Remembering Sunday

"Excuse me, I have to grab that." I broke us apart and scrambled to retrieve the house phone before it went to the answering machine. I managed to pick it up just in time. "Hello?"

I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eye, acting as though he was surveying the parts of my house that he could remember even through his drunken stupor the previous night.

My face turned into a smile as I heard the woman on the other line say that she was from the Cornell Hotel Management Department, and that I was being taken on as an intern and student teacher for the summer semester. I knew that I would have to tell him what was happening if he caught me smiling, so I tried to suppress it.

But then I thought about it. Him. I would be leaving soon, and I would have to leave this wonderful potential for a relationship behind, along with the rest of my life. I'd be leaving Anthony behind to fend for himself, seeing as mom didn't really care at all about his well-being. I knew I had to accept this job because it was going to actually create a life for me outside of this town. I was going to be breaking one heart too many today.

"Yes, of course. Of course I can. When should I...two days? Um...okay. That's fine. Goodbye." I hung up the phone and braced myself for telling him.

"What was that all about, Sunshine?" I smiled at his nickname for me, but then remembered what I had to do. I walked back over, closer to him.

"Well, you see...I applied for a job at Cornell a little while back, so that I could do something with my life...and they just called and said that they had accepted me as an intern and student teacher in the hotel management and cuisine department."

"That's a great thing! Why do you sound so tentative?" he asked, pulling me closer, and making it all the more difficult to tell him.

"The problem is...that I'm leaving for Ithaca in two days, and I can't exactly start a relationship if you're going to be here and I'm going to be there." I paused, as his face dropped slightly. It was a subtle gesture, but it still crushed me on the inside. "Please, please understand that if it were two months, or even two weeks, I could do it, but not two days."

He brushed it off his shoulder, dropping his arms from their place at my sides. "Well, I mean...I am in a band...we're going to be leaving Connecticut any day now to keep going on this tour. So, one of us would be leaving either way. Maybe it's better if we both leave."

And maybe nothing has ever sounded worse. "Maybe it is. So, I guess this is goodbye...?"

He winked as he walked out of my front door and said, "No...it's more of a 'see you later'. Don't you worry your pretty little head."