Note: this story comes chronologically after my other two stories, Halloween Fun and Halloween Fun 2. This story takes place right before Marie leaves for college, leaving Rob in her hometown.
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Hi. I'm Marie. When I was back in high school, I spent the Halloween of my junior and senior years with my boyfriend, Rob. Those times, we'd gotten together and gone trick or treating. However, the Halloween coming up this year will not be spent together... it will be spent apart. This is largely due to the fact that a few months ago, I left my small hometown to go to college, and I will not be home for Halloween.
But this story isn't about Halloween... no, not at all. This story is about a couple who would soon be separated by many miles when one of them went off to college. This is the story... of how they said good-bye.
It all started a week before I had to leave to go to college. I had been going out with Rob for about a year and a half, and at the end of the week, I was going to be separated from him for quite a while. The college I'd chosen was 4 hours away from home, so I could not even come home on weekends to visit. Of course, even if it had been closer, my parents had no intention of buying me (or letting me buy) a car to take to college with me. The Z4 (that we had) would sit unused in the garage for the portion of the year while I was in college. They didn't want me to be able to drive into the city and get myself drunk, raped, and killed. Of course, I guess that could have happened anyway... the city was only about a 10 minute walk from campus. But back to the story.
Two days before I had to leave for college, one of my aunts became ill. As she was an aunt that I despised because of how conceited she was, I opted to stay home while my parents drove 6 hours to see her. I could have cared less if she lived or died. All I could think about was how much I was going to miss my friends and boyfriend. Completely uncharacteristic of my parents, they left me home alone. They told me that they'd be gone two days and they would come back to get me on the day that I had to leave to go to college. Little did they know how I would spend my days.
Actually, the first of the two days I spent packing. Being a procrastinator by nature, nothing was packed, even though I was leaving for college on the following day. I was never able to figure out how my family always managed to put things off until the very last moment, then squeeze everything we had to do in, AND remember to take everything with us; but somehow we did. My parents, also being procrastinators, had put off buying any food before they left to visit my aunt. That left me two days with only stale pizza to eat. Yum. Well, I kind of missed having bananas for breakfast every day, but I'd live until my parents came back.
The second day that I was left alone, Rob called to see if I could come over. It was still early in the morning, around 11 a.m. His parents and siblings had just left, leaving him with the whole house to himself. They had gone to Indiana Beach on that warm August morning, and were planning on staying as long as the weather held up. He had figured that they would stay all day, as there was not a cloud in the sky.
With my parents gone, I took my dad's Civic (and his cell phone) and drove the 3 miles to Rob's house. I knew he'd left the door open for me, as he always did. I was glad to know that I was welcome at his house. I entered the house and started to look around for him. Going down into the rec room in their basement, I spotted him on a couch, watching television. The couch was set up next to a table, where a basket of fresh fruit and a can Redi Whip lay. I had not had breakfast that morning, because of my parents' absent-mindedness, and the fruit looked delicious.
"Hey," I sat down next to him, "Can I have a piece?"
"Sure."
I reached for a banana, not even thinking of the connotations it could have had. At that moment, my cell phone rang. Putting the fruit down, I answered it and found it to be Jessi, one of my friends. She seemed to have an idea about why my parents had forgotten to buy food... specifically, why they'd forgotten to buy bananas.
"You know how you were saying that your parents forgot to buy bananas?" she asked me.
"Yeah... they forgot to buy A LOT of stuff..."
"Well, did it ever occur to you that this could be some kind of symbol?"
"No... unlike to you... not every little thing has a deeper meaning to me."
"Well, do you want to hear what I think it means?" she enthusiastically asked.
"Not particularly, no..."
"Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. I think it means that while you're at college, there's going to be a lack of bananas, in your life."
"Oooooook... so I won't have fruit for breakfast, big deal..."
"No, BANANAS," she stressed the word, "as in the ones that are attacked to guys... at a level below the waist..."
"Ahh. I'm gonna go now..."
"So maybe you should stock up now... if you know what I mean."
"Sure," I said, glancing over at Rob. He'd seemed to take an interest in the conversation and was watching me. "Well, just so you know, I'm at Rob's house, so..."
"Banana stocking time!"
"Well, that's NOT what I was thinking, but..."
"I know... but if you guys get bored..."
"We never get bored..."
"But if you do..."
"We won't..."
"You guys could make a banana split! All you guys would need is a firm banana, which I know you have, and a few other things..."
"I got to go, Jessi..."
"Remember!"
"Bye Jessi..."
"Bye."
I was FINALLY rid of her. She was one of those reasons why I was dying to go AWAY to college. As if I didn't already have sex on the brain 24/7, she was there to point out every single thing she could think of that could even be slightly related to something sexual. I'd been friends with her for 7 years, but she had gotten to be too much for me. I would be glad to be in college, FAR FAR away from her.
Coming back to reality, I put away the cell phone, turning it off. Then I reached for the banana, trying to push all sexual thoughts out of my mind. I must have paused and stared while trying to think of something else, and Rob noticed.
"Was that Jessi?"