Holding On (Memories)

his surfing is his hobby. Art is my life, a part of me. Every pencil, every brush, every pastel, they’re all an extension of my body.
    I cry out a garbled curse of the male species. I let out one last growl, and roll over onto my side, hugging the pillow.
    “Have you got all your toys back in your pram yet?” Alec asks me.
    I turn my face towards him, tears burning my eyes.
    “Hey,” he says in a softer voice. “Don't cry. What happened?” He crouches down next to me, brushing some hair from my face gently.
    “He's said there's no way he'll come to London to see me. If I want to see him, I either have to come down to Devon or wait until half term.” I sniff, and pull my knees to my chest.
    “He will be working full time, Jen. A weekend trip to London won't be easy for him to do,” he reasons.
    “I'll be at uni five days a week, Alec.” My light blue eyes find his. “I won't be able to go down either, and I'll have next to no money after I've paid bills and stuff. I know Dad is covering most of my rent, but I still have things like council tax, water, electric, gas, food... Plus everything I need for my course, all my art supplies. They're not cheap.” They’re more expensive than a hooker in the Red Light District.
    “Your student loans and that will help with that, won't they?”
    I nod. “But it won't be there forever, and I'm gonna need what money I have. I'll only have a small amount left for me at the end of each week, and I don't wanna spend all that on tickets to spend twelve hours of the weekend travelling.”
    He touches my arm. “Six weeks isn't really that long.”
    “He won't come up. At all. We'll see each other maybe six times a year, and even when I'm back, he'll still be working.” A tear drips from my eye, and I know I’m about to break. Everything I’ve held inside for the last few days is about to explode from me and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. “I'm missing my family, I'm three hundred miles from my home in my first place, I have no idea how to use my washing machine, and my milk has gone rotten, and I...”
    I cover my face with my hands as the tears begin to flow freely. Behind my cocky exterior, I’m just a normal person. And right now, that normal person misses their family, their boyfriend, and has no idea how to cope by themselves. I’m that normal person in this second.
    I have no idea how to cope in this city.

ALEC

    I've never seen her this way. Sarcastic Jen, cocky Jen, bitchy Jen... All those I can cope with. Crying Jen? No. I didn't even know she could cry.
    I text Lexy, telling her to get here as soon as possible, and sit on the floor next to the sofa. I rest my head on the arm of it, and stroke Jen's hair as she cries. I guess everyone needs a little break down once in a while.
    My door opens after ten minutes and Lexy rushes in. She takes one look at Jen, runs over and hugs her. I get up, my phone in hand, and disappear into my bedroom. Lexy will be more use to Jen than me, and I apparently need to have a word with my best friend.
    I dial his number, and he answers on the third ring.
    “Hello?”
    “You need to sort your shit out,” I say straight away.
    “What the fuck?”
    “I have your girlfriend crying her fucking eyes out on my sofa because you're being a prick, Carl,” I spit, feeling the need to protect Jen. “She's scared as shit because she's from a small town and is in the big city. She's scared because she's gotta do it without her family and guess what? Because you're refusing to come and see her even once before half term, she's scared she's gonna lose you to.”
    “I'm working-”
    “Yeah, I know that, mate, and I told her that. But you gotta remember she'll be at uni most days with a lot less money than you. We're grown up now, Carl, no more excuses. We all had an amazing summer, but unless you figure out a way to get up here at least once each half term, the summer isn't gonna mean anything.”
    He's silent for a minute. “She's really crying?”
    “Yeah. She's sobbing her goddamn heart out.”
    “Shit.”
    “Shit indeed.”
    “I've got some making up to do, huh?”
    “Some? You've got a lot.”

    ~

ALEXIS

    Mum shakes her head when I finish telling her about Jen and Carl.
    “That boy is gonna lose her if he doesn't buck his ideas up,” she says.
    “Now, Emily, that's not necessarily true,” Dad argues. “They could find a way to work around it. Long distance relationships are possible.”
    Mum looks up from