Josh sat straight up in bed; a brilliant idea had just popped into his head. Sabrina was already out of bed, so he went down the hall to shower and change. As he thought his plan through, he couldn’t believe they didn’t think of it sooner; it was all so simple.
He ran down the stairs at lightning speed. However, instead of seeing Sabrina at the dining table, he saw CJ instead. “Where’s Bri?” “The store, we’re out of eggs. Sit down, I want to talk to you.” Josh felt oddly nervous about the way CJ was smiling at him, but sat down anyway. “So, you and Bri slept together last night.” Josh’s face had never changed so quickly from bliss to complete panic. “Yeah…I mean, no…I mean…please don’t kill me.” CJ laughed. “Relax. I know nothing happened. I know Bri too well. Look, I wanted to talk to you about her. She tends to…shut down and isolate herself from others when she’s having a hard time. I’m telling you this now because you’re leaving tomorrow and it’s going to be really hard on her. She loves you, but she’ll push you away to protect herself, so don’t be hurt when she does.” “Thanks CJ, but that won’t be necessary. The answer’s been staring me right in the face the whole time. I’m going to ask Bri to come to LA with me. She can stay with me in my house and I’d take good care of her. What do you think?” CJ’s expression became very pensive. “I think this is something you’ll have to ask her.”
Sabrina came in just then and knew from their expressions that Josh and CJ had been talking about her. “What’s going on?” “Nothing. I was just leaving.” CJ kissed her cheek at the door. “Call me later, OK?” “OK. Josh, what…” He picked her up and twirled her around, kissing her before setting her back on her feet. “I have a great idea. Come with me to LA. You can stay at my house and I can show you around, you can meet David and I’m sure I can get an extra ticket for Letterman…” “Josh…” “Don’t you see? It’s perfect. We can be together, I’ll take care of everything…” “I can’t go with you.”
He looked like she’d just slapped him. He was silent, so Sabrina continued. “A few months ago, I applied to a special arts program in Italy. It’s a chance to study theatre, art and music in Italy and Greece for nine months. I was accepted and got the final paperwork today. I’m leaving in two weeks.” “Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” “I didn’t see the point. I knew you’d walk out of my life as quickly as you walked in and that whatever happened between us, you’d be long gone before I fly to Italy.” “Can’t you just postpone it or something?” “Of course not! Josh, I’ve worked for over a year for this, you can’t ask me to do that.” “Sorry I asked. I thought you wanted to be with me.” “Of course I want to be with you, but I’ve dreamt of going to Europe all my life; this is too much to pass up.” “But I’m not.” “Josh…”
Josh grabbed his jacket and went out onto the porch and sat. He knew he had to calm down; everything he was trying to say kept coming out horribly wrong. He knew he had no right to stop Sabrina from achieving her dreams as he had to pursue his. Josh wished desperately for a way to tell her how he felt, but he was never good at expressing himself unless he had a microphone in front of him. How could he tell Sabrina how she made him feel, what he saw when he looked into her eyes? The answer came to him suddenly, but he had to apologize to Sabrina first.
Josh stood to go back inside as Sabrina opened the door. They stood silently for a moment and fell into each other’s arms. “I’m sorry, Bri.” “Me too.” They walked into the living room, hand in hand. “Josh, I’m sorry I kept this from you, but I’m not going to put off this trip and it’s not fair of you to ask that of me.” “I know. We could just try to keep this going…” “You mean a long distance relationship? Those never work out. Especially with my being all the way in Europe and you’re going to be in the US for the next year…it’s too hard. It’s just not very logical.” “Nothing about our relationship is logical, Bri.” She couldn’t help but smile. “I suppose you’re right about that. Can we please just figure this out later? I really want to get out and enjoy this day with you.” Josh was hesitant; he wanted to resolve this as soon as possible. When he looked into Sabrina’s eyes, however, he simply couldn’t refuse her. “Alright.”
They spent the day at the county fair in a nearby town. They rode everything twice, took pictures and stuffed themselves with funnel cake. Josh even won Sabrina a teddy bear at a game booth. They met up with CJ and Chelsea that night for dinner at the Shack. All in all, Josh thought it was a perfect day, like every other he’d spent with Sabrina.
The four of them headed home to watch some videos. As they walked in, Sabrina saw the answering machine blinking with a new message. She pressed play just as Josh came up and hugged her from behind. “Good afternoon, this is Tony from Tony’s Auto Shop calling for Josh. Your car’s fixed and will be ready for pick up tomorrow morning. Thank you and have a great day.”
“I’ll be right back.” Sabrina walked up the stairs and into her room. CJ started after her, but Josh silently stopped him and followed her. He knocked, but entered without waiting for a response. Sabrina sat on her bed, playing with a silver necklace in her hand. She looked up and smiled. “Sit down, I have something for you.” Josh quietly did as he was told and she handed him the necklace she was holding. It had a small silver oval shaped medal with the figure of a man carrying a small boy on his back etched on its surface. Around the picture were the words ‘Behold St Christopher and go your way in safety’. “A Saint Christopher’s medal?” “He’s the patron saint of travelers. My mother gave me this when I first got my driver’s license. I still take it with me whenever I’m on the road, but I think you need it more than I do. I can’t have your car breaking down in front of some super model’s house, now can I?” “No, I guess not.” “If nothing else, it’ll remind you of me; you can look at it and know there’s someone here who loves you.” Josh slid the chain over his head and kissed her.
“Bri, what are we going to do?” “I don’t know. I’ve been wondering about that all day. Josh, I really think a long distance relationship is too much of a strain on both of us. We love each other now, but sometimes things change. I don’t want either of us to feel pressured or guilty if we meet someone else. To be honest, I couldn’t bear to make to receive that phone call.” “But I’m not looking for anyone else.” “Neither am I, but things happen. I mean, a week ago we didn’t even know each other, but now look at us.” “I’m not going to be able to change your mind on any of this, am I?” “I’m sorry. We can be together, but not exclusively. The distance is just too great.” A lyric from one of his songs went through Josh’s head. “You couldn’t live a life with maybe’s and what if’s.” and knew what Sabrina meant.
Later that night, Josh stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He envied Sabrina who was sleeping soundly next to him. He kissed her head. “I love you.” Sabrina snuggled closer to him, seemingly in response. Josh put his arm around her and silently vowed that he would never let her go.
