Falling to Pieces

---- // August 2006

“Wait, you spent the entire night sitting on a muddy football field? I really hope you weren’t wearing nice jeans.”

Stella rolled her eyes, picking away at her French manicure as her best friend Alexis rambled to her over the phone. “We sat in the bleachers, Lex.”

“Still! Do you know how dirty those probably are! That’s so… public school.”

“It was adorable. We even broke into the school arena and he took me down to centre ice. That’s a huge deal there.”

“Was this supposed to be a romantic date?” Alexis asked.

“I wouldn’t call it a date. But I sure thought it was romantic.”

“So he brings you to a cold arena, let’s you see ice, and then makes you sit on dirty bleachers? That is far from romantic. You’ve been away from home for too long.”

Stella rolled over on the kind sized bed in the hotel room her father had rented for their night in Boston. “Well, he introduced me to pretty much everyone at the school. And he showed me all over campus. He was too sweet.”

“Did you at least hook up?”

“Not really. Nothing major.”

“What a waste.”

“I’m glad you’re supportive.”

“What am I supposed to support? I’m so glad you’re smitten over a random guy from a crappy school that you’ll never see again. Better?”

“He took me out for breakfast this morning to say goodbye.”

“You clearly just missed the entire point of what I just said.”

“But you have to see how cute he is, Lex!”

“Did we not make a pack together to never date someone not from Cali?”

“Well, he’s from Canada.”

“Oh, great. Even better.”

Stella could practically here Alexis rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone. “Rude.”

“Sorry. Since you’re in love and all, are you going to bring him back here so I can meet him?”

“Maybe. If I even come home, I mean, I’ve been in Boston for three hours and I’m already completely in love.”

“Leaving the west coast?! Okay, this is definitely not my best friend Stella.”

“As much as I love how encouraging you’re being of my new life decisions, Papa Thomas is insisting we go for dinner with the coach of the Boston University soccer team and I’m still nowhere near ready.”

“Sounds super fun. I should probably head down to the beach, there’s going to be another bonfire tonight.”

“Bye Lexy.”

“Love you, Stella!”

Tossing her Blackberry onto the end of the hotel bed, Stella glanced over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. She had about an hour until her father would be barging through the door of her suite to pick her up for dinner.

She crawled off the bed and threw open the suitcase that was resting on the floor by the bed. She fished out a couple potential options, and laid them back out on the bed. Her make up bag was fished out of her oversized Coach tote bag, and she padded into the bathroom and set it down on the large vanity.

She piled her hair up into a cute bun, eager to get her hair off of her neck to help cool herself down in the late summer heat. Stella had never been a huge fan of wearing a lot of makeup, so she patted her nose down with a bit of loose powder to get rid of the shine that was starting to appear. A quick cote of mascara and she was good to go. She French braided her bangs back, fixing her messy bun.

Coming back to the bed, Stella glanced over the clothes she had laid out as potential outfits, but noticed her phone blinking from next to the pile of clothes.

The previous night she had given Jonathan her number and he had promised to text her when he woke up the next morning. It was nearing 7:30 and she had still yet to hear from him. Thinking it could be him, she dived onto the bed, snatching the phone up as quickly as her, now shaking, hands could allow her. But it was just a reminder from her father that she should be ready in 10 minutes.

Stella stared blankly at her phone, checking through her inbox just in case he had texted her and she hadn’t noticed. Coming up empty, she carelessly dropped the phone onto the bed. She crawled off the bed, looking over her potential outfits again.

Peeling off her old soccer shorts and sweater, Stella slipped into a plain white tank top and a floral high-waisted skirt. She grabbed a pair of flip flops just as her father came through the hotel room door.

“Hi, Stella.” He greeted, taking a seat on the edge of the large bed.

She gave him a smile in return, grabbing the extra clothes off the bed and stuffing them back into her suitcase.

“I just wanted to make sure we’re both on the same page about tonight.”

“What do you mean?” Stella questioned, zipping up her suitcase.

“They really want you here at Boston. And I think it would be the best option for you. And the other schools we’ve visited you’ve seemed uninterested and completely blown them off.”

Stella stood up straight, folding her arms across her chest. “What’s your point?”

“The coach is an old friend of mine, and I don’t want you to make a fool of me and our family. If you don’t want to go here, just tell me, I don’t want you pulling one of your shenanigans.”

Stella chuckled, rolling her eyes. “This is my dream school. I don’t want to fuck this one up.”

Her father frowned at her choice of language, but nodded his head nonetheless. “So you’re committing to Boston tonight?”

“I guess so.”

“Not North Dakota? I thought you liked that school. I mean, you seemed to really like that boy there.”

“Dad, no sane person would choose to live in North Dakota.”

Her father laughed, getting up from his spot on the end of the bed. “You sure? I don’t want you to not choose there, and then find out you’re missing out on something big.”

Stella grabbed her phone from off the bed, checking once again for any new messages. Not finding any, she shoved the phone into one of the pockets on her skirt. “I’m sure, Dad. There’s absolutely nothing in North Dakota for me.”

“Alright, let’s go commit to Boston.” Her father headed towards the hotel room door, holding it open for Stella.