The Day He Left (For College)

"There he is!", Desiree exclaimed as he saw Zephyr come down the stairs with a suitcase in his hands, "My little genius is off the college!".

"Leaving a whole day early I see", Matt commented, calmly taking a sip of his coffee. 

"Alex is going early and I'm the one driving her there so I thought that I might as well go a day early with her", Zephyr answered, shrugging.

"Ahh!", Elene sobbed as she rushed forward and enveloped Zephyr in a hug, "I'm going to miss you so much!". 

"You're the one who sees him the least because of your modelling", Melaian deadpanned. 

"T-th-that doesn't matter!", Elena retorted, "I'm not going to see him anymore!". 

"It's only for a couple of weeks", Nikos intervened, "And Caltech is only 45 minutes away from our house so you can basically visit him any time". 

"I'm still going to miss him!", Elena argued, not releasing Zephyr. 

"It's going to be okay", Desiree soothed, slowly but surely prising Zephyr out of Elena's grip. As soon as she separated the two, Elena rushed to Desiree and hugged her. 

"How can you be so calm?", Elena complained, "Zephyr's going to college and you guys are acting like it's nothing!". 

"It's because we knew he was going to leave and we've been preparing ourselves for the past few months", Matt calmly countered. 

"Even you Matt!", Elena exclaimed, "How can you be so cold to your son?". 

Melaina rolled her eyes, "Stop being so overdramatic. It's not the end of the world. You just have to get through a few weeks without Zephyr". Then, she quietly added, "Which shouldn't be too hard since you'll be on a tour next week". 

"What was that?", Elena asked, not hearing the last part that Melaina muttered under her breath. 

"Nothing", Melaina shook her head. 

"Okay", Zephyr interrupted. Turning to look at Elena, he continued, "I know you're upset that I'm leaving, but just know that you can call me any time. If anything happens, I'm only 45 minutes away. I'll make sure to visit during Christmas Break, any break really, so you don't have to worry. Okay?". 

Although visibly upset, Elena nodded and finally separated from Desiree. "Fine", Elena mumbled, "You big meanie". 

"Hey", Bella called out, "Since you're going to be gone, is it alright if I used your room?"

"Bella!", Desiree exclaimed, "Now's not the time to ask that!". 

"Whatever", Bella rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. 

Desiree sighed, and once she heard the sound of a door being closed, she turned to look at them and explained, "She's upset that Zephyr's leaving but doesn't want to admit it". 

"I know", Zephyr nodded, "But things'll get better". 

"I hope so", Desiree muttered. 

"Well", Zephyr exclaimed, standing in front of the front door, "I guess this is it". Taking a deep breath, he pulled the door open and walked out with his suitcase. Although hesitant, Zephyr strode forward, forcing himself to not look back. 

[With the Dunphy's]

"There she is!", Claire exclaimed, "There's my conscientious little genius, pretending she's going to leave for college a whole day early!". 

"I'm leaving today", Alex shook her head as soon as she set down her suitcase. 

"No you're not", Claire scoffed, but upon seeing the look on Alex's face, it all changed.

"What?!", Phil exclaimed, bolting out of the kitchen with a piece of toast in his mouth. 

"No! No no no no no no no no!", Claire screamed, rushing towards Alex, "We have a plan! I was going to make you your favourite meal, then we were going to fight because of separation anxiety a-and then makeup right before you leave". 

"Yeah!", Phil rapidly nodded his head, crumbs of toast flying around. Realising that he wasn't very audible, he set the piece of toast down and continued, "Your Mom and I decided that I would be the one to take you which I can't do today because I have a really important showing. I was going to burn a CD of goodbye songs for the ride". 

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you guys", Alex explained, "And seeing your reaction, I have never felt better about making a decision. Look. I'm only 40 minutes away and I'll be back in a couple of weeks. I already asked Zephyr to take me and he'll be here in a minute to pick me up". Seeing the looks of disappointment on her parents' faces, Alex sighed, "You can each hug me for 5 seconds before I leave".

"I want you to know that you'll always be my little baby girl", Phil muttered as he hugged Alex, rubbing her back. 

Nodding her head, she separated herself from him and turned to look at her mother. Before she could mutter anything, Claire jolted forward and enveloped Alex in a bone-crushing hug, "I'm so proud of you and I know you're going to achieve great things and I just read an article about this nail polish that changes colours depending on a roofie that you did it in". 

"Next!", Alex announced, separating herself from her mom. 

"I'm cool", Luke shook his head as he walked past her. 

"Good", Alex nodded to herself, "I will text you guys when I get there!".

Before she could say anything more, Claire brought in Alex for another hug, muttering, "I'm taking his 5 seconds". 

"Fine", Alex muttered, doing nothing to stop her. 

In the middle of the hug, the doorbell was suddenly rung, causing Alex to forcibly remove her mom from her. "Well. That's Zephyr. I have to go". Grabbing her suitcase handle, she slid the suitcase to the door and opened it, finding herself with a big surprise. 

"What happened to you?", Phil asked as soon as he saw Zephyr. 

"What are you talking about?", Zephyr asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion. 

"This!", Phil gestured to his whole face, "All of this. What happened?". 

"Oh", Zephyr muttered in understanding, "You're talking about my haircut aren't you?". 

"Well yeah", Phil sarcastically rolled his eyes. 

"I thought that since I'm going college, might as well get a new haircut. The sides were too long before", Zephyr commented, "And what's wrong Phil? You're usually not this moody". 

"He's just upset that we're leaving a whole day early", Alex answered, stepping forward to hug him. As she separated, "I like the new look but I would've liked it if you warned me beforehand". 

Zephyr was momentarily confused, but he nodded, "Next time I get a haircut I'll ... make sure to inform you?". 

"Good", Alex nodded in satisfaction, "Now let's go. The quicker we leave, the quicker I get to meet my roommate". 

"Sure", Zephyr nodded, taking Alex's suitcase from her hand. Looking at Alex's parents, he waved, "Bye guys. See you in a few weeks". 

"Bye", Alex waved, following after Zephyr to his car. After putting Alex's suitcase in the trunk of his Jaguar, he started the car. Just as the car was about to set off, Alex popped her head out of the window and shouted, "You guys can use my car but make sure that nothing happens to it! Don't let Luke near it!". Once done, she popped her head back in and rolled up the windows. As soon as she was finished, the car roared into action and zoomed away from the house. 

"I'm going to miss her", Phil muttered, wiping the tears that were rolling down his face with his shirt sleeve. 

"So will I", Claire nodded, just about holding back her sobs, "So will I".