Invisible

"Yes....thank you so much! I promise you, you will not regret this!" Carol smiled. She ended her call with the Dean to her college in Florida. She squealed her way down the stairs and into the kitchen where her mother was baking cookies.

"I GOT IT!"

They embraced each other tightly, "Oh sweetheart! I'm so proud of you!" She kissed Carol's cheek and patted her cheeks. "You're father would be so happy."

Carol looked away, talking about her dad was still a touchy subject, "I know."

"So when do you leave?"

Carol sat on the stool across from her mother, I sat next to her. "Next week. The semester hasn't started yet, so I haven't missed much. But the Dean said I was ok to go."

Her mother smiled, "That's good honey."

Carol nodded, "What kind of cookies are you making?"

"Chocolate chip." She winked at Carol.

"Yum. I'm going to miss this, homecooked meals, you, our late night talks."

Mrs. Russel laughed, "Oh we still have the phone."

"I guess so. But it won't be the same." Carol reached for her hand. Her mother winked at her.

"I know. "

Carol grinned, "I"m going to go call Maggie and tell her the news." She hopped off the stool.

"Ok. Carol?"

Carol turned, "Yeah?"

"Lindsey would be proud of you too."

Carol nodded as the smile slowly faded, "Yeah. I know she would."

I stood beside her nodding, "I'm extremely proud of you."

Carol walked up her stairs, trying to shake off the mention of my name. Everytime she heard my name from the past week, she would remember the police carrying my body out from the forest, the cries of my mother, and the look in Jeremy's eyes when she hugged him.

Carol picked up her iPhone from her bed and pressed on Maggie's name.

"Heya."

Carol smiled, "You will never guess what."

"You're pregnant?"

Carol giggled, "No. I would actually have to have sex for that to happen."

I laughed.

"True, very true. So what's the news? Getting married?"

"I'm going to Florida!!"

Maggie yelled, "Are you serious? YAY!!"

"I know, I called the Dean this morning and sorted everything out. I explained what happened, and he said he totally understood. So it's all good now!"

"That's awesome Carol."

"I know, I'm extremely happy."

"You should be."

Carol didn't know what else to say, she waited for Maggie to say something, but nothing happened.

"So how have you been?" She asked.

"Good, just writing a paper at the moment."

"You're term started already?"

"Mhmm."

"Oh. Sorry, I'll talk to you later then."

"Ok, I'll text you when I'm done. I do want to talk to you though ok?"

"Yeah. Ok. I'll be waiting."

"Peace homes."

Carol giggled, "Bye."

Carol laid back on her bed, and played on her iPhone. I laid next to her, watching her play Guitar Hero. She sucked. Then she got a text from Jeremy.

"Hey can you meet me at the park? I'm dead bored."

Carol giggled, "Be there in a second :)"

She grabbed her keys, yelled goodbyes to her mother and jumped in her car.

She pulled into the parking lot where Jeremy was sitting on a bench watching everyone pass him. I grinned, I haven't even been around Jeremy as much as I desired.

"Jeremy!" Carol yelled.

Jeremy grinned when he saw Carol, he walked over to her with his hand in his pocket. He hugged her tightly in his arms and closed his eyes. I arched my eye brow. What does that mean?

"How are you?" He asked her with his hands still on her shoulders.

"I'm great. I just found out that I"m going to Florida still." She grinned.

He beamed, "Really? That's great!" He hugged her one more time.

"I know! I just found out this morning."

"Have you told Maggie?" He put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to the bench he was sitting at.

"Yeah. She was kind of busy at the moment, so she'll call later."

"Ah."

"Why don't we sit under that tree? It's kind of hot." She skipped her way over to the tree away from everyone else.

I followed her, watching Jeremy the whole time. What was he doing? He seemed oddly happy today.

Carol sat on the soft grass, and patted to the space next to her. Jeremy smiled and watched her the entire time.

"So tell me, how's Arizona going?"

Jeremy shrugged, "I don't really want to go there anymore. I was only going for....Lindsey. I wanted to go wherever she was. I couldn't be without her."

Carol nodded, "I understand. But you should try it out, I mean didn't you get a scholarship for football?"

He nodded, "Yeah. That's the only thing keeping me from saying no completely."

"Jeremy you should go. Lindsey would want you too."

He smiled, "Yeah. I'll see."

Carol sighed, "Don't see, do it! Lindsey would hate you if you turned down that scholarship."

I nodded, "Hell yes."

Jeremy laughed, "She would abuse me if I turned it down."

Carol laughed, "She would."

Jeremy bowed his head, "God, I miss her so much. But I know that I have to move on."

"You do. Lindsey would want you to move on and love someone else." She patted his hand.

He nodded, "Yeah."

Jeremy starred at Carol for a long moment, Carol starred back waiting for him to say something.

"Are you ok Jeremy?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I need to tell you something, but I just don't know how to explain it." Jeremy stood up, pacing in front of Carol. Carol stood up slowly, confused by Jeremy's reaction. I sighed.

"I need to say it, because it's driving me insane! I can't stop thinking about it, I don't know what's going on. I just need to let it out."

Carol touched his arm, "What Jeremy? What is it? You can tell me anything."

Jeremy starred into her eyes, he grabbed her hands and pulled them to his chest. Carol starred at their hands and looked into his blue eyes.

"Carol...I know what happend with Maggie was shocking. But when I said it didn't mean anything, I meant it."

"What are you saying Jeremy?"

He sighed, "What I'm saying is, I can't stop thinking about the time we were together during that Mr. Robin crap. Or when I comforted you after he attacked us, how you felt in my arms. Carol..."

I shook my head.

Carol's expression changed from sympathic to guarded, she knew what was coming next.

"Jeremy.."

"Carol...I love you."