Almost Four Years Later

As I unpacked the rest of my belongings into my dresser, I placed the last thing from my bag into the drawer.

A slightly worn out crocheted smiley face stress ball.

I looked at it for an extra moment before closing my dresser drawer.

I then sat down on my bed.

I was back in my childhood bedroom, and it felt fucking weird.

College was over- I had graduated two weeks ago.

I was going to be starting my graduate program in September, and I was going to be working all summer where I had worked in high school, and all of my breaks- Chopped.

I was now 22 years old, and as expected- a lot in my life had changed.

I heard a knock at my door, and I said, "Come in."

I figured it was my dad- out of him and my mom, he would be the one much more likely to talk to me.

"Hey, Bell." he said, coming into my room. "You're all unpacked?"

"I am." I said, "I just finished emptying everything into my dresser drawer. All unpacked."

"Good, I'm glad you're all settled in. I know that moving back home after college wasn't your first choice, but I promise- I will treat you like the adult you are." my dad grinned at me, "And I know that your mom...she wants to work on things with you."

"I think this will be a good opportunity to." I smiled at my dad.

"Alright. I'll take the three of us out to dinner sometime this week. Are you seeing Kyla tonight?"

"I am. And I'm probably going to stay over at her apartment." I nodded, "Is that okay?"

"Like I said, I'm treating you like an adult. All I ask is that you tell me or your mom where you are going, and that's all I need." my dad said.

"Okay. I promise I'll let you know where I am going." I said.

"Cool." my dad nodded, "Peyton is coming over with Savannah and Kyle later. Maybe you'll catch them before you leave."

He then closed the door to my room.

Peyton was now engaged to Kyle, who she met two years ago. She was now 23 years old, and Savannah was 5.

I laid down on my bed and turned on Netflix. I figured I would do that until Kyla told me that I was okay to come to her apartment.

By the time 5 PM rolled around, I was surprised that she hadn't texted me or called me. So I decided to give her a call.

She answered after the second ring. "Hey, babe. Can I call you soon? I'm finishing up an interview."

"Oh, sure. Sorry!" I said, and hung up.

Kyla had mentioned to me that she was interviewing a few Paralegals this week, since her old one, Keisha, had put in her notice since she was moving.

Kyla Francis, my girlfriend, is an Attorney. She works a town over from me, and lives there as well.

She called me about twenty minutes later.

"I'm so sorry I interrupted your interview!" I said, "I hope I didn't ruin it."

"Hey, stop worrying. You didn't ruin it at all. I think I'm going to hire the girl I interviewed. I'll tell you more when you come over. I'll place an order for some sushi for us." Kyla reassured me.

"Okay. Thanks, you're the best. I'll be at your place in twenty minutes." I said.

"See you soon. Love you." Kyla said, and then we hung up.

I didn't catch Peyton before I left- but I got into my car, the same Ford Focus that I've had since I was in high school- and drove over to Kyla's.

It felt weird driving in my town knowing that I lived here now. I wasn't just on a break from college anymore.

Kyla lives in a modern, luxury apartment building. When I got there, I parked and went into her building, and then up to the third floor.

Kyla greeted me at the door, still in her pantsuit from work. Her long, wavy dirty blonde hair was down and loose.

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, "Come in. I'm going to go to my bedroom and change."

I followed Kyla through the living room, which was immaculate as always, and into her bedroom.

She started to take off her gray pantsuit, showing her toned body. Kyla was tall, about 5'8, and she was lean, but toned from working out.

"Like what you see?" She smiled at me.

"Always." I said back, with a wink.

Kyla put on a pair of joggers and a white t-shirt, and we went out to the living room and sat down on the couch. Kyla turned on her flatscreen TV, and said, "I got the sushi on Uber Eats, it'll be here soon."

As she said that, there was a knock at the door.

"And that would be our sushi." Kyla said, getting up. She opened the door and said, "Thanks so much. Have a nice night." to the Uber Eats driver, and she came back with the bag with the sushi. "We've got the goods." she said, with a smile.

Kyla set out the platter of sushi on the glass coffee table in front of us, and we started digging in.

"Delicious." Kyla said, taking a bite of her rainbow roll.

"It is really good." I said, biting into a piece of Tuna sashimi.

"Sorry I wasn't able to help you move your things back to your house." Kyla said, "You got everything there okay?"

