Page 123 - It Ends with Us

He left today.

I’ve shu f fled my de ck of cards so man y times, my han ds hu r t. I’m scared if I
do n’t get out ho w I feel on pap er, I’ll go craz y ho ldi ng it al l in.
Ou r las t night di dn ’t go over so well. We kissed a lot at first, but we were
both too sad to real ly care ab out it. For the second time in two day s, he told me
he chan ged hi s mind an d that he was n’t leav ing. He di dn ’t wan t to leav e me
al one in thi s ho use. Bu t I’ve lived with the se parents for al most sixteen year s. It

was silly of hi m to turn do wn a ho me in fav or of being ho meless, just becau se
of me. We both knew that , but it still hu r t.
I tried to not be so sad ab out it, so whe n we were lying the re, I as ked hi m to
tell me ab out Bo ston. I told hi m may be one day whe n I got out of scho ol, I
could go the re.
He got thi s look in hi s eye whe n he star ted tal king ab out it. A look I’d never
seen. Sor t of like he was tal king ab out he av en. He told me ab out ho w ever yone

has the great est accents the re. Instead of car, the y say cah . He must not real ize
that he sometimes say s hi s r’s like that , too. He sai d he lived there from the ag es
of nine until he was four teen, so I guess may be he picked up a little bit of the
ac cent.
He told me ab out ho w hi s uncle lives in an ap ar tment buildi ng with the
coolest rooftop de ck.

“A lot of ap ar tments hav e the m,” he sai d. “Some even hav e pools.”
Pletho ra, Mai ne, probab ly di dn ’t even hav e a buildi ng that was tal l enough
for a rooftop de ck. I wonde red wha t it would feel like to be that hi gh up. I as ked
hi m if he ever went up the re an d he sai d yes. That whe n he was younger,
sometimes he would go to the roof an d just sit up the re an d thi nk whi le he
looked out over the city.
He told me ab out the food. I al ready knew he liked to cook but I had no ide a

ho w much pas sion he had for it. I guess becau se he do esn’t hav e a stove or a
kitche n, so othe r than the cookies he bak ed me, he ’s never real ly tal ked ab out
cooking before.
He told me ab out the har bor an d ho w, before hi s mothe r remar ried, she used
to tak e hi m fishi ng out the re. “I mean , Bo ston isn’t an y di f ferent from an y
othe r big city, I guess,” he sai d. “The re’s not a lot that mak es it stan d out. It’s

just . . . I do n’t know. The re’s a vibe. A real ly good energy. Whe n people say
the y live in Bo ston, the y’re proud of it. I miss that sometimes.”
I ran my fingers through hi s hai r an d sai d, “Well, you mak e it sound like
the best plac e in the world. Li ke ever ythi ng is better in Bo ston.”