**A/N: I wrote this story about a year ago, although it still isn't finished.. There are about twenty chapters so far, but I'm gonna post them gradually! Hope you enjoy. Characters are all my invention so belong to me, as do the places of Dunsten Hills and Duke Falls, which are fictional: the universities and cities are real places so are not owned by me, however!**
Just two days ago, Dunsten Hills, Minnesota, had been home.
Now, it was the named departure on our plane tickets, train tickets and gas tickets out of there. In a town we'd all grown to simultaneously love and hate, it suddenly didn't matter whether we'd liked or loathed our time there. Because all of a sudden, almost out of the blue, the summer had ended and college was the immediate future.
The summer had ended so abruptly that it didn't even feel like we'd had time to say goodbye. Which was probably why, at eight o'clock on our last Saturday evening in Dunsten Hills for a long time, the whole gang was squashed around a tiny table in the Matchbox, desperately trying to disguise our "I'll miss you's" behind the more acceptable front of swapping old stories from our past. Stories we'd all heard a thousand times before- mainly because we were all characters in them. Even Brittany and Adam, our resident Barbie-and-Ken, were avoiding the farewells we were all reluctant to voice. Six pairs of eyes all kept glancing up at the clock over the counter, where we'd ordered our drinks almost an hour ago. The coffee mugs and cups of soda sat haphazardly on the table top, in various degrees of emptiness. On account of there being no band playing tonight, we were almost the only people in the tiny coffee house, the air achingly full of nothing except our own desperate attempts at light- heartedness.
"This is so weird."
Jessica spoke up with no regard for the ongoing conversation, but in a millisecond we'd all stopped talking and turned to look straight at her. If I had to guess why we suddenly shut up, I'd have to wonder if it was because the words she'd just said we the ones running around everyone's minds even as we recounted endless parties and numerous summers together with forced smiles and laughter.
"Yeah." Brittany, the first to acknowledge Jess's comment, rested her elbows on the table and stared for some time at a point over Toby's head before realigning her gaze to us. "I s'pose... I dunno." She stopped, as if reluctant to go on, but when none of the rest of us said anything she carried on. "It's not like I'm not looking forward to college. I really wanna go. It's just gonna feel strange without you guys around every corner. Apart from Toby, I mean." Brit managed a weak smile in Toby's direction, which he returned in equal measures of relief that he wouldn't be alone and dejection that he'd be without the rest of us. Toby and Brittany were both headed for the University of Minnesota, Duluth, the next morning, just like Darren and I were paired up to go to UNK.
The rest of us nodded in agreement before lapsing into silence again. We might not have even pursued the conversation if it wasn't for Adam declaring that he needed to be home to get the rest of his stuff ready for his defection to New York City early the next morning. That was when it seemed to hit us all that this was it. In a strange way it was almost a surprise to us, even though the whole evening had been gearing up to it. I wished fervently that we'd all got our acts together sooner and done the goodbye-and-good-luck thing a little earlier than the night before we were all leaving. But living in Dunsten Hills, Minnesota's sleepiest town, occasionally made you unaware that life sometimes did change, and when it crept up on you, it took some getting used to.
"I'll walk back with you," Brittany offered him, looking slightly horrified about actually having to say goodbye to Adam in front of the rest of us. Obviously the two of them had also been struck by the delayed reality thing I was suffering from at that moment.
Jessica, who was sat on Brittany's right hand side, jumped up as Brittany did and gave her best friend a huge hug that almost sent both of them flying. "I'll miss you, Brit," she told her, before stepping back and giving her a small smile. "Have fun."
Brittany smiled back. "You too, Jess. I'll call you when I get there, okay?" She turned to the rest of us and suddenly all six of us lost a degree of our awkwardness and jumped up to say proper goodbyes and good lucks to each other, cramming eight years of sextuplet friendship into ten minutes of fierce hugs and watery smiles. It was almost as if we didn't believe that we'd have access to telephones and e-mail and a train ticket home at Christmas- that this was it forever. Brittany's promise that she'd call Jess once she got there, as well as the rest of us, suddenly filled us with a better sense of rationality.
