Page 148 of Come Back to Me

“Oh, yeah. What were you guys doing before I barged in here?”

“Um, we all talked a little. Dani and I had some alone time. At one point, I went to the bathroom and saw no conversation going on between Xander and Bella.”

“I hope they didn’t sit there in awkward silence the entire time.”

“I’m sure they spent their time aimlessly scrolling on social media to make the time go by faster.”

“Yeah.”

Noah gets off my bed, standing in the doorway. “I want you to know it’s going to get better. I don’t know when, but it will.”

“Thanks.”

He salutes me and disappears from my doorway, leaving me all by myself.

I know time will help heal the pain, but it’s going to be a difficult recovery process. The main difference is we’re adults now. We were teenagers back then, and we had a lot of growing up to do.

If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that Iwilltalk to Violet again because I can’t spend another six years of my life without speaking to her. I justdon’t know when that’s going to be since I need some time to sort out how I truly feel about everything that conspired tonight.

The more spirals I dive into, the more exhausted I will be tomorrow. I need to stop myself from doing that because I’m tired from all the thoughts I’ve been trying to articulate these past coupleof hours.

Here’s to hoping we both get through all this.

now

VIOLET

THREE WEEKS LATER

How is Thanksgiving next week already?

For the past three weeks, I’ve filled up my time by working on school assignments, completing shifts at Sweet & Salty, and focusing on finding more clients for my business.

I spent a few days of week one texting Grayson for what felt like every two hours. I never got any responses from him. There were a couple of times where I saw the three animated bubbles pop up, but then they’d disappear.

Ultimately, I went no contact because I keep replaying what he said about vanishing from my life. I know I shouldn’t be angry at him, but I am. With every passing day, my emotions become more transparent.

I’m sitting in my teamwork, collaboration, and group dynamics course at this very moment. I’m contemplating my life choices and surveying my surroundings.

The classroom is similarto the size of a high school classroom, but a smidge bigger. I’d say around fifty students could fit in here. The professor’s desk is on the bottom left of the room when you walk in from the second floor.

For one of my marketing courses, we were assigned a project to create our own business, so I used my PR business for authors for it.

For this course, we were assigned to do the same thing, but as a team. We were put into groups of three, and we had to work together to create a fake business. One of the main objectives our professor wrote on the project guidelines was to learn how to compromise with other people.

I never loved working in a team because I always ended up being the one who did all the work, but this time is much different. My partners were eager to split the work equally amongst all three of us, which made me happy.

Our presentations are today, and my huge fear of public speaking has me dreading it. The irony is I’ve been told that I’m a great public speaker. I’m glad I’ll have my project partners, Julie and Bianca, helping me present our fake business to the class.

“Julie, Violet, and Bianca, you’re up,” Professor Crenshaw announces.

Ugh, I hope I don’t embarrass myself up there.

The first half of presentations wrapped up earlier than I thought they would.

“See, we did great. I saw Professor Crenshaw smile at us. That’s definitely a good sign,” Julie says.

Bianca smiles. “I agree! I think we were one of the best teams. There were some that didn’t seem like they took it seriously,which surprises me, since it makes up for a huge chunk of our overall grade.”