𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟽, 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢
𝟷 𝙳𝚊𝚢
Miles POV

It's the second weekend of Christmas break. Any other year and I would've been ecstatic to be at this point. Being on the west coast around all the cute Californian boys, having no homework until the new year, and Christmas is in little over a week? Forget about it. It would be a dream.

Actually, it should've been my reality. Instead, I'm sitting on the floor of my room, passing folded shirts to Rose. My mom and I will be on the road to Mexico in approximately twenty-four hours.

"Where do you want these trophies?" Forrest asks from somewhere behind me. I hear the sound of crashing metal, and Griffin curses.

"Damn! Cheap pieces of shit," Griffin growls and walks around me, his arms full of my basketball trophies.

"Hey, don't diss my accomplishments! Those aren't cheap to me," I scold him and tilt my head at a taped box sitting near my closet. "You guys can stack them in there. Nicely."

Griffin grumbles something about getting them packed-one-way-or-another, while Forrest nods and starts to stack them in carefully.

Rose shakes her head as I pass her another folded shirt. Her eyes are wet as she looks around my stripped room. Thanks to everyone's help, we were able to get the rest of this house packed up and put in my mom's minivan. Not that we had much in the first place.

"I can't believe this is really happening," Rose says sadly, tucking the shirt into my suitcase.

"Tell me about it," Parker mumbles from where he's lying on my bed behind me. The bed is one of the things we're not bringing, and Parker was glad to claim it when we started to pack my room.

I know he's exhausted, physically and mentally, from all this stress, so I didn't say a word when he camped out behind me. His hand runs through my hair as we speak. With every available minute we have, we've been together. Time is running out, so we're doing what we can to stay connected while we can.

"I know. I'm sick of thinking about it," I admit and fold the last piece of clothing I had in my laundry pile. Rose takes it and packs it before zipping up the suitcase. At the same time, Forrest grabs the packing tape and stretches it across the trophy box. With a satisfying riiiiip, the last box is officially packed.

We're done. There's nothing left to do but wait.

"When do you have to leave tomorrow?" Griffin asks, crossing his arms. I look at him and wince slightly when Parker accidentally pulls at my hair as Griffin asks the question. He's been too afraid to ask that all day.

"Seven in the morning. I told my mom I'd meet her at the Shell gas station around that time so we can fill up and... go."

Griffin nods and glances away, disappointment flashing across his face. For a boy that was extremely homophobic a few months ago, he's extremely sad right now. It's insane what time did to our friendship— I find myself getting sad as I think about driving away from him, too, tomorrow. I'll miss his constant cursing and narcissism more than I thought I would.

"You're not staying with your mom tonight?" Forrest questions and tosses the roll of tape down on the closed box.

"No, he's staying with me." Parker's words are sharp and slightly offended like Forrest should be guilty for even assuming that I would go anywhere else.

Forrest immediately does look guilty. "O-oh, yeah... I guess, yeah," he stammers and goes pale. His eyes flick to Rose. He must be imagining losing Rose the same way Parker is losing me because of the regret on his face.

We're all quiet for a second, glancing around at each other. I could slice a knife through the gloom hanging in the air if I wanted.

"Alright, let's finish getting everything in the car," I finally say and push myself to my feet. I'm sick of having everyone look at me like I'm on my deathbed.

Parker is quick to launch up, his hand trailing over my shoulder. My automatic reaction is to slip a hand around his waist to the small of his back.

"Sure, I've got this," Rose says and stands, pushing my suitcase up. Forrest grabs one of the boxes and grunts as he stands, leading the way out. Griffin waits for us to file out before following behind, flicking the bedroom light off.

My hand stays on Parker as we walk, and I can feel the moment his shoulders start to shudder with repressed sobs. There's no stopping my eyes from burning as I scratch his back, trying to keep him calm.

Griffin, oblivious as always, speaks as we walk. "If any of you bitches would've told me at the beginning of this year that I would be a little sad that my cousin's boyfriend is leaving the state, I would've laughed in your fucking face."

I can't help but laugh. The mood has been so tense and so depressing that it feels good to laugh at the shock of it. Besides, he's totally right.

"Wow, only a little? That's bullshit. I know you're disappointed," I respond and glance back at Griffin over my shoulder.

He sniffs. "Whatever. Don't look at me, Holt."

Rose tsks and opens the front door for Forrest. "It won't kill you to show a little emotion, Griffin. You can admit that you cried yesterday."

"I teared up when I got sand in my eyes. It's not the same thing."

"Uh-huh." Rose rolls her eyes when she makes eye contact with me like she's trying to mentally say, he's full of it.

I smile a little, although it doesn't reach my eyes. It's nice to know that I'm finally leaving a town where people will actually miss me, but it sucks that it's under these circumstances.

