Chapter 30: Goodbye Means Going Away, Going Away Means Forgetting 

Wesley's Point of View

“Talk?” I echo. “What do we need to talk about?” Is everything okay?” I ask, listening to Steffy’s panicked words.

“Um…yes and no?” She replies, her voice strangely quiet. That’s just weird because she’s always talking and rather loudly at that.

“Okay, well, what does that mean?” I ask with a chuckle to ease the evident tension that’s existing in our phone call.

Something’s obviously wrong and I don’t know what it could be considering the fact that when I left a few hours ago, everything was just fine and dandy. Unless she ran into some trouble filling out one of her applications or something, but I doubt she’d call me about that.

“It means that it’s a good thing, what happened, I mean, but it’s also a really bad thing,” Steffy groans.

“You’re starting to freak me out, Stef,” I inform her with a soft sigh. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it ain’t all that bad. Just tell me,” I urge.

Like I said, I left Steffy’s house a few hours ago, because for some reason unbeknownst to me, my mother finds it necessary to force me to always babysit the terrible twins. I don’t understand why she couldn’t have just left Aiden and Adeline at our cousin’s house until she got off of work tonight, because that was a really nice plan, I think. My mother is a bit weird though; I think she just didn’t want me to be alone at the house at nighttime because she must think I’m seven instead of seventeen or something.

I don’t know why, but she’s been like that ever since my father went to jail. After that, she just got so protective of the twins and me. We don’t talk about it though, my dad or what he did, just because it’s a sensitive subject for my mother and the twins, of course, won’t understand it because they’re only five years old. So, we just never talk about it. It’s as if he doesn’t even exist—  well, except for when the three of them go to visit him which is only like, twice every six months.

“Um, do you remember when you first heard about my father’s company?” Steffy randomly asks me a second later.

“Yeah,” I confirm slowly, remembering the morning that I first saw her family on my television.

Of course, I didn’t know it was them because I didn’t know what they looked like at the time, but then I heard them starting to talk about the company—  Vandergeld Industries, I think it’s called. I was just flicking through the channels one morning before school, sitting on the couch down in the living room and eating some cereal when I realized that it was Steffy’s family they were talking about. I was pretty sure, I mean, Vandergeld’s not all that common a surname and not to mention the fact that the news reporter specifically said her name, Stephanie Vandergeld and how she was caught in a paparazzi stint or something a few days prior. There was a picture of her that apparently a paparazzo took and then another one of her brother, Spencer, with his fist hurling towards the camera.

Honestly though, I wasn’t really that surprised though, when I found out about Steffy’s situation. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing or anything, but she sort of just has that vibe about her. The classy and pampered vibe. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not like, stuck up or anything, but she was a little bit when she got here, I think. She’s a lot nicer now though. Then again, she was always really nice to me, it was mostly Ben and Conrad who got her attitude, but they were the ones that pried and teased her a lot, I think. Of course it was all in good humor though, they weren’t intentionally being mean.

“Why do you ask?” I query my girlfriend, running my fingers through my hair tiredly.

“Well, you know how we went broke and stuff and that’s why we moved here,” She continues, beating around the bush.

“Right, yeah, I know that,” I remind her, starting to stroke Meredith’s back as she comes into my room and climbs up on my bed.

“So, then you know about Camden?” Steffy wonders.

“Camden? I don’t think so,” I retort. “Who’s that and why should I know about him?”

“Jimmy Camden. He’s the one that stole my daddy’s company. Anyways, he had like, a heart attack or a stroke or something like that. He didn’t die or anything, but he’s obviously not fit to run a company like V.I. So, he’s recuperating, I guess, and the company went to the next person in line. That just so happened to be Leah and Watkins, you know, Samuel’s parents. They had a lot of stock in the company, major stockholders, which is why the company went to them next. And to be blunt, they’re idiots. They don’t know the first about running a dignified engineering company like my daddy’s. They own a chain of super expensive restaurants around the world and a global cosmetic company, respectively. They ran it straight into the ground, according to Spencer. So the Board of Directors had no choice but to reinstate my father as owner and CEO.” Steffy explains to me in a rushed tone.

