I told Spencer where I lived then sat quietly as she pulled out onto the highway. Without looking away from the road she reached up and grabbed a cd from the holder in the sun visor. She looked down at it and huffed.
"Take the wheel?" she asked.
"Sure." I reached over and held it steady as she looked through the different cd’s above her. She finally found the one she was looking for and took hold of the steering wheel again.
"Do you mind?" she asked. Showing me the burned cd she held in her hand.
"Not at all."
She placed it in the player and turned up the volume knob. Paramore blasted through the speakers. She smiled as the music occupied the silence as she kept driving. She didn’t seem the type to be into the rock music scene. But I wasn’t complaining.

"That’s me." I said pointing to my apartment complex. She nodded and turned into the lot and drove until my building was beside us. She put the car in park and reached down into her purse. Grabbing a scrap piece of paper and a pen she wrote down her phone number and AIM screenname.
"If you ever want to hang out, or you need anything, hit me up." She smiled as she handed it over. "I’ve been going to school for almost a year now, but finding new friends in L.A. is a lot harder than I thought." She forced a laugh and looked back to the front of her.
"No problem. It’s fun out here when you get to know the place. And people. It must be a lot different from…?"
"Ohio. I decided I was ready for the big city life. A little change of scenery." She smiled looking back.
"A change of scenery? That seems like an understatement. I’d be glad to show you around and all that. Is Aiden not cutting it as your tour guide?"
"Haha, no he’s great. But going out with ‘the boys’ is getting tiring. And I’ve gotten to know the dating scene a little all too well." She laughed. "I think it’s about time I had a little ‘girl time’." she said nodding her head.
"Oh yeah. Well when I’m not working I’ll definitely give you a call."
"Where do you work?"
"Starbucks. The job gets old but the paychecks don’t." I smiled. As lame as the joke was, she smiled back.
"Awesome, well I better get going. I’ve got a paper to finish and it’s not going to write itself, as bad as I want it to."
"Thanks again." I said as I got out of the car.
"Talk to you later." She waved goodbye and drove away. I walked up the steps to my door and unlocked it. As soon as I shut the door I ripped off the shirt that still reeked of puke and and the jeans I was wearing. I tossed them into the dirty clothes bin and walked up to my computer and turned it on. I walked back to my dresser and pulled out some sweats and a tank top. As I was changing I heard a beeping from my computer. I pulled the tank over my head and looked over. 1 new e-mail message. I went over and sat down clicking on the link. My inbox pulled up and I read in bold letters across the screen: unread: No Subject – LoCooper55@acemail.com . I scrolled my mouse over the button marked ‘read‘. I looked and quietly debated to myself. I took a deep breath and slowly moved the cursor to the button beside it marked ‘delete‘. Exhaling, I clicked. A box flashed onto the screen. No new e-mail messages. I closed the laptop and walked away not thinking twice about what she could have possibly fit about our feelings over 8 months into a lousy e-mail. Then I paused. And turned back towards the computer. I walked over and sat down, re-opening the laptop. I clicked onto ‘create new e-mail message‘ and typed ‘re: no subject’ into the subject box. Then I began to type. I told her, uninterrupted, how I felt now. I just let it all flow, the mixed emotions I had felt since everything had happened had finally come together, and they were coming out, in this e-mail. 

Laura,
I didn’t bother reading your e-mail. Last night was enough for me. I don’t blame you for what happened, and I don’t blame myself either. I loved you, Laura. Loved. I can’t anymore, and I won’t. You said that you will never love anyone the way that you loved me. I won’t either, but I will love again. I can’t just keep loving you, wanting you, without a reason, without any hope of getting you back. What’s the point? Last night was a rude awakening for me. Had they not seen us what would have happened? We would’ve just kept on living a secret. So maybe it was for the best. I don’t think that now, but maybe I will in the future. Yes, I will always wonder what would’ve happened, but I can’t make it my life. It’s time to move on. I know that now, and you should too. Thank you for the 8 months you gave me. 8 months of happiness and love and everything good. I don’t regret any of it. I don’t regret ever loving you. And you know that deep down I will always care for you and always cherish what we had together. But now it’s time to find that kind of relationship with someone else. I know you’ll be ok, and I thought you should know, that I’m going to be ok too.
-Ashley 

I didn’t bother proofreading it, I figured anything I had typed was what I wanted to say. I scrolled down and clicked ‘send‘. I shut the laptop and walked out of the room, grabbing my iPod on the way. I slipped the wristband on the case around my arm and hit play. I placed the buds into my ears and pushed until the sounds of Taking Back Sunday flooded my head. I slipped on my tennis shoes and grabbed my keys and was out the door. I ran as I listened, my feat colliding with the pavement as the beats pounded against my eardrums. I only paid attention to the music. Nothing else was on my mind. I let the lyrics take me to places. It didn’t matter where, just any place that wasn’t Los Angeles.