Spring Forward

Spring 2023 - Britechester, Illinois
University students: Charlotte Craig is 22, Adam Smith is 22, Ethan Smith is 22

"She only has a couple months left," Ethan tells his brother one afternoon at Diggity Dog House. It's the start of the spring semester and they found time after classes and between club meetings to get together for a quick bite of hot dogs.

"Don't remind me," Adam says as he looks sadly across the table.

"You'll only have one more semester after me," Charlotte reminds him. It's true, this is her last semester at University of Britechester and in just a couple months she'll have her degree and will be leaving the campus one last time as a student.

She's not sure what might happen after graduation. She wants to get a job working in biology, but she doesn't know yet where that job might be.

"Yeah, it'll be okay," Ethan says with a smirk. "It'll be easy being far apart. Trust me, I know."

But Charlotte and Adam both know that he's being sarcastic in his remarks. Maybe he's kind of looking forward to graduation. Lily will be coming home from Windenburg, on the path to graduating this spring also, and they're already planning for her to come live in Britechester with Ethan while he finishes school. And so then the roles will be reversed--Ethan will have his girlfriend right there with him and Adam will be the one left alone.

"You'd better watch yourself this semester, Ethan Smith," Charlotte tells him. "I can always call Lily and tell her you've been spending too much time with a certain friend."

***

"That one right there," Ethan says, pointing toward a constellation above them. "Which one is that?"

Denise is that certain friend Charlotte had threatened to tell Lily about. And he’s enjoyed having this friend, almost feeling like he can talk to her about anything. Part of him would like to talk about the area in the sky that one side of his family supposedly came from. But as much as he likes talking to Denise, he isn't brave enough to tell her any of those secrets.

Maybe Adam and Charlotte are right. Maybe he has spent too much time with Denise. What does she think is going on between them? Lily will be back in less than three months. He can't let her think that something's going on between him and Denise. And he can't let Denise think that either.

"Everything okay?" Denise asks when he stands up suddenly. "You look like you're about to have a meltdown. Is finding constellations too hard for you?" She gives him a grin, as if holding it above his head that she's named more stars than he has.

But he shakes his head. "No, I...we need to talk."

Denise gives him a confused look. "Okay..." she says slowly. "What about?"

"I just, I wanted to let you know that my girlfriend will be coming back this summer," he tells her. "I've told you about her, remember? Lily. Her name is Lily. And we've been together for a long time and I...I can't imagine my life without her. You get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Denise says. "Your girlfriend is coming back. Of course. We knew she would."

"And so...you're not upset? About anything?"

"Why would I be?" Denise asks.

And so the conversation ends because Ethan can't think of anything else to say. Maybe he was wrong about what Denise might think of him. Maybe he was reading too much into it all. Maybe they really were always just friends.

Things are too strained between them and so it isn't long before they say good-bye and head separate ways.

He doesn’t see it, but Denise rubs her hand over her devastated face as he walks away. 

But things between Charlotte and Adam are still staying in a good place. Both of them look forward to that time between classes and clubs and hanging out with Ethan so that they can have some time to themselves. It's going to be hard after this semester is over and Charlotte has to decide what she'll do after graduation. But right now neither one wants to think about it; they just want to enjoy every moment together before it all changes.

***

She didn't make the greatest grades this semester, but Charlotte did pass. She'll be part of the graduation post coming up soon. Poor Ethan still isn't doing so well, but he did pass the semester so I can't throw him out of his studies yet. Adam has just one semester left if he'll keep up his grades and pass those classes in the fall.

I have played ahead enough that I know what happens to Charlotte after graduation and where she moves to, but I'll keep that quiet for now. :)