"Yes."' I nodded, "My dad and I also had a nice conversation. But anyway, how was your day? You said you are going to probably hire the girl that you interviewed today to be your new Paralegal?"

"Yes!" Kyla said, swallowing her piece of sushi, "She was really great. I can tell she is really smart. She has been a Paragel for a year now. I could tell she was nervous, and she was a bit on the quiet side, but I think she will do a great job. I'm going to offer her the job next week."

"Awesome!" I said, "I know you were concerned about finding someone after Keisha. What's this girl's name?"

"Maxine." Kyla said, "I'm forgetting her last name to be honest. But I'm excited to hire her."

I felt a chill go down my spine.

Maxine.

No. It can't be. Right?

"That's a nice name." I said, "I'm super glad you found someone." I then changed the subject by saying, "A new ice cream place opened. Want to go later?"

Kyla slightly pouted and said, "You know I'm trying to be healthier. But sure. Especially if they have frozen yogurt."

For the rest of the night, I felt weird. Even as I laid in Kyla's bed, next to her, in the dark- I couldn't shake the feeling I had.

Is Maxine, Max?

The next morning after leaving Kyla's, I went to the Starbucks drive thru line and was in a daze as I sat behind 9 other cars.

Did Max become a Paralegal? Does she go by Maxine now? Is she really going to be working for Kyla?

I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about Max since we broke up.

Because I thought about her- a lot.

I could still feel my heart shattering as she ended things with me. And when that feeling came over me- I pushed it away.

That was a long time ago. I've moved on. I'm sure she has to,

Fuck. I don't like the thought of that. I've never liked the thought of that.

The fact that I thought about Max as much as I did was something that I kept in my back pocket.

I didn't tell anyone, not even McKinley.

Though after I got my iced soy latte, I did call McKinley to tell her that Kyla hired a new Paralegal- named Maxine.

"Do you think it could actually be Max?" McKinley asked me. She was on her way to work. Unlike me, McKinley did become a Nurse at a Doctor's office, and got a job right out of college.

"I have no idea. I mean, Maxine isn't a common name. But she never let anyone call her Maxine." I said, "I don't even know why I care."

"It's not weird that you care." McKinley said, "I would care. I do care! All I know is, you have to find out."

"I will one way or the other."

"Let's say it is Max. I mean...what would you do? You're happy with Kyla, it's not like it would mess anything up." McKinley said.

"Of course." I responded back, "It would just be interesting."

"It would be. Keep me posted, okay?"

I told McKinley I would keep her posted. And I couldn't stop thinking about it until that Tuesday when Kyla told me she offered the job to Maxine- and she took it. She would be starting the next week.

Kyla didn't mention Maxine's last name- so I didn't ask. I didn't want to seem weird at all.

But I was going to find out.

I kept busy by working my shifts at Chopped- and I worked a lot of them. I wanted to save up as much money as I could before starting my Epidemiology program for graduate school- because I wouldn't be working then.

The only one who still worked at Chopped from when I did was Jamal. He was now the manager, Christy left to manage a fine dining restaurant.

Jamal and I became close friends as I would work there over my winter and summer breaks through college. He came out as gay- and that was something we bonded over.

As we were closing on Friday night I asked him, "Do you know anything about Max- if by some chance she became a Paralegal?"

Jamal looked at me. "You know that I don't know anything about Max. I haven't spoken to her since she quit here years ago. Now why are you asking me about your ex-girlfriend?"

I sighed, "Kyla hired a Paralegal this week. Her name is Maxine...and I don't know, it had me thinking about whether it could be Max."

"I doubt it." Jamal chuckled, "You know damn well Max was just about ready to kill someone if they called her Maxine."

"Yeah. She was." I chuckled, thinking of the look she would give anyone even if they jokingly called her by her actual name and not "Max".

"And even if by some tiny chance it was her- what's it to you? You have a hot lawyer girlfriend. You won the lottery." Jamal said.

"Yeah. I am lucky." I nodded.

And I was lucky. I've been lucky since my first date with Kyla a little over a year ago. She had been the first person that I had really connected with since, well, Max.

I decided that next week I was going to bring Kyla lunch one day. It was something that I had done before when I was on my breaks from school, it wouldn't be out of the blue.

But it was for a different reason this time. I had to see if Maxine was Max. I just had to.