Red and Yellow Leaves

It was a brisk Autumn morning and Jenna was sitting by the window, watching the red and yellow leaves on the old oak tree fall and fly away in the wind. Her mind wandered as she sat and watched, she reminisced about how people can follow the same path as the leaves. Together, side by side for days and months, then with the change of the wind, fly two completely separate ways.

There is beauty in watching the leaves of a tree fall and fly apart, so she wondered if maybe there was beauty in people growing apart as well.

“Goodmorning Jen,” a deep voice spoke from behind her. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice her fiancé come up behind her. He placed a gentle kiss on her neck and then turned toward the kitchen. It was their morning routine; Jenna would get up first, Ryan would follow after 20 more minutes of sleep. Jenna would put the coffee on; Ryan would cook them breakfast. It was a routine that Jenna thoroughly enjoyed. It was a routine that reminded her of Annie.

The pair ate their breakfast with some small conversation and then they kissed goodbye as Ryan left for work. Jenna used to leave the same time as Ryan to go to school, but life was different now that she’d graduated. She’d been looking for jobs for months, but nothing seemed to be working out. Again, she thought of Annie.

Jenna wandered around the house aimlessly for a few hours, tidying as she left each room. It was around 3pm when she heard her phone ring. The obnoxious Taylor Swift ringtone blasted through the quiet house and slightly sent a shock through Jenna’s body, but what scared her more was seeing the name on the phone.

Annie was calling her. They hadn’t spoken in months, not because of any fight or big falling out, just because their lives went in two separate directions.

Jenna waited a few more seconds and then answered.

“Hello?” Jenna said.

“Uh, hey” Annie said quietly. Both girls could feel the tension through the phone. They knew that things had changed, and they didn’t know what to do about it.

There was a long pause, both of them wondering what to say next. Jenna was about to ask why Annie called when she finally spoke up, “Remember that guy from the party last April?” Annie said with a small laugh.

“Uh yeah,” Jenna said, “wasn’t his name like Tony? Or James? Or –” 

“Mike actually,” Annie interrupted, “well, we’re getting married, and I just wanted to let you know.” She paused, “It’s going to be a really small wedding, basically just family… but I wanted you to hear it from me, instead of just randomly seeing it on Instagram next week.”

“Oh, thanks,” Jenna mumbled, she was trying to stay present in the conversation, but her mind started to wander again. She wasn’t invited to Annie’s wedding. “Well, uh congrats I guess, I got to go.” Jenna spoke quickly as she hung up the phone.

Jena pulled a chair over to the window and started to watch the leaves again. This used to be her and Annie’s favorite time of year. Back when they were living together, they would grab a coffee and go to any nearby park and just stroll and watch the leaves or sit on a bench and people watch. That was back when they were closer.

Jenna started to reminisce about when Annie first met Mike, though she wasn’t sure at the time if he was just going to be another one of Annie’s one-night stands. That night was the start of their separation, the beginning of the end of their friendship. 

Annie barged into their shared apartment with Mike in tow. It was late, but Jenna was finishing an article for one of her Journalism classes and Annie was just coming home from a party. Jenna heard some muffled mumbling from the living room, but this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary on a Friday night. Then her bedroom door flung open and Annie came in drunkenly announcing to Jenna how she had finally found her Ryan, she had finally found “the one.”

Jenna, being who she was, got annoyed right away and brushed Annie off, just trying to get Annie out of her room so that she could finish her article. Maybe if she’d listened to Annie more that night they wouldn’t have grown apart. Maybe not.

As more leaves fell off the tree, Jenna thought more about her and Annie’s past. They first met in kindergarten, dreaming of being princesses and marrying a prince. Jenna wanted to live in a red castle with a golden dog, and Annie would always say that she wanted to live in a yellow castle right next to Jenna’s. As they became teenagers, they only got closer. Their tastes in boys were vastly different, so they never fought over a boy. 

Then, they got into the same university. Jenna was accepted into Journalism and Annie was accepted into Criminology. They started living together right after high school and in Jenna’s second last year of her degree, she met Ryan. Jenna was always wary of how much time she was spending with Ryan, and she wanted to make sure that he didn’t take away from any of her time with Annie - a courtesy that Annie did not reciprocate once Mike came along. Jenna ended up finishing her degree, Annie dropped out a few months after meeting Mike.

It was as if Annie and Mike were married after their first-time meeting. Annie was always at Mikes; she would come home to Jenna once a week to grab clothes and then she’d leave again. In Jenna’s mind, that's when they started to become more like the leaves and change colors. They were living more separate lives, not following their routines, barely speaking. Then Annie decided to move out and that was when they fell off the tree. 

Jenna remembered being completely blindsided when Annie told her that she was moving in with Mike. Jenna and Annie both knew that she wouldn't be able to pay for the apartment by herself, so it forced Jenna and Ryan to finally move in together. While she didn’t hate moving in with Ryan, Jenna felt weird about the forced feeling of their moving in together. It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t because Ryan wanted Jenna to move in, it was because Jenna was in need of a cheaper place to stay.

And that was it. Jenna and Annie became the red and yellow leaves falling off the old oak tree. The wind pushing them further and further apart each day. Jenna wondered if this was what growing up was. Did growing up inevitably mean growing apart, or was that just Annie and her fate from the very beginning?

Jenna sat watching the leaves blow off and around the tree until Ryan finally came home from work. He sat next to her for a little while, both of them watching the leaves. That's when Jenna noticed two red leaves falling off the tree at the same time. They swirled around the tree staying close together and they landed on the ground, one on top of the other. Jenna looked at Ryan after the two red leaves fell and kissed him gently.

“You are the beauty in growing apart,” Jenna whispered, her eyes closed and mouth just inches away from his.

“What?” Ryan whispered back with a slight smile.

“I love you.” Jenna said peacefully, not wanting to explain to Ryan how her whole day was spent thinking and reminiscing of times before him and Mike came into her, and Annie’s lives. 

“I love you too.” He said back, kissing her again.

Just like that, Jenna stopped watching the leaves and she went back to living her life.