High School Sweethearts

I stared at the phone breathing deeply. It could not have been her, there is no way that out of all the people I run into and accidently switch phones with in Chicago, it turns out to be a girl named Carly, with a friend named Christine. From what Hayley has told Nick, and what Nick has told me, Christine and Carly became the best of friends after she left, which surprised all of us.

"Joe!" I snapped out of my daze and stared up at my little brother. "I've been saying your name for five minutes now. What's wrong?"

"Sorry Nick," I shook my head to clear it. "It's just, I think I have someone's phone."

"Did you bump into someone at Starbucks and picked up their phone by mistake?" Nick chuckled, taking a seat next to me.

"Yeah, but...," I bite my bottom lip, looking back at the phone in my hand.

"But what?" He cocked an eyebrow, confused.

"It's not just someone's phone," I pressed a couple buttons to get to the pictures and faced the phone towards him. "It's Carly's phone."

Nick's jaw dropped, grabbed the phone out of my hands, and started scrolling through the pictures.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" Jenni skipped to the front of the bus where Nick and I sat.

Jenni and Kevin got engaged six months ago and plan to be married in the next couple months, November 19th to be exact. She told me she talked to Carly once in the past four years, since Hayley actually found her and started talking to her. It hurt to much to talk to her and not see, so I respected her wishes and did not try to find her. Hayley still talks to her every once in a while and updates me on how she and boys are doing, which I thank her every single day for.

"Joe apparently bumped into Carly today and picked up her phone by accident," Nick laughed, handing the phone to Jenni.

"What!" She snatched the phone out of his hands and began going through it.

"I don't think I bumped into Carly," I sighed, shaking my head. I would have known if it was in fact Carly, but the girl had darker hair than she did. "I think it was Christine."

"What about Bob?" Hayley emerged from the bathroom and looked around at us.

"Joe bumped into her earlier and accidently picked up Carly, wait, why did Christine have Carly's phone?" Nick looked over at me confused.

"She might have picked up her phone by mistake and didn't realize it until she got half way there," I shrugged my shoulders.

"That sounds like my Bob," Hayley laughed, shaking her head.

"What's everybody doing in the front of the bus when Guitar Hero is ready to be played and Kevin is ready to beat some butts in it?" Kevin smirked, peeking his head over Hayley's and Jenni's heads, since they stood in the hallway.

"Joe," I groaned from hearing my name come out of Nick's mouth once again to explain what happened today. "Apparently bumped into Christine today, who by chance had Carly's phone by accident, and being Joe picked up Carly's phone instead of his own."

"Looks like fate works in odd ways," Kevin winked at me, laughing, before walking into the back again.

And if we were really meant to be, fate will have us meet up again. The last part of Carly's letter rang through my head. Maybe this was our fate. Maybe we were really meant to be. Then a thought dawned on me.

"Guys! How are we going to get her phone back to her! We're on our way right now to Pittsburgh!" I looked at Nick, terrified.

"We'll figure something out, but for now, you just have to do with her phone, as well as she with yours. You might want to call her to tell that," Nick smirked, standing up and patting my back before heading back to play Guitar Hero.

"Here you go Joe, have fun talking to your future wife," Jenni and Hayley giggled, handed me Carly's phone and skipped away following Nick to the back of the bus.

I stared down at the phone, debating when I should call, and tell her the bad news, with only one thing ringing through my head. And if we were really meant to be, fate will have us meet up again.