Forrest leads the way to the van and manages to open the back hatch with his pinky and ring finger, stacking the box on top of the rest. He sighs and steps back, staring at the full car. "Well."

That's all he says. There's nothing else to say, anyway.

Parker rubs his eyes with his sleeve, desperately trying to hold himself together as we all come to a stop by the van. As I look at my other three friends, I have to remind myself to breathe and stay calm, for Parker's sake. This little crew is the only people I've ever left that I would consider my legit friends.

"Well," I echo Forrest. "Thanks for helping me, guys. I couldn't have done all of that without your help."

"Please, it's the least we could do," Rose says kindly, her voice weak. "So... this is it then?"

My heart fractures. This is it. I nod, afraid to speak.

Rose hums sadly and steps forward, opening her arms wide at me. I don't back down from her kindness, so I drop my hand from Parker's back and give her a hug.

Rose squeezes her eyes shut and inhales deeply. "It sucks that it came down to this, but I'm glad we could cross paths with you, Miles," she says quietly. "Know that you mean way more to Parker, and all of us, than what we let off. I think we're all better off as people because of you."

Her kind words bring tears back to my eyes. "Thank you so much," I mumble and pat her back before letting go.

She smiles sadly and wipes the tears from her own eyes. "No need to thank me when it's all true. Don't lose touch, okay? We all still need to SnapChat and stuff."

"Of course," I respond and turn to Forrest. He looks bleak, his eyes damp, but he's not crying.

"It was nice to meet you, dude," Forrest says and reaches his hand out. I dap him up, bumping shoulders with him.

"You too. Make sure these crazy cousins stay out of trouble."

Forrest laughs and shakes his head as he steps away. "Trust me. I've been doing my best over the past few years. It's way harder than it looks. Drive safe tomorrow."

"Thanks," I say with a smile to hide my grief. Thinking about leaving makes me want to have a stroke. Still, I smack Forrest's shoulder and turn around to say goodbye to the last person in the trio.

I expect Griffin to be standing near the van with his arms crossed, pissed that we're taking so long, except he's not there.

He and Parker are standing near the hood of my mom's car, and Parker is crying on his cousin's shoulder, wrapped in the type of hug a person would only give their family member. Griffin's face is tilted up to the sky, blinking back tears rapidly.

It hits me that Griffin is the one that's going to have to deal with the aftermath. Maybe I should be worried about that, but as I watch their interaction, I feel a little bit better. At least Griffin isn't being a complete asshole.

Griffin looks over at me and notices that we're done saying goodbye here. He says something to Parker and drops his arms, leaving Parker to wipe at his puffy, red eyes and soothe himself for a moment.

I shrug my shoulders as Griffin walks over to me. "We don't have to hug if—"

"I'll make an exception just this once. For Parker," Griffin snaps and gives me a quick, awkward hug.

I laugh again out of shock and pat his shoulder, my heart pounding. For a second, I expect him to push me over or punch my jaw or something, except it never comes. He backs off as quickly as he hugged me.

"It'll be weird without you around," Griffin admits and scratches behind his neck. Man, he's a whole new person today.

Instead of questioning his behavior, I nod in agreement. "It'll be weird not being here. Okay," I drop my voice down so no one can hear me. "You need to keep an eye on Park for me. This might just literally fuckin' kill him, and if anything happens to him ever, I'll make what you did to that guy at homecoming look like child's-play. I won't be able to come back here at the drop of a hat, even if I really fucking want to. Parker will need support and tough love for a while, can I trust you to be there for him?"

I bet if I would've said something like that to Griffin when we first met, he would've hit me with his car. Now, his face goes somber, and he nods. "I know, I will. Trust me. Remember that he was my family before he was yours."

Satisfied, I tilt my chin down. "Thanks, man, I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it." Griffin steps away and looks over at his sister. "Can we go, or do we all want to sit around and sing funeral hymns?"

"Griffin Reed Miller!" Rose scolds, her watery eyes going wide.

Forrest also blinks and tries to act unphased. "If we're done here, I think we should go. Maybe let them be alone for a while."

"Exactly my thoughts. See you later, Parker. Bye, Miles," Griffin tries saying even as his voice cracks. For the first time ever, I see Griffin shed tears over me as he walks away.

"Safe travels, Miles! I don't want to say goodbye, so... I'll see you soon," Rose says around her tears and gives me another quick hug before walking away. Forrest echos her goodbye and follows his girlfriend to Griffin's car.

I wave after the trio before turning around to face Parker. He looks destroyed. I can tell that the finality of this situation is hitting him.

It's hitting me, too, way harder than I thought. If this situation doesn't kill Parker, it might kill me. I can only think of one thing to do tomorrow to avoid all of this hurt.

I don't want to think about that yet, so I hold out a hand to my boyfriend.

"C'mon, let's go home."