“Okay,” I retort, clearing my throat. “I didn’t understand half of what you just said, but I think I get the gist of it. That means you’re rich again though,  doesn’t it? That’s a good thing though, isn’t it?” I question, lying flat back on my bed, still stroking Meredith as she follows me and lays her head on my arm. I know that cats are supposed to be like, anti-social or whatever, but Meredith is literally so clingy to me. It’s cool though because of course I love my cat. She’s just so chill and hardly coughs up hairballs, plus my mother cleans the litter box, so I don’t have to, which is nice.

“Y-yeah, I’m rich again. Well, you know, not me. My parents are rich again. But, yeah, that’s good. Amazing, actually. My parents left going back to California a little while ago. A few hours ago, I guess. They’ve already bought us another house there and according to Spence, they’re gonna get our stuff back. The vacation homes, my car, we’re getting our spot back at the country club and my mom even thinks that we might be able to still go on the summer trip to the Bahamas.” Steffy explains awkwardly.

“Well, that’s great,” I truthfully reply with a laugh. “I don’t think that I get the bad part though,” I admit sheepishly.

“Wesley,” She sighs heavily and dramatically. “I’m moving,” Steffy murmurs a few seconds later, her voice so quiet that I barely hear her.

“Ooooh,” I say, the realization hitting me like a sack of bricks. I blink a few times, finally getting what she meant by ‘bad’.

“Are you angry?” Steffy wonders when I don’t say anything else. My girlfriend is definitely an uncanny kinda girl. She cares way too much what people think of her, I’ve noticed. Like, when people are angry with her or anything, she gets so upset about it. It’s usually pretty funny to me too because I’m the complete opposite. I mean, when someone’s mad at me, I don’t really care, though people being unhappy with me is pretty rare because I like to think that I’m a nice guy.

“I’m not angry, Stef,” I promise her, my voice bleak. “You always said that living here was only a temporary thing for you,” I remind her.

“Yeah, but that was before, Wesley,” She complains with a huffing noise.

“Before what, Steffy?” I wonder, sighing inaudibly when I hear a crash downstairs.

Aiden and Adeline are down there and they’re supposed to be watching a movie. When I got back home, my mother had just brought them home and then she left. So, they complained about how they were ‘starving’ and I fixed the two of them macaroni and cheese and hot dogs because I’m not really a cooking guy and then they ate. After that, I brought them into the living room and turned on a movie—  Hoodwinked 2,  because that’s the only cartoon movie they would both agree on—  and then I came back up here to my room, telling them not to bother me unless someone was hurt, the doorbell rang or when the movie was over. I should probably go down there and make sure that all is well, but I don’t hear of them screaming yet, so I’m gonna go ahead and say that it’s all good.

“Before I realized that Tennessee actually isn’t the worst place on the planet,” Steffy informs me.

“Oh, wow, that’s so sweet of you,” I teasingly respond.

“Wesley, I’m being serious,” She snaps, obviously not happy with my joking around.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. So, you’re moving back to California? What’s the big deal with that?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s the big deal with that?’, Wesley, you and I are gonna be like, two thousand miles away from each other.”

“Oh,” I pipe, letting out a long sigh. “I can see how that would propose a problem,” I mutter.

“You think?” Stephanie sarcastically replies.

“Well, then I guess we’ll just have to make the most of the time that we’ve got left together. You can come over now, if you want to. I’m still babysitting the terrible twins, but my mother should be back home from work in just a few hours. Then we can do whatever you want. We can go see that new movie that just came out that you’ve been talking about seeing. Or we can play Scrabble or something since you seem determined to beat me in it, and I’m sorry, baby, but that’s just not going to happen. Or we can call up our friends and do something with them. I mean, just because you’re moving, doesn’t mean things have to be all sad and stuff, we have enough time to— ”

“Wesley, no, we don’t have enough time. To do anything. Because I’m leaving really, really, really soon,” She interrupts me.

“When you say soon how soon do you mean, exactly?” I ask with a sigh, knowing that I’m not going to like this answer at all.

“Tomorrow,” She whispers then sniffles quietly. “Spencer says that we’re leaving at around nine a.m.”

“Tomorrow?” I echo, sitting up in my bed, which makes Meredith fall off of resting position on my stomach.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Steffy confirms before sniffling again.

