Hey, Darling.

“Molly, hurry up!” Mia shouted at me from inside the car. “We’re going to be late!”

I rolled my eyes at her and picked up my bag from the bed. It was heavy, filled with sunscreen, sunglasses, water bottles, and granola bars that I knew I would need for the car drive. John was used to driving all the time, so he was the one in charge of the wheel, but Pat told me that John didn’t like to stop a lot.

I turned around, taking one last glance around the house to see if I left anything. I was almost positive that I didn’t. With a shrug of my shoulders, I shut the door behind me. I pulled on the black pair of Ray Bans John and Mia got me for Christmas, and turned to face the van.

I’d never driven in a van before, especially a twelve-seater with messages from fans covering every single inch. It was a sight.

I walked down the familiar stone path, and my phone vibrated in my hand. Just once, initiating that I had a text message. I opened it without even looking at the sender, and then felt my heart flutter a little as I read it.

I love you. - K-man.

I got the same text message every day for a year. The time varied, but I always got it. Once I forgot to turn my phone on vibrate during class, so the stupid T-Mobile jingle played and my teacher demanded to see my phone.

“Hand it over, Ms. Epps,” Mr. Caresani demanded, his hand outstretched. I blushed, and looked at him with pleading eyes.

I already knew what the text message said.

“Give it,” He said once more, and with a reluctant sigh I dropped my mobile phone into his palm. He smirked before using his thumb to press the open button.

“Let’s see what’s so pressing that it can’t wait until after class,” he said, before reading the screen and reciting the words out loud.

“I love you.” He repeated, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “From someone called…K-Man. Does this K-Man have an actual name, Ms. Epps?”

I blushed and nodded. I didn’t see what he had to pick on me. Everyone else texted during class, and I was the only one who got in trouble for it.

“Well, then, what’s his name?” He asked.

I looked down at my hands and said quietly, “Kennedy.”

The entire class erupted in hoots and hollers, each one urging to know more about the mysterious Kennedy. The conversation ended at that.

Sometimes Kennedy’s messages would make me happy, because they let me know that he was still thinking about me and that there was a part of him that still loved me. Other times, they made me sad, because his text messages would never let me move on. I hadn’t went out with a boy in a year, because each one I either compared to Kennedy or didn’t believe was genuine.

I never replied to any of Kennedy’s text messages. At first, I thought that if I didn’t say anything he would think that I didn’t get them and stop sending them. I accidentally told Mia once that they made me happy, and I guess she must have blabbed, because for about a month I got four or five a day. Now he was just back down to one.

There was a part of me that wanted to reply. There was a part of me that wanted to tell him that I loved him too, or tell him to leave me the hell alone and get on with my life. I never did, though, because I couldn’t imagine my life without those text messages. Sometimes they were the reason I woke up in the morning with a smile on my face.

“Another one from loverboy?” Mia questioned upon seeing the smile on my face. I rolled my eyes at her before sliding open the van door and getting inside. The seats were clean for once, which I thought was strange, but I didn’t say anything about it.

I slid in the row behind the driver’s seat and put my bag on the chair behind me. My luggage was loaded in the back. I was all packed up and ready to go. I set my bag beside me and looked as John turned to me.

“Ready?” He asked, with a dopey smile on his face.

I nodded. “Ready.”

We were planning on making the drive from Salinas, California, to Tempe, Arizona. We were only stopping in Tempe for a few days, and then they were going to drop me off at Southwest College, where I had plans to start my freshman year. I didn’t choose Southwest because of Kennedy, even though Mia swears up and down that I did.

I chose it because I wanted to be closer to Mia, and because I just wanted to. I didn’t feel the need to justify my actions.

Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed once again, but this time it was continuous. I looked down, surprised to see that Kennedy was calling me. He didn’t really call me that much.

I started at my phone, confused and amazed and shocked all at the same time. Mia turned around in her seat, looking at me.

“Answer it,” she urged. I looked up at her, silently asking if I really should.

“Answer it.”

I took a deep sigh, before looking down at my phone again. With impulse, I pressed the talk button up to my ear.

“Hello?” I asked slowly, unsure of if he actually meant to call me.

“Molly?” Kennedy’s voice sounded shocked.

“Yeah,” I confirmed, nodding my head even though he couldn’t see me.

“Hey,” he breathed out happily. I readjusted the phone closer to my ear, and glared at Mia as she tried to eavesdrop on my conversation.

Kennedy apologized for calling me. I told him that it didn’t matter.

We talked.