BooksBarbecue
Back Big Boned Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Big Boned
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Dedication
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
  57. 54
  58. 55
  59. One Month Later
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. About the Author
  62. Copyright
  63. About the Publisher
  64. Backad 1
  65. Backad 2
  66. Backad 3
  67. Backad 4

I reread the message I’d gotten from Jake this morning. We’d been FaceTiming every day for hours, and at night had gotten into the habit of watching Netflix together. We were currently watching The Sopranos. His choice. A classic, he said. I was choosing the next show. He’d moved to Stellenbosch already, and was also starting classes soon, although water polo practice had already begun.

JAKE: Anything but JustLori, good luck for your first day, although I know you’re not going to need it. You’re brilliant and beautiful and everyone is going to love you, not as much as I love you tho ;)

Sometimes when I thought of Jake now, I thought of what Thembi once said to me: That maybe humans weren’t meant to be with one person for the rest of their lives. Maybe we were meant to be with a person for a period of time, get what we need from them in that moment, and then move on. Sometimes this thought broke my heart. Sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes the thought filled me with such happiness, because even if Jake and I weren’t going to be together forever, he’d helped change me. Sure, I’d done the changing, too, but he had helped and because of that, he would always be with me in a way.

I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. On the way I picked my pill up and swallowed it with a large sip of water. I still took my pill every day—anxiety wasn’t something you just got over, it wasn’t something that just went away magically one day. It was a process, and I was still working on it, and that was okay.

I walked out of my apartment and into the bustling streets of Paris. Everything here was completely different than what I was used to. It was so old, so steeped in history, and everything had a story to it. There was an energy in that that was hard to describe, the feeling that you were walking through the pages of a history book every day. I walked down the small cobblestone street, past the little café that I buy Coke Zero and water from. I kept walking, until the streets got even narrower. I still can’t believe people are able to parallel park their cars on roads like this! I failed my driver’s license the first time on parallel parking, and the road had been twice this size.