“Steffy, are you, are you crying?” I ask her incredulously.

“Yes, I’m crying!” She wails. “I don’t want to leave you and I don’t wanna break up with you,” She adds.

“Well, we don’t have to break up,” I assure her. “We can do long distance and we can Skype at least once a day, every day,” I promise.

“No, at least five times, every day,” Steffy corrects me with another sniffle.

“Okay, sure, five times a day, every day, if that’s what you want,” I laugh. “Don’t cry though, please.”

“It’s just not fair, Wesley. If this had happened the first week I moved there, then I’d be so happy right now. But I’m not happy. I mean, yeah, it’s cool that we’re gonna have money again but I don’t want to leave you. I don’t wanna leave Madison and Anna Grace and Carly and Laurel and Conrad and Ben, even though he’s leaving soon anyway, and believe it or not, I’ve formed a special bond with those stupid cows and I know that it’s really stupid to say it, but I’m gonna miss those stupid fat cows. And I’m gonna miss Rueben and Chipper, those are the horses. And I’m just going to miss this big stupid state,” She complains and then makes this gurgling noise and that’s when I can tell that she’s like, full on crying.

“What can I say that’s gonna make you feel better?” I ask her desperately, not wanting to hear her cry hysterically. I mean, I don’t think that any boyfriend wants to hear his girlfriend cry. It’s not a pleasurable thing to listen to, I’ll tell you that.  

“Nothing, you can’t say anything that’s going to make me feel better because right now, there’s nothing that gonna make this okay.”

“I’m sorry, Stef, I really am,” I awkwardly choke out.

“It’s not your fault, don’t apologize,” She replies after a second. “But do you really think that we can do it? Long distance, I mean. Because I thought Samuel and I could do it and we both see how great that worked out. Not that I’m comparing my relationship with that egotistical man whore, because I’m not. You’re like, seven hundred thousand bazillion times better than him. The fact remains though, long distance is really, really hard.” Steffy explains.

“I know it’s hard, Stef, but yeah, I really do think we could do it. You know, if you want to. And maybe I’ll get into that San Fran school.”

“Yeah, maybe you’ll get in, but still, that’s not until next year. Who knows what could happen between now and then?”

“Okay, well, you don’t sound like you even want to make this work. I thought you just said that you didn’t want to break up?”

“Wesley, I don’t wanna break up with you, you know I don’t,” Stephanie exclaims through her crying. “You know how much I like you.”

“Yeah, I know how much you like me and I know how much I love you and I know that if we both want to, we can make it work,” I say.

“Wait, what?”

“What, what?” I echo, furrowing my brow confused.

“Repeat what you just said,” She demands.

“I said, ‘what, what?’, why?” I answer, confused.

“No, stupid,” She giggles, sniffling. “Before that, I meant.”

“Before that? Before that I said, ‘yeah, I know how much you like me and I know how much I love you and I know that if we both want to, we can make it work,’ at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what I said. What’s so weird about me saying that?”

“You just said that you love me,” Steffy states.

“Oh,” I reply, dumbfounded, realizing that I did and that it just…slipped out, I guess. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did,” She laughs. “But, why?”

“Why what?”

“Why’d you say that love me?” She clarifies.

“Because I do love you, Stephanie,” I assure her.

“A-are you sure?” She fumbles over her words nervously.

“What do you mean, ‘am I sure’? Of course I’m sure. I didn’t mean to tell you like this, but yes, I’m sure. I love you, Steffy.”

Yes, I’m aware that we’ve only been dating for like, two months and a week or so now and I’m not entirely sure if it’s possible to love somebody that fast, but I think it is. Because I really do love Steffy. She’s really weird and a little bit quirky, but she’s adorable and just perfect and I just love the girl so, so much. I think I probably should have told her sooner and not while we’re on the phone trying to work out if we’re going to break up or not, but I just figured it out not too long ago, myself.

“Then, I love you too,” She pipes happily.

“Yeah? Are you sure about that?” I ask teasingly.

“Yes, you buffoon, I’m superiorly sure,” Steffy giggles.

“So, does this mean that we’re not gonna break up?” I wonder.

“Well, I don’t think so. Not considering the fact that we just said the ‘L’ word to each other,” She replies.

