Darcy Meyers
Ithaca, New York
Mid-May
It was finally time for graduation.
Our commencement ceremony was only three days away, and five days after that, I would be moving back to Memphis. I was so excited about it, but more than finishing school, or moving back home, or turning the page on a new chapter of my life, I was stoked about one thing—seeing Owen Bishop.
I remembered that night before Christmas—how he looked straight at me and told me I didn't have to worry. There was a blatant promise in those words, and I knew with confidence that he was waiting for me. It was because of this that I gladly waited for him, too. I had been in college for four years and hadn't so much as looked at another guy.
As a cheerleader, I got a lot of grief for this. My friends and roommates had boyfriends and they were constantly trying to set me up. A few of those guys came around often enough to be considered my friends, but I never crossed that line with any of them.
A couple of them were at my house at that very moment. I shared a house near campus with three other girls, and their boyfriends (along with two other guys) were in our living room playing video games when I got a text from Owen.
I had contacted Owen two weeks before.
I knew I would be moving back home later that month, and I wanted to get in touch with him so that I wouldn't be so devastated when we came face-to-face. That episode where my stomach utterly betrayed me at the Carter's house still hung in the back my mind, and I wanted to do everything I could to avoid being completely overwhelmed when I saw him again.
We had been in touch for about two weeks, and I only had eight days to go before I could see him again. I thought maybe growing close to him on the phone beforehand would be a good idea, but the more I talked to him, the more I fell in love, and I feared that I might just burst into a thousand pieces when I finally got to see him again.
I got a text from him while we were all sitting around my living room.
Owen: "Hey."
It was one, single solitary word, but I blushed and smiled uncontrollably when I looked down at it.
Me: "Hey."
I fidgeted and squirmed on the couch as I waited for his response. I knew he was typing—I could see the little bubbles on my screen.
Owen: "I'm home if you want to call."
Without hesitation, I sprang off of the couch and headed into my room.
"Where are you going?" my friend, Derrick called after me.
"I have to take a call," I said. "I'll be back in a minute."
"We're going bowling in like an hour," Dylan said.
"I know," I said.
I heard someone comment sarcastically about how I would be occupied all night, but I really didn't care. I smiled as I closed the door to my room and pressed the buttons to call Owen.
It rang only once before he picked up.
"Hey Gypsy."
The sound of his deep voice saying my name caused a wave of anticipation to wash over me. I didn't know why he sometimes called me by that nickname, but he did, and I liked it. I figured it was on account of my dark features or that I had moved away from Memphis, but I never asked. I scrunched up my face with delight as I fell dramatically onto my bed.
"Hey," I said as I flopped onto the thick comforter. "How was work?"
"Good. I only went in for a couple of hours today. I told Dad I'd help him out with a restoration."
"What else did you do?"
"Uncle Gray got new mats installed under his rock wall at Alpha, so I went by there to check them out."
"Did you climb the wall?" I asked.
"How else was I supposed to check out the mats?" he asked, teasing me.
"I hope you didn't fall."
"I never fall."
"Then you really didn't get to test the mats."
He laughed. "I guess I didn't. But they felt really nice and cushy when I was standing on them, and I'm sure they would have worked well if I needed them to catch me."
"I'd like to try the rock wall sometime."
"I'm sure you'd be good at it. I'm sure you use similar muscle groups when you do your circus tricks."
Owen was referring to the fact that I trained a few times a week on silks. My roommate had turned me onto it, and it was something I truly enjoyed. It was kind of a guilty pleasure for me, though, because I knew my dad wouldn't approve. He was a really traditional sort of man, and it was the type of extracurricular activity I knew he wouldn't care for. He and my mom respected the memory of my true parents, but a few times over the years, I had heard him refer to my birth mother as a hippie in a derogatory way. He was a good man, but I knew something like hanging from silks in an acrobatic fashion wouldn't sit well with him. Rock climbing, however, might be okay.
"I bet I use similar muscle groups," I said. "So you better watch out, I might just crush you at going up that wall."
Owen laughed at my confidence. "Sounds like we have a race on our hands," he said.
"Too bad Alpha's not open to the public," I said. "I guess you got off easy this time."
"Oh, there are other rock gyms in town," he said. "But Uncle Gray won't mind you climbing at Alpha as long as you're with me."
It was unbelievable how bad I had it for Owen. My heart raced at the sound of him saying as long as you're with me. He didn't even mean it in a possessive way, and yet it still caused my heart to swell.
"If you take me over there, your family's gonna think something's going on between us."
"I thought something was going on between us," he said.
Happy tears sprang to my eyes when he said that, and I had to take a second to catch my breath.
"I kinda mentioned it to my dad and brother last night," he said.
I was so giddy with excitement that it took all my concentration to refrain from giggling. "You did? What did you say?" I asked.
"I don't know. I kinda messed it up. My brother brought his girlfriend home to meet the family, and I mentioned to them that I might be talking to someone."
I could honestly barely breathe. I had been talking to Owen on the phone for the last two weeks. We had deep conversations about real-life important stuff like morals and goals and life-preferences, but never once had he mentioned mentioning me to his family. I wanted to put my face into a pillow and let out a squeal.
