The Choice - Nicholas Sparks [29]
She hesitated. I’m going crazy, she thought. I really am going crazy.
She’d done nothing wrong. He hadn’t, either. And nothing was going to come of their little flirtation, even if they were neighbors. She and Kevin had been a couple since their senior year at the University of North Carolina—they’d met on a cold, miserable evening when her hat had blown off after she’d left Spanky’s with her friends. Kevin had darted onto Franklin Street and threaded between cars to retrieve it, and if sparks hadn’t flown at that moment, there might have been an ember, even if she wasn’t fully aware of it.
At the time, the last thing she’d wanted was anything as complicated as a relationship, for it felt as though there were enough complications in her life already. Finals were looming, the rent was due, and she didn’t know where she was going to PA school. Though it seemed preposterous now, at the time it seemed like the single most important decision she’d ever faced. She’d been accepted to the programs at both MUSC in Charleston and Eastern Virginia in Norfolk, and her mother was lobbying fiercely for Charleston: “Your decision is simple, Gabrielle. You’d only be a couple of hours from home, and Charleston is far more cosmopolitan, dear.” Gabby was leaning toward Charleston as well, although deep down she knew that Charleston was tempting for all the wrong reasons: the nightlife, the excitement of living in a beautiful city, the culture, the lively social circuit. She reminded herself that she really wouldn’t have time to enjoy any of those things. With the exception of a few key classes, PA students had the same curriculum as medical school students but had only two and a half years to complete the program, as opposed to four. She’d already heard horror stories of what to expect: that classes were taught and information passed on with all the delicacy of a fire hose opened to maximum velocity. When she’d visited both campuses, she’d actually preferred the program at Eastern Virginia; for whatever reason, it felt more comfortable, a place where she could focus on what she needed to do.
So which would it be?
She’d been fretting about the choice that winter evening when her hat blew off and Kevin had retrieved it. After thanking him, she promptly forgot all about him until he spotted her from across the quad a few weeks later. Though she’d forgotten him, he remembered her. His easygoing manner contrasted sharply with that of the many arrogant frat guys she’d met up to that point, most of whom tended to drink inordinate amounts and painted letters on their bare chests whenever the Tarheels played Duke. Conversation led to coffee, coffee led to dinner, and by the time she tossed her cap in the air at graduation, she figured she was in love. By then, she’d made her decision about which school to attend, and with Kevin planning to live in Morehead City, only a few hours to the south of where she’d be for the next few years, the choice seemed almost predestined.
Kevin commuted to Norfolk to see her; she drove down to Morehead City to see him. He got to know her family, and she got to know his. They fought and made up, broke up and reunited, and she’d even played a few rounds of golf with him, although she wasn’t fond of the game; and through it all, he’d remained the laid-back, easygoing guy he always had been. His nature seemed to reflect his upbringing in a small town, where—let’s be honest—things were mighty slow most of the time. Slowness seemed ingrained in his personality. Where she would worry, he would