Can You Keep a Secret

Chapter One

"One box, two box, three box, four." I sing a whisper as I finish packing up the boxes of my best friend Joslyn and I's dorm.
Wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, I stand up to take a look at the major progress we have made over the last few days. Granted we have been procrastinating and pushing off packing, but maybe it was for the better. We both work better under pressure.

Wow... I truly sound like a college student.

Luckily, a college student who is now embarking on summer vacation with my bestie, Joslyn.

Joslyns dad had actually offered for us to stay at his place since he's rarely there but rather at work.
I wasn't sure about it at first, but once Joslyn told me about the huge in-ground pool and jacuzzi...yeah I couldn't help but agree to tag along to stay there for the summer.

Especially considering my parents told me I wasn't welcome to come home.

Ever since I switched majors from medicine to English, they have acted like I carry the bubonic plague and would infect them with even a five second phone call.
They didn't even call to tell me my childhood pet Cecile had passed away. He was the best little tabby... my tabby... and I never even got to say goodbye to him.

Don't get me wrong, I know they wanted me to follow their foot steps and become a successful doctor, but I wasn't grasping anything that was being taught.
I had no passion for what I was learning.

I want my future career to be something that I love, something which I enjoy and have a passion for. And that doesn't involve the medical field, not for me.

And unfortunately for my parents. I have no patience when it comes to sick whiny people. They annoy me. So that's just another jab at their expectations of who I was supposed to become in their eyes but now never will be.

I don't have a single ounce of passion in my body to push myself into sitting in on one more lecture or lab about the human body and how illnesses can derail different parts of our systems.
How specific meditations don't mix with others and how we need to be healthy in order to live a long happy life.

No thank you.

I'll gladly eat my Krispy Kreme donuts, drink my chocolate milk, and sit on the couch while I divulge into reading smutty novels.

Keep that healthy shit away from me.

"Uh, Daph? You okay?" Joslyn asks from behind me, lightly tapping my shoulder.

"Uh, yeah." I shrug, trying to get back into reality and no longer bouncing around the clouds of my mind.

What was I even doing? Oh yeah, packing this last box. Duh.

"Thinking of Kyle again?"

Oh shit, I wasn't thinking about him... but now I am.

Kyle and I started dating two months into this school year, it just seemed right.
We both switched from medicine to English, and enjoyed many of the same things. But that's it, it was way too easy.
There wasn't a true spark, no need to learn about one another... it was boring.

I don't want boring.

I want heat.
I want a burning desire to be with someone, not just sexually but emotionally. I want that hunger to learn more about that person, and to be in awe with their existence.
Yeah, I want that future guy to be hot, but that's not all that matters. I want love. With a little challenge too... is that crazy?

"I shouldn't have brought him up, I'm sorry Daphne. I'll keep my trap shut from now on." She says apologetically, "my dad sent his friend Bobby to come grab us and our things. My dad is stuck at work but promised to order pizza tonight when he gets home." She smiles.