Southern Boy Charm | ✓

Chapter 34

1 Year Later

"Leighton if I have to hold this box for one more minute I might faint."

"I know! I'm trying, Mom!"

I jiggle the keys within the lock, but it still doesn't open. This has to be my door, right? I check the plaque beside the door, 2407, and glance down at the bright red folder labeled University of Georgia Freshman Orientation. There under my dorm information is the matching number to my door.

"Maybe the lady at the front desk gave me the wrong key?" I can sense my mom's frustration rising, and I jiggle aggressively at the brass doorknob, hoping that maybe some good-old fashioned force will do the trick. Just then, the door swings open, and I'm greeted by a petite platinum brown-haired girl with deep broqn skin.

"Leighton?" she asks in a sweet southern drawl. When I nod my head yes, her mouth erupts into a gigantic smile and she pulls me in for tight hug. She smells comforting, like warm vanilla perfume and cinnamon, and I instantly feel at ease.

"You must be Katy?" I ask, wearing the same infectious smile.

"I am she!" she says. "I'm so excited to finally see you in person! All that roommate stuff gave me the heebie jeebies, but I'm so excited that we got matched!" She opens the door wide, grabbing my hand and pulling me into our room. Her side explodes with pastel pink, blue, and green decor. Twinkle lights hang from atop a custom headboard, and she has too many throw pillows on her bed to count. Her wall is filled with pictures hanging from clothes pins, each forming a cohesive timeline of her entire life. In one, she wears a blue and yellow cheer uniform with pom-poms in hand. In another, she has on a champagne gown, a tiara atop her head, and a sash that reads: Junior Miss Georgia Runner-Up. She notices me staring at her side of the room and turns towards me excitedly.

"Do you like all the decorations? My parents helped me move in yesterday so we tried to put as much as we could into this super tiny room. I also didn't know what color you wanted for your side, so I just chose pastels and figured that whatever color you chose would match pretty well!" She gasps. "Unless your color palate is blacks and dark tones? Which is totally cool if it is."

Looking around, I would be lying if I said that I'm not even a little bit overwhelmed. Her side of the room is picturesque, and I can already tell that she has a big personality. It's intimidating, but also nice to know that I have someone so outgoing to navigate my first year of college with. Plus, I can tell with her big smile and constant bouncing that she wouldn't hurt a fly.

"I actually haven't even thought of decorations at all," I admit. "I just brought white sheets." Her face morphs from shock to excitement within a second.

"No way! We can totally makeover your side of the room once we unpack! I have so many extra things that didn't even fit on my side that you can totally have! You like Lilly Pulitzer, right?"

A loud crash cuts me off from responding. When I look behind me, my mom is there clutching her back with the heavy box rattling at her feet. "You really didn't think to help me?" she complains, sitting on my bare bed. My cheeks burn red. Having my mom scold me in front of Katy within five minutes of meeting her was not how I wanted this interaction to go. Katy seems to brush it off and instantly wraps my mom in a hug, seeming to take her by surprise too.

"I'm Katy, Leighton's roommate," she says pulling away from my mom. "If you can't tell I'm a hugger! It's the Georgia in me." My mom laughs. "I can tell just a little."

We spend the rest of the morning unloading my belongings from the car and somehow making it fit into my tiny dorm room. The Georgia sun is hotter than I remember it, but as the three of us work tirelessly beside the broken air conditioner, it feels all too familiar. That was probably the reason why I applied here in the first place. My mom had been hell bent on Ohio State ever since I started high school. They're going to offer you a really great softball scholarship, Leighton she'd say. Plus, it's close to home.

It would have been so easy to accept their admission in the spring when they offered me a chance to play with them, but I've known ever since I started softball that it wasn't what I wanted to do forever. All my life I've always wanted to please everyone around me. I can thank last summer for teaching me that. I can still remember the frustration within me when a certain southern boy hated me the moment he saw me. A wave of bittersweet nostalgia hits me, but I push it out of my thoughts. His dislike for me bothered me so much for a reason that I couldn't understand at the time.

I remember the night a year ago when I sat my mom down and told her how I always needed everyone's approval. We cried a lot that night, our heads rested on each other's shoulder. I hadn't realized until we talked how much I blamed myself for my Dad leaving. I kept telling myself that if only I had been more likeable, if only I had been nicer, if only I had been less of a handful, he wouldn't have left. My mind was young to understand that people exit our lives for so many reasons that have nothing to do with them.

When I opened the letter from the University of Georgia, I was shocked yet conflicted. I had only applied on a whim via Bethany's insistent pressure. She seemed to believe that my summer away proved that I was meant to get out of the "Ohio bubble" for good. It was the only out-of-state school that I applied to because Georgia was the only other state that I actually knew. It was a perfect amount of the unknown. When I was writing my essays, leaving was a distant fantasy, and the same feeling overcame me when I clicked the final submit button on my application. But standing by my mailbox, the torn envelope on the grass by my feet and the bolded word, Congratulations, staring up at me, I knew it was where I was meant to be

So today, at one in the morning, my mom and I packed my belongings into boxes and began our second voyage to the state that held so many melancholy memories. The air on campus felt hot but energizing, and I knew at that exact moment that this is where I was meant to be.

After the three of us finish putting away my belongings, we eat at the dining hall across the hall. The pasta is a tad greasy, but with the unlimited ice cream bar, I can tell that I will take many midnight walks here for a late-night snack. On the way back, I drag my feet. I'm not ready to say goodbye to my mom, and judging by the look in her glassy eyes, she isn't either.

"You've turned into such an amazing young woman," my mom says, placing both of her hands on either side of my face. "I remember when you clung onto my leg whenever something scared you. I was your safe space. But now you don't need me."

A tear falls onto her cheek, and I can feel my resolve cracking. "Don't say that Mom, of course I still need you."

She shakes her head. "But not like before, and that's a good thing. Now it's your turn to face the big and scary world on your own. You have such a great head on your shoulders, that I know you'll be alright." She kisses my forehead lightly and I wrap her into a hug.

We don't say anything. We just stand there, my head buried into her shoulder, and in the comforting warmth of her embrace, I am comforted in the thought that despite all my apprehension for the future, everything will be all right.

When we pull apart, we say one final goodbye. We're both crying, but we smile anyway because we know that for so long it has always been the two of us, and while change is sad, it can also be good. I watch her car disappear down the busy college street and return to my dorm room, my mind a cocktail of sadness, fear, and excitement.

~~~

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-K