroad with a guy who had broken my heart a few months prior. My mom, on the other hand, had cried tears of happiness after I introduced Danté to her as my boyfriend. And like everyone else, she had been shocked when I announced that we were going abroad. Understandably. Unlike Dad, Mom said that this adventure would make me grow so much more than any job could do, that I’d be a fool not to do it. Needless to say, we both ended up crying on the couch, Eleanor, Danté, and Dad giving us concerned glances every now and then.

No one knew how things would go. Would Danté and I hate being with each other every single day? Would we still be together at the end of a year filled with travel? We would see. That was part of the adventure too.

Chloe gave me a hug. There was moisture on my neck where her face touched my skin. I rubbed her back while laughing.

“Don’t be sad. I’ll call you and send pictures.”

“You better not forget about me,” she sniffled.

“I could never. Plus, we still have a few months.”

I imagined her waving a tissue while Danté and I went through the check-in at the airport, crying with my parents, my sister and Grandma, and Jasmine and Theo. I had felt so lonely and lost at times. Now when I’d look back, there would be a whole army of people who loved me standing behind me.

Chloe patted her eyes dry, doing her best to smile at me. The bell chimed, and Danté walked over to us. My heart still did a little flip every time he was near. He gave me a quick kiss, then looked at Chloe, confused. She sniffled harder.

“How dare you steal my Evy.”

“She’s my Evy, now,” he said in a calm voice. Chloe shot him a glacial stare, and Danté had the common sense to avert his eyes. I snickered at how meek he was against my friend. “I promise I’ll bring her back, happy and healthy.” Danté placed a hand on the small of my back. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes. See you tomorrow, Chloe.”

My friend returned behind the counter. I looked around Hot Stuff, at the wooden walls and the coffee cup lamps on the ceiling, the place I would be in almost every day for the next few months. Life really worked in mysterious ways.

Danté laced his fingers with mine, and we went back to my apartment. Since Danté’s plans got delayed once again, he had taken back his post at the practice he worked at before and now stayed with Jasmine and me.

Now that summer was around the corner, nights were getting longer. A nice warm breeze ruffled my hair.

“That went well,” Danté tried.

We both ended up laughing. It had gone better than telling Jasmine, that’s for sure. The only thing that had made her calm down a bit was that if I moved out, Theo could move in our shoe box of an apartment not suited for four people. It was time for us both to have a new start. Though the thought made my heart squeeze.

“I’ll miss them,” I said quietly.

Never had I not seen Jasmine or Chloe for more than a week ever since I met them. This wasn’t permanent, luckily. It didn’t change the fact that it would be hard sometimes and that I would have to adjust to a new life.

Danté pressed my hand. “You can still change your mind.”

“Why would I do that?” I asked.

“I won’t break up with you if you decide to stay.”

He would do his best to make this work was what he didn’t say.

“I know you won’t. But I still want to go.”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t live without him. I didn’t want to. I hadn’t known this before, but I wanted to travel, explore the world, and discover parts of me that I didn’t know yet. Danté stopped outside of our building. The setting sun gave his skin a soft golden glow, and I couldn’t look away. Yes, we had had a rough patch. There certainly would be more of them in the future, but gods was it worth it.

Danté’s eyes were soft and filled with love. “Be my forever, Evelyn.”

“I already was.”

I had been here all along, just like he had. That was why I knew everything would be alright. Danté kissed me, and he tasted like chai lattes and new beginnings. My favourite.