“Okay then, well, don’t worry, I know we can do this. And even I don’t get into the San Francisco school, I’ll be there. The day after graduation next year, I’ll be on the first flight to California and I’ll go to some little community college there in Los Angeles if I need to.”

“I’m holding you to that, James,” Steffy promises me.

“Go ahead, Vandergeld, because I mean that,” I shoot back.

I don’t know if she can tell or not, but I’m being so serious right now. If me leaving Tennessee next year and coming to California is what it takes for us to stay together and if Skyping five times a day, as she said, then I’m down for it. I haven’t dated many girls in my life, and I’m not saying that Laurel’s not a lovely girl, because she really is, but Steffy has definitely been the best girlfriend that I’ve ever had. She’s funny and smart—  whether she chooses to believe the smart part or not, she is—  beautiful and just an all-around amazing person.

✈✈✈✈

The next morning, the sound of my mother rapping her knuckles on my bedroom door wakes me up.

“Wesley, sweetie, wake up.” She calls.

“Mom, what is it?” I call back, trying to be polite as I pull my cover over my head.

“I need you to get up, Wesley,” My mother tells me.

“I’m a little depressed, in case you haven’t noticed,” I reply, keeping my eyes closed.

“Yeah, I could tell by the way you wouldn’t leave your room at all last night,” She replies.

“Alright then, so if you don’t mind, I really just want to sleep for a few hours, I say through the door.

“But I do mind, Wesley, you wouldn’t even tell me what’s wrong with you. Did the twins give you trouble last night or something?”

“No, it wasn’t Adeline and Aiden’s fault,” I sigh heavily, sitting up in my bed and pulling a random shirt on.

I stand up from the bed and cross the room, pulling the bedroom door open. I rub my eyes tiredly, knowing that I got nowhere near enough sleep. Steffy and I ended up talking until like, 6 a.m. and we only stopped then because I reminded her that she had to be up at 9 o’clock to start the drive back to California with her brother. I glance over my shoulder at my digital alarm clock, seeing that it’s already 10 o’clock, meaning that Spencer and Steffy have already left. We agreed that she wouldn’t come over this morning to say goodbye, because she said something about not liking goodbyes.

“Never say goodbye, because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

I think that’s what she said, which was pretty sad. So last night/this morning when we got off of the phone, we just ended with a mutual ‘I love you’ and an ‘I’ll see you soon’, and that was that. No goodbyes because she also said something about goodbyes being permanent and that she doesn’t like anything permanent besides permanent marker. Weird analogy, yeah, I know, but I guess it made sense to her.

“Then what was it? You can talk to me, you know,” My mom says softly. “I hate seeing you so sad.”

“Steffy left,” I sigh, shaking my head.

“I don’t follow,” My mother replies, giving me a strange look.

 “Remember that story we saw about her dad’s company on the news? Well, he got it back, they’re rich again and she left.” I explain.

“Oh, Wesley, that’s awful,” She sympathetically retorts, placing her hand on my face. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“It’s okay, mom,” I murmur, shrugging noncommittally. It really is, I mean, yeah, I know it’ll be hard, but I have faith in us.

“Wesy!” Adeline yells, running into my room and slapping me on my leg.

“Addie, what is it? And why are you yelling?” I ask her sleepily, bending down so that we’re the same height, roughly.

“Adeline, what are you doing awake? You never get up this early,” My mom says to my sister, giving her a pointed look.

“Aiden and I are downstairs watching Bubble Guppies because this is what time it’s showing on Saturdays. Anyway, Wesy, your girlfriend is here!” She chimes, giving me an excited smile. Adeline really loves Steffy, I think and I’m pretty sure it’s because Steffy always lets her play in her hair whenever she comes over.

“Adeline, what are you talking about? Steffy’s like, almost out of Tennessee by now,” I reason.

“No, she’s downstairs. On the porch. I told her she could come in, but she said that she’d wait.”

“I love you Adeline, but if you’re lying, I swear I’m never talking to you again,” I tell my little sister.

“Wesy, I’m not lying, now come on because I’m missing Bubble Guppies!” She shrills, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the stairs with her. When we get downstairs, she plops on the couch and I ruffle up Aiden’s hair as I walk by him. He’s so engrossed in the show that he doesn’t even notice it though. I make my way to the front door and pull it open precariously, my eyes widening when I see that Steffy actually is standing there.

