royals

Cori had always pictured Shawn and her leaving Lakeview together. She'd pictured them boarding the plane, hand in hand as they headed to New York together. They'd never wanted to go to the same school- Shawn was Columbia, and Cori had always wanted to go to Cornell. But she'd never pictured him graduating early. Never pictured having to kiss him good-bye before he climbed into his dad's car, driving off to the airport in Raleigh.

She didn't want him to go.

She sounded like a little kid, saying it in her head- and it sounded ten times worse out loud. When she talked to her mom about it, her mother had told her it was for the best- and that Cori and Shawn could make it work.

And of course, Cori wanted it to.

So she didn't buy a ticket to surprise him at school that first weekend, because they could make it work.

She bought that ticket the second weekend, though.

Because they could make it work;

But she still wanted to see him.