Page 4 of Love You Still

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Connor smiles, grabbing an Xbox controller off his bedside table and tossing it to me. “Now, enough with the heavy. Let’s blow some shit up.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” I smile before focusing on the television and waiting for the game to boot up. “Are you planning on giving that ring to Lyds tonight?”

“How did you…” Connor spins toward me, his hand immediately going to the bulge I noticed in his pocket since graduation this morning.

“I’m your best friend, man. Do you honestly think you could do anything without me knowing?” I wink in his direction before throwing my arm over his shoulder and pulling him to my side. “But you also haven’t stopped touching the square-shaped bulge in your pocket since this morning. If you don’t want to give it away the minute Lyds walks through the door, you need to stop.”

Connor sighs, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black box. “You don’t think this is stupid?”

“Seriously? I’d ask Selina to marry me right now, but she has things she wants to do before we get married and start a family.”

“What if Lyds…” His voice trails off as I shove him hard in the side, sending him tumbling off the edge of the bed. “What the hell was that for?”

“I was hoping you’d hit your head and come back to your senses.” I push to my feet, reaching my hand toward him. “Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all that matters.” Connor eyes the black box skeptically before gripping it tightly in his hands. “Ask her.”

Connor nods before dropping onto the bed beside me, focusing back on the television, effectively ending our conversation.

We playCall of Dutyfor what feels like hours as we wait for the girls to arrive. I can’t stop myself from checking my watch and phone, hoping for any sign that they are on their way, but come up empty. Finally, Connor snatches my phone away and shoves it into his pocket, claiming that they will get here when they get here. Usually, zoning out and playing video games helps the time go by faster, but I can’t shake this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something is terribly wrong.

As we are finishing another round of matchmaking inCall of Duty, Connor’s phone dings loudly, signaling an incoming text. “Is that Lyds? Are her and Seli on the way?” I ask, throwing the controller on the bed beside me.

“She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“She? What about Selina?” I question around the lump forming in my throat.

“She’s gone.” He places a hand on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “Lydia and Selina’s parents just got back from dropping Selina at the airport. She’s on her way to New York.”

I shake my head, unable to form the words. My heart feels like it’s been ripped out of my chest, indescribable pain radiating through my body. My mind goes back over our last conversation, searching for any clue that something was wrong, but I come up with nothing. No hint that she was going to leave without even saying goodbye.

“She left,” I mutter to myself as my entire world comes to a screeching halt.

I should’ve known when she never asked me to go with her that this was coming, but I thought our love for each other was enough. That because we are soul mates, we could survive thedistance and time away from each other, but it seems she may have had other plans.

“I’m such a fucking idiot!” I scream, throwing the Xbox controller against a nearby wall. “All this time I was talking about our future together, and she was just searching for a way to let me down easily.”

“That’s not true!” Lydia shouts as she comes running into Connor’s bedroom, tears streaming down her cheeks. “She was afraid that you’d ask her to stay.”

“But I’ve never once asked her to give up her dreams for me. I know the only thing she has ever wanted was to be a ballerina. To dance across the stage as a prima ballerina. Why would I ask her to give all of that up for me?”

“Did you tell her that?” Connor questions, wrapping his arms around Lydia and pulling her to his side.

I slam my fist into the wall, chunks of drywall crumpling to the floor around my hand as I pull back and slam my fist into the wall a second time. I unleash all my fury and anger on the wall, wanting to rage against the world for what is happening.

“You know you’re going to have to pay for that, right?”

“I know, and fix it, too,” I reply through clenched teeth as I pull in a deep breath. “I would have done anything for her. She knows that. I told her a million times, showed her every day we spent together. I have been planning to spend the rest of my life with her since we were five years old. What else did she want from me?”

“But all your plans were here, in Tyson’s Creek. From wanting to fix up the old farmhouse near the edge of town to our plans of starting a construction business together.” Connor pushes Lydia behind him, and I lean forward, barely missing his chin with my fist. “You need to stop and think, Vance. Have you ever thought about these things happening anywhere but here?”

“She would have stayed if you asked her to. That’s why she left without telling you. If you’d asked her to stay, she would have, but then what? She would have spent the rest of her life wondering what could have been. Resenting you for holding her back from her dreams,” Lydia says, stepping around Connor and wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. “So instead of growing to hate you, she put you first, breaking her own heart in the process.”

Tears spring to my eyes as I wrap my arms around Lydia, clinging to her body like an anchor holding me together.

“She asked me to tell you she loves you, always,” she croaks as I tighten my hold around her.

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