“Steffy,” I greet with a smile. “W-what are you doing here? I thought that you and Spencer left an hour ago?”

“Spencer did leave an hour ago,” She assures me with a small smile.

“I don’t understand,” I say, furrowing my brow, confused.

“I was packed and ready to go but at the last minute, I changed my mind. I’m not going to California.” Steffy explains. “Besides, he took Maddie with him. She’s gonna finish her senior year there at a school in L.A., so he’s not gonna be like, lonely on the drive. But I’m not going back to California. Not today, not tomorrow and not any time soon.”

“Wait, what do you mean you’re not going? It’s your home, Steffy,” I remind her.

“No, not anymore.” She counters, shaking her head. “They say that, um, home is where the heart is, right?”

“Yeah, I guess they do say that,” I chuckle, giving her a curious look.

“My heart is here. Here in Tennessee with you, Wesley. So, I’m staying. My grandmother’s letting me stay with her until next year when we graduate then she says I have to leave. I have to do a hell of a lot more chores, but it’s worth it because I get to stay here with you.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy,” I truthfully inform her. “But why? Why would you say here in Tennessee when you can go back to your old life in California with all your old friends and be rich again?” I question.

“Well,” Steffy sighs, stepping forward and placing her hands up on my shoulders. “Money is nice and all, but it’s just paper. Granted, it’s paper that can buy you almost whatever you want, but still. It can’t buy me another you and if I can’t have you, then I don’t want anything. My friends in California were awful people and they didn’t give a rat’s ass about me. My friend’s here do. Sure, vacation homes and country clubs and expensive boat rides to the Bahamas are great but I’d take you over all of that any day.” She informs me before pressing her lips to mine lightly.

“Stephanie Elizabeth Vandergeld, you are crazy.” I murmur against her lips with a smile, pulling away a few minutes later.

“Maybe I am crazy, but you’re stuck with me, so you better get used to it,” She giggles.

“There’s no one else I’d rather be stuck with,” I assure her, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside of my house, closing the door. 

“Hey, Wesley?” Steffy asks, peeking up at me through her lashes.

“Hey, Steffy?” I mimic with a goofy smile, my mood already a thousand times brighter.  

“I love you,” She chirps with a wide smile. “Because you treat me like I’m perfect when I’m obviously not."

“I love you back,” I say truthfully. “And I treat you perfect, because you are and you deserve it and so much more."

She blushes and giggles before saying, “And I think I know what we should do.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” I wonder, leading her up the back staircase to my bedroom.

“We should play Scrabble.” Steffy tells me with a giggle as we walk into my bedroom which my mother has vacated.

“Scrabble? Really? Right now, you wanna play a word game?” I ask incredulously, plopping down on my bed and pulling her with me.

“Yes, because you really don’t think that I can beat you and I’m gonna prove you wrong,” Steffy explains simply.

“Okay, then,” I laugh. “We can play later though because I think I have a better idea,” I tell her, leaning over and pushing my lips to hers.  

“I’m holding you to this, James; you’re lucky that we have all the time in the world though,” She says.

“All the time in the world,” I agree before rolling us over on my bed. Obviously we’re not going to have sex, not while my mother, brother and sister are here, but this is nice nonetheless. Knowing that Steffy’s not leaving and knowing that she chose me over being filthy rich.

That’s pretty amazing.

She’s pretty amazing.

Life’s pretty amazing. 

Author's Note: You didn't really think that she'd leave, did you? I have a heart, guys, haha. And it's Wesley's point of view, obviously, just because I thought that'd be nice. I always cry for these types of things, but I'm really trying to hold it together for this. Anyways, comment and vote, por favor! What do you guys think will happen in the epilogue? I'll give you a hint, it's not gonna be like, five years in the future, them married with child and all that. That's all I'll say but it'll be up on Tuesday, August 13th. So, yeah, I think that's it. Have a lovely weekend and just, just have lovely life because you're all just so lovely. And I get extremely emotionally happy when I finsh stories, which explains that. Anyways, yeah. Bye now. <3