We Are Okay

Marin watches the sky outside of her window. She thinks, “I should have gone with her” (212). 

Marin sits alone in her dorm room and watches the snow outside. She thinks about missing the ocean and California. She wonders what Jones kept from her grandfather’s house. She tries to visualize a future home of her own and struggles to see if it will contain some of these items. She finds a documentary about an old woman potter and thinks about how much she wants the owner of the pottery shop to call her for a job.

Restless, she runs up and down the hallways, yelling to fill the space. She feels better after doing so, but realizes it’s only 5:30 at night, with 10 days remaining until she can call about the job and 23 more days until people will return to campus. She lies in bed and thinks about Mabel’s departure. Enough time has passed that Mabel should be arriving home soon; Marin makes sure to keep her phone close so that she can reply immediately when Mabel texts to say she’s home. She hears a car outside and figures it’s the groundskeeper checking on her.