"What did they say?" I asked calmly.
"They started asking me a bunch of questions and then I froze up. I never bring up girls to them, so I should've known that they would flip out and start asking me a bunch of stuff."
"Did you say my name?" I asked.
Owen got quiet. "I don’t think so," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect them to hit me with a hundred questions. My brother was hyper because Courtney's here. He brought her out on his motorcycle and everything."
"How'd that go?" I asked.
Owen's older brother, Daniel, hadn't been on a motorcycle since the accident they had as kids, so I knew it was a big step for him. Owen had told me he was learning to ride for his girlfriend, but I had forgotten last night was the night she was coming in.
"It went good. He asked me to meet him at the airport so I could take her luggage, and he surprised her with a ride. It was cute. I think he really likes her."
"Who wouldn't?" I asked, knowing the girl in question was the ultra-famous pop star, Courtney Cole.
"Me," Owen answered seriously.
I laughed, but he stayed silent on the other end. "You really know what to say to a girl," I said.
"I'm not just tellin' you what you want to hear, Darcy. I don't see other girls. And I don't mean it like I'm not seeing anybody. I mean I don't even see them. I don't even notice they're there."
I rolled over on my bed feeling so excited that my stomach hurt. I knew it was a good thing that we were getting conversations like this out of the way while we were on the phone because if I was looking at Owen when he said something like that to me, I wouldn't be able to handle it. I could barely breathe much less speak. I had been loving him since the seventh grade, and to hear him say with his own mouth that he didn't even notice other girls left me speechless.
"Me too," I said vulnerably. "I'm the same way, Owen. My friends are constantly trying to set me up with people, and I can't even—"
"Oh, now you're just trying to make me jealous."
I smiled. "No, I'm serious. It's like you said. I don't even see other guys that way."
"But you see me?" he asked.
"I don't see you right now because I'm in New York, and you're all the way over in Memphis."
"But you like me?" he asked.
I let out a little humorless laugh.
"What?" he asked.
"Surely you must know how I feel by now," I said.
"How?"
His deep voice coming through the phone made me ache to be next to him. I had never wished so ardently that I could be transported to a different state. He quietly waited for me to elaborate on how I felt about him, and the words got caught in my throat.
"Hopeless," I said in little more than a whisper. "Helpless. Utterly smitten, Owen. I have been since I can remember." He was still quiet on the other end, so I added, "I've never wanted anyone else."
I was so nervous about saying such a thing that my voice came out weak and shaky. I trembled as I held the phone to my ear, waiting to hear how he would respond.
He was silent for a few seconds.
"Owen?" I said, feeling a little insecure about putting myself out there like that.
"Darcy," he said. "Come home to me."
Owen and I stayed on the phone, talking about his family and the fact that his sister, Ivy, was graduating from high school a couple of days after his college ceremony. Owen originally didn't think he would walk at the ceremony, but his cousin, Liam, had graduated the year before and still had his cap and gown, so his family talked him into it. He wasn't nearly as excited about it as Ivy was about hers, though, and was basically just doing it because his mom asked him to.
I got off the phone with him when my roommate pounded on my door saying they were waiting on me. The plan was to go out to eat and go bowling, and I knew I should enjoy it since these were my last few days with my college friends, but I hated getting off the phone with Owen. I came close to telling him I loved him when we hung up, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I said I would talk to him and see him soon and then headed into the living room to meet the others.
"Finally!" Derrick said right when I got out there.
"We were about to leave without you," Dylan added, teasing me.
"Sorry," I said, grabbing my purse.
"I don't know why she wants to waste her time talking to that peg leg dude when she's got the king of lacrosse standing right here in her living room."
I looked at Derrick who smiled and kissed his own flexed bicep. He was really pleased with himself about his comment, which made me even angrier.
My blood began to boil.
I could feel my face turning red.
"How did you even know…"
I glanced from Derrick to Dylan with a disbelieving scowl. There were other people standing around my living room, but I didn't even care.
"Who told you that?" I asked Derrick.
He looked stunned.
Dylan could see how agitated I was and she put up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I just told him that guy you were talking to on the phone, you know, had a fake leg or whatever. It's no big deal."
She smiled at me, but I didn't smile back. I leveled her and then Derrick with a stare that dared either of them to say anything else.
"Please don't ever let me hear any of you say that word again. His name is Owen, and even without his leg, he is twice the man you will ever be, Derrick! And you guys, too. He could probably whip all of your butts at lacrosse, anyway."
I absolutely never lost my temper.
I was known for being the easy-going one of the bunch—the one who was always smiling. If anything, it was to a fault. I was a people pleaser who would sacrifice my own comfort for the comfort of others. My friends had never seen me get mad or stand up for anything the way I had done just now and, as I glanced around, I could see all of their wide eyes staring at me in shock.
"Sorry," Derrick said.
"I'm sorry, too," Dylan said.
One of the other guys chimed in with, "We didn't know you were so sensitive about it."
"Well, now you do," I said. I clapped my hands and smiled like any good cheerleader would do. "Let's go bowling."