Page 131 of One Night

He nods, as if considering it. "And yet sometimes it does. My grandparents were married for fifty-two years before my grandmother died. And my parents have been married for twenty-five."

"That doesn't mean they're in love, or at least not as in love as they used to be. Love fades over time."

"I disagree. It changes, but that doesn't mean it's faded. My grandparents grew more in love every year. My grandfather, who is not romantic at all, used to get up early every morning to make my grandmother her favorite breakfast; two poached eggs and a piece of toast with strawberry jam. He made the jam himself because she didn't like the store bought kind. That may not be love to someone our age but to them it was."

The story makes me want to cry. I'm such a sucker for romantic stories, especially ones with old people.

"Then your grandparents were lucky," I say. "Most people aren't. Most people end up hating each other after years of being together."

He pauses a moment. "So this is about your parents. You're projecting their problems onto us."

"That is not what I'm doing," I insist.

"It's exactly what you're doing."

"You're wrong. I'm not projecting anything. I'm simply stating a fact that love doesn't last."

Ignoring my statement, he nods. "Seems to work out timing-wise. You got the news Christmas day and that's when you started acting differently. You weren't as open. You didn't call me as much."

"That had nothing to do with—"

"Sunday when you got back, things seemed back to normal. Even better than normal. But then Monday you started pushing me away again. So what happened Monday?"

I hesitate, not wanting to talk about it.

"Amber. Tell me."

I sigh. "My dad filed the paperwork for the divorce. My mom got the papers and called me and went on and on about how much she can't stand my dad."

"Which made you think the same thing would happen to us. That our love wouldn't last and eventually we'd hate each other."

"Maybe not hate but...." My voice trails off.

Why does he have to be so damn smart? He wasn't supposed to figure this out and now that he has, I know he won't understand.

"Dylan, I'm just not ready for a serious relationship."

"Too bad. You're already in one and I know you don't want it to end. You said you love me."

"I do, but that doesn't mean anything if it's all going to end."

He leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "Amber, don't take this the wrong way but your logic is totally fucked up. And not just this time, but back in May too. You left me back then because you thought dating me would ruin the memory of that night if we ever broke up. And now everything's going great but you're trying to end it because someday it may not be as great as it is now?" He shakes his head. "That's fucked up."

"It's not fucked up. It's realistic. Love is temporary. All the books and movies that tell you it's not, are lying."

"You don't need books and movies to tell you about love. It's right in front of you, everywhere you look. You're just choosing to only see your parents and their experience. And Amber, I'm sorry about your parents but you don't know the whole story. You don't know what got them to this point and you probably never will. That's between them, but I'm sure it involved more than just having busy lives and growing apart. Relationships are complicated and no two are the same, so trying to compare ours to theirs isn't fair."

"I'm not comparing them. I'm just proving a point that love doesn't last. My mom said she used to love my dad more than anything, so how does that feeling just go away?"

"I don't know, but it's not going to happen to us. We're not them."

"You really think we're going to last? Our relationship started with a one-night stand."

"Yeah? So?"

"Even if I still had faith in love, I wouldn't want the story of how we fell in love to begin with a one-night stand. That'd be like the worst love story ever."

"It wasn't just a one-night stand. We've talked about this, Amber, and we both agree that night was special. There was something about it, like it was meant to be. And we didn't just have sex that night. We talked. We connected. We felt something for each other."

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