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CHAPTERONE
CHARLOTTE
"Ican't believe it!" Maya shouts as she wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a tight squeeze. "Ready to have the summer of your dreams?"
"You bet." I pat her back nervously as my eyes land on our two friends checking in for their respective flights.
Maya, Ava, Rory, and I have been friends since sophomore year, having been grouped together during the housing lottery. I honestly don't think we’d have met any other way. We’re opposites, not one of us sharing anything in common besides being female, but somehow, we work.
"How are you not over the moon right now?" She pulls back with a smile, waving at someone over my shoulder.
Maya has always been the optimistic one out of the four of us and sees the glass as half full. Taking life by the horns and making it her bitch has always been her motto, and she can never understand why anyone else wouldn't do the same. Little did we know that mentality would be exactly what got all of us – well, except Rory – in this position in the first place.
One night, after a few too many glasses of merlot, Maya convinced all of us to choose one thing off our bucket list to complete before going back home and becoming adults. She flipped a coin, literally, and is headed off to Venice to be an au pair for the summer. Ava applied to the master's degree program in Edinburg, Scotland. And I told my professor she could put my name in for a special apprenticeship a friend of hers told her about for the summer.
I shake my head and force a smile. "Iamexcited."
"I don't believe you." Her eyebrows pull down as she takes a step away from me, crossing her arms.
I sigh, hating how she always sees right through me. "Fine. I'm freaking terrified."
My family has owned and operated Russo's, a small, family-owned Italian restaurant in Queens, since my great grandparents immigrated here…or at least that's the story my family has told for years. The farthest I've ever been away from home was when I came to college. Going around the world to be taught how to make pastries from a world-renowned pâtissier, Chef Thomas, is freaking insane!
When I told my professor she could put my name in for an apprenticeship, I assumed it’d be at a restaurant around the university or maybe one of those fancy restaurants in Queens, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I’d be headed to Paris, France.
"You graduated from one of the top culinary colleges in the country." Rory throws her arm over my shoulder, winking at Maya. "You can't honestly plan on going home and working in your parents' restaurant for the rest of your life?"
"Yes," I sigh, ducking out from underneath her arm. "Not everyone has the perfect life waiting for them back home."
I grab Rory's left hand and shake it, showing off the huge diamond engagement ring she got from Brandon over spring break. Unlike the rest of us, who are traipsing the world one last time, Rory is on her way home to marry her high school sweetheart. Those two defied all the odds and stayed together through college. Now that Rory graduated, they plan to get married in a few weeks before settling down and start a family.
"Have you even told them about the apprenticeship in Paris yet?" Rory pulls her hand from my grasp.
I wince, knowing she's going to jump all over me for not telling them.
"Charlotte…" Ava chastises, coming to a stop beside our small group. "We talked about this! They're your parents, who love you dearly. I doubt they’d be anything less than thrilled that you've been given this opportunity."
Ava has always been the planner, the person who triple-checks to make sure we have everything we need before leaving. She never does anything without already knowing the outcome, even applying to graduate school in Edinburg. She told all of us it was a long shot, but with her grades, we all knew she was a shoe-in. In true Ava fashion, she’s headed to Edinburg early, wanting to get to know the area before starting classes in a few weeks.
"I know." I raise my hands in surrender. There's no sense in disagreeing with her at this point. "I just don't want them to feel like I'm abandoning them to go to Paris and study pastries."
Being an only child has its perks, but it always gives you a lot of responsibilities. My parents expect me to come home and run the family business, just like everyone in my family has done for generations. It would crush them to know that I'd rather do anything but be stuck working there for the rest of my life. I want to see the world and bring others happiness from the dishes I create, not serve the same menu that our restaurant has used since before I was born.
The last thing I want to do is disappoint them. I want to have a life of my own, away from my family, but I need to figure out what that means first. I've always been shy and relied on others to help me speak my mind. Eventually, it got to where people began talking over me and telling me what I was going to be doing instead of asking me. My family loves me, and I know they want me to be happy, but sometimes their expectations are stifling, which makes it almost impossible for me to do anything for myself.
"Where did you tell them you were going?" Ava raises her eyebrow as she grips her carry-on suitcase and drags it behind her toward the first of many security checkpoints.
"I told them I was taking summer classes." I pinch the bridge of my nose before grabbing my carry-on bag and following behind her, with our other two friends hot on my heels. "It wasn't a complete lie."
"It wasn't the truth either," Maya mumbles under her breath, only loud enough for me to hear.
"It's only for a few weeks. Then I'll come home as if nothing happened,” I say with a smile as I hand the TSA officer my boarding pass and passport.
CHAPTERTWO
BRYCE
"It'll be amazing!" Giselle claps her hands together.