Wandering outside, the six of us converged onto the sidewalk where we would finally part. Darren, Brittany, Toby and Adam were headed right, while Jessica and I were headed in the opposite direction. Waving goodbye to the four of them and promising Darren I'd be ready for nine the next morning, I started in the direction of home, Jess by my side in an unusually subdued manner.
"You're gonna miss this place, huh?" I asked her as we crossed Main Street and approached Bomoseen Crescent, where Jessica lived with her parents and younger brother and sister.
Jess nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I will. It's strange, though. I never thought I'd really miss this place once I got out of here... and I mean, California is gonna be great. I'll probably wonder what the hell I ever missed about this place." She sighed, and then forced a bright smile. "But it's home, right?" She looked at me expectantly.
I grinned. "Sure is. But it's not like you'll be gone forever," I reminded her as we crossed the street and approached her house.
"I know." She shrugged. "Maybe it's just the thought of being on my own, without you guys. It's kind of weird to think about."
I nodded. "I know what you mean. But we're gonna be fine, Jess. We're not gonna forget each other overnight or anything. Don't worry about it," I advised her, hoping to reassure her with the words that had failed to reassure me when I'd repeated them to myself numerous times during the day. "Just have fun."
"Sure thing," she promised. "You too." She stopped at the edge of the Kennedys' driveway, digging absently in her pocket for her door key. "And good luck."
"You too," I told her.
She grinned and gave me a hug. "See ya, Jersey," she said as she started up the driveway towards her front door, one hand raised in farewell.
"Yeah, see ya, Jess," I called back as she reached her front door. Waving, I continued down the street to the sound of her front door closing, as I headed home through the remainder of the town I was going to miss like crazy.
* * * * *
Kicking the stray stones that cluttered the dark street, I trudged along slowly, not wanting to go home straight away and face up to the packed-up state my room was in and the bags that contained all my belongings littering the foot of my bed. Earlier that day, I'd stuffed the remainder of my things into the last bag I could find, effectively leaving my room just a shell. And as I'd thrown in the last of my clothes, I'd caught sight of myself in the mirror fixed to the inside of my closet.
The first thing that had sprung to mind was that fact that I looked nothing like a university student. What was more, I didn't feel like a university student. I still looked and felt like a high school student. The summer after high school had come and gone, but I'd been left in exactly the same position, only now with an acceptance letter from the University of Nebraska in my back pocket and countless reminders that my life was about to change, big time. High school might have been a minefield in one sense, but on the big scale it was safe. University was like uncharted territory- something I didn't feel ready for in the least.
Instead of turning left onto Christie Avenue, where my house stood, I carried on to the end of Jessica's street and turned right down the narrow street that led to the lake which separated Dunsten Hills from Duke Falls, a much larger town where our old high school stood, along with most of the shops and amenities that Dunsten Hills, in it's diminutive state, lacked.
Reaching the near bank of the lake, I sat down on one of the lopsided wooden benches situated near the lake's edge and absently peeled at the rotten bark, casting the tiny specks over the bank and into the water, where they disappeared without trace. The lake wasn't large enough or spectacular enough to be a main attraction of any sort, but it had long been a place to hang out when we didn't feel like trekking into Duke Falls.
Now, of course, we didn't have that problem. Duke Falls was going to be a long way away from wherever we were, whether it be Duluth, Kearney, Davis or New York City. And just as depressingly, all those places were hundreds of miles apart. For the difference it made, they might as well have been a million miles away from each other. It would be Christmas before the six of us would meet up again. I knew I was lucky to still have Darren with me, but the truth was it was more than just being separated from my friends that was stopping me looking forward to college. It felt like my whole life was falling apart and was being re-sewn into a strange, abstract pattern that I didn't fully understand, and didn't even know if I wanted.
**A/N: (yes, another one..) The title "Somewhere In Middle America" is taken from the Counting Crows song "Omaha", which can be found on the album "August And Everything After". Although the majority of this story is based in Kearney, I thought it was a cool title. So there you go! Chapter title is a nod to Bob Dylan, who was born in Minnesota, and has been called The Minnesota Kid on occasion.**