It was the same evening; they had returned to their normal classes after meeting the magic professor (who never did fully appear to Jim). Rick had restored Jim back to being himself, and the day finished as normal. Now, Jim was talking to Rebecca on the phone.
"So, what do you think you're going to do," Rebecca asked.
"It certainly seems too good to pass up; I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to afford college anyway. A full ride? Even if they're picking my major for me, I can't think of one that I'd prefer to study. Heck, I wouldn't have guessed that they'd even have that major as a possibility. I guess being that close to home is a bit of a double-edged sword, but at least I'd be on campus. But the good side of that blade is that we'd still be close together."
"That would give me a bit of an advance look at what college is like, too. Ooh... maybe you could take me to a fraternity... sorry, sorority party. There is that one cost of this."
"Will you be upset if I pay it," he asked, quietly.
"I'm sure I'll miss you as you are sometimes, but I'm almost used to Kim already." She chuckled, "Heck, I'll probably forget about it right afterward, won't I?"
"There is that," he agreed. "Shoot, I'll even forget about it afterward. That's a weird thing to contemplate; the end of yourself as yourself. I guess I got pretty close to it last weekend, but that was without deliberation. I still haven't talked to Katie about this."
"You should, she'll give you good advice. But what did you mean about last weekend," she asked.
So he finally told her about how close it had gotten at the end of their date, and how shaken he was by that, when he got home. "That was why I told Katie as much as I did. I really needed to talk to someone, and she was the only one that I thought would believe me."
"At least now you can call me," she assured him.
They talked for a while more of inconsequentialities, but just before they hung up, she made him promise not to follow through on it for at least the rest of that week.
