Spencer stopped walking, his dragging feet finally coming to a stop on the sidewalk across the street from a two storey white house. He chewed his lip as he looked up at it, counting the windows and finding the specific pane that hid the bedroom of the girl he was there to meet. Would she know he was coming? They hadn’t spoken in so long he worried that their promise to meet on this day was forgotten, or somehow no longer valid. He sighed heavily, dropping the surprisingly large backpack from his shoulder to land on the ground. His suitcase stood strong beside him, erect, unlike the floppy backpack that slumped over without hesitation. Spencer took another deep breath, inspecting the house. Its cold, maroon door stared out at him, daring him to come closer but certainly not very inviting. It did not help him gather his courage, only made the trip across the street look longer, harsher. But he would have to travel it if he wanted to meet the girl, to keep his promise to her. He’d have to go if he wanted to keep his word to Ryan. But that was beside the point at the moment.

Spencer looked down to see a slightly rusted, black car in the driveway. This surprised him; he expected to see the shiny glimmer of the newer silver model, but it was nowhere in sight. Spencer knew this had significance and was silently grateful for the choice. That is, if the girl was going to let him join her. He gulped as he looked over the car once more, noting that the sticker in the back window advertising a local radio station was still there. Nothing about it seemed to have changed.

Just then the door to the house opened. Spencer froze – that is, his insides did. He was already standing still, but his lungs refused to breathe, his heart hesitated to continue pumping. His thoughts went suddenly silent, as though the neurons in his brain had all been inhibited. Thankfully he’d been able to stop his jaw from flapping open erratically, or he would have looked and felt like somewhat of an idiot as Olivia stepped out of the house.

She didn’t notice him at first, only just barely making it down the front steps without dropping the large amount of packed bags she struggled to carry all at once. She lugged it all to the side of the car and was about to drop them when she suddenly looked up, as if instinctively sensing him there. She froze as well, and he could tell from across the street that her own heart, lungs, and brain had stopped. His own, on the other hand, were slowly starting to function again and he found himself picking up the fallen backpack and starting off across the street. Olivia didn’t move, just watched his quiet and patient approach. He finally made it to the end of her driveway, stopping on the sidewalk only a few feet away from her. Her shady blue eyes were locked with something akin to confusion onto his, and it was only after she began blinking again that she opened her mouth.

“Hi,” she said in a volume barely above a whisper. Her voice was careful, unsure, but he thought – or perhaps hoped – that there was a hint of happiness to see him lying somewhere underneath.

“Hey,” he replied, speaking softly as well, as if they were in a library.

Silence forced out any conversation that would have filled this space in time, because no matter how hard he tried, Spencer couldn’t come up with a single thing to say to her. She seemed just as lost for words, her eyes still wide with surprise. Finally, she sighed, then dropped all her bags to the ground with a sudden ruckus of noise. Without the mass amount of various bags overwhelming her, he realized that she looked very small. Not in that she had lost weight, but rather it was something in the way that she carried herself. Her shoulders seemed to hunch a little bit, her hands dangling as near to her body as possible. Had she shrunk the last time he’d seen her without him noticing, or was this a new acquirement? He worried that her meekness around him was partly his responsibility; things between them had ended abruptly, without much notice or reason. He’d messed up and he knew it, but he wasn’t sure he knew exactly what he’d done. It was a complicated situation to say the least.