The next day, I laid in bed waiting to hear from Austin. It was only 2 pm, meaning Austin would be working for at least a few more hours. As I flipped through the Netflix, trying to find something new to watch, Emma burst through my door, holding a take out bag.
“Now, what if I had been changing clothes,” I yawned, stretching my arms above my head.
Emma laughed and slipped off her shoes before climbing under the covers with me, “Well for starters, I ordered us Chinese food. Second, I need an update on the Austin situation.”
I leaned my head back against the headboard and groaned, “So nosey! I can’t keep anything to myself, huh?”
Emma handed me a container of beef lo mein and opened the steamed dumplings and crab rangoons, “Well I can’t help that! And you just accepted the bribe so spill!”
I grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the bag and opened my food before placing a large bite in my mouth. The Chinese places near my college were okay, but home in Savannah, we had a favorite and boy had I missed it.
“I’m going to be honest, when Austin first texted me, bringing up the whole thing, I thought it was a joke. But when we got back home, and we spent that first night together, it didn’t seem like a joke anymore. And now, I honestly feel like I could spend the rest of my life with him,” I stated, nervous to hear what she had to say.
Emma dipped a dumpling in the sauce and dropped it into her mouth, “He’s definitely way hotter than when he was in high school. Ya’ll would make cute babies. But what’s holding you back, because you seem like theres something else.”
I sighed and stared down at my food, “Right now, I know what my plans for summer are, but I don’t know what I’m going to do after that. But it’s more so that Austin isn’t sure if he’s going to reenlist and he’s got 6 months to decide.”
“So if he were to decide to reenlist, or if he were transferred somewhere else, would that be the end of you two,” she questioned. She had set her food down on the bed and had turned to look at me.
“I’m really not sure, and that’s the problem. If he reenlists, nothing says he’ll stay in Savannah. I just don’t want to get to the end of this summer and start a job and then he has to leave. I don’t want to feel pressured to go with him or stay here if my job opportunity is elsewhere. And I definitely dont want him to make his decision based on me,” I replied, still trying to focus on my food.
Emma nodded her head, taking a moment to think, “I totally understand what you’re saying, but at the same time, someone is going to have to compromise. Or long distance would also be an option.”
“What if I just held off on getting a job until he makes his decision, then, if he gets transferred, I can go with him and find a job there,” I said, questioning myself.
I grabbed a crab rangoon and dipped it in the sweet orange sauce before Emma had a chance to respond. “Well, that would be compromising. But I don’t feel like that’s a good idea because you have no idea if he’ll actually be transferred,” she replied with a mouth full of fried rice.
We talked more about Austin and then eventually flipped on a movie to watch. At some point, we both fell asleep and I was eventually woken up by Austin snuggling up to me. Emma had slipped out of the room at some point, taking the remaining food and trash with her.
I rolled over to face Austin with a small smile on my face.
“Good afternoon, sleepy head,” he laughed. “How has your day been?”
I giggled, “It’s been good, Emma and I had Chinese and watched a movie.”
“Sounds like fun, so what do you wanna do,” he asked.
I thought for a moment before answering, “I haven’t had the chance to take the golf cart out and ride around the island yet, so let’s do that.”
While I changed clothes, Austin went downstairs to chat with my family. I went with a pair of black Halara shorts and a white cami crop top. I slipped on my checkered vans and then walked downstairs to join them.
“I’m gonna grab the keys and pull it out of the garage, grab some water bottles for us,” I told Austin as I rummaged through the drawer to find the key.
Austin nodded and walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of cold water.
“Now y’all be careful! Just give me a call if you need anything,” my mom called out as we stepped into the garage.
“Will do, Mom! Love you,” I shouted back.
***
Austin and I rode around for a good two hours before returning to my house. We had been chatting about how he was feeling regarding staying in the army. He still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but it seemed like he was leaning towards staying in.
“I do have a pretty important question for you, Chlo,” Austin said, as he glanced over at me from driving.
For some reason, I felt a little nervous having no idea what it could be.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Austin smiled as he pulled the golf cart into the driveway, “Well, the Army has it’s military ball coming up soon, on June 14th. Would you be my date?”
I sucked in a breath, that was definitely not what I had been expecting.
“That’s 3 weeks away! I need to find a dress like tomorrow!”
Austin laughed, “I’m taking that as a yes then?”
I nodded my head enthusiastically, “Yes, send me what I need to know or learn or whatever it may be. I’ll take Emma dress hunting with me tomorrow.”
***
Soon after dinner, Austin had to head home, as it was getting late. I figured I would take the time to do some research on military balls and decided I would be trying to find a charcoal or gray colored dress. Austin would be wearing his dress uniform and I wanted to match him, as well as not stick out. I went on to figure out what stores Emma and I would be checking out, as well as shoe stores.
“Jeez, this feels like cotillion all over again,” I sighed, as I combed through the pages of information.
Miles, who must have heard me, knocked on my door then entered, “Cotillion was so ass.”
“Yeah, well thank God we did it because I’m going with Austin to his military ball.”
Miles laughed and sat down in my desk chair, “Glad it’s you and not me.”
“How’s school going for you, we haven’t had the chance to talk a whole lot,” I asked, looking up from my laptop.
Miles shrugged, “It’s going I guess, I don’t know, college just doesn’t seem to be for me.”
I sighed, “I sorta felt the same way when I started too, you’ve just gotta find the right people and manage your time. What do you want to do career wise?”
“That’s the problem, I really don’t know. And I do have great friends there, that all seem to know what they want to do. I just feel like I need more time to figure it out,” he looked down at his hands then back at me.
I nodded, “Well, then why don’t you just get your core classes under your belt, then take some time off to decide?”
“I doubt mom and dad would go for that, they want me to get a degree. Honestly, I just want to be able to enjoy my 20’s, get out and travel. I don’t wanna be pinned down in Savannah for the rest of my life.”
While I understood what Miles was saying, I couldn’t help but to agree with my parents. He did need some type of plan and a job to get anywhere with his life. I took a moment to think before I spoke again, “If that’s what you want to do, you’ve got to figure out a way to bring in enough money regularly to support yourself. You could try doing something like TikTok? Make a post saying that once you hit so many followers that you’ll start traveling.”
Miles laughed, “I have an account, and it actually does pretty well as is. But yeah, that’s a good idea, I’ll try it. Anyways, I’m going downtown with friends. I’ll see ya later, sis.”
Miles gave me a hug and walked out of my room, pulling the door shut behind him.
After the conversation I’d had with Emma earlier, I was really missing my best friend, Skylar. I sent her a quick text to call me the next day. While I felt like I had a better idea of what I wanted to do about my Austin situation, I really needed to talk to Skylar about it.