Page 124 of College-Virgin & Dark Bully Next-Door

“I’m going to miss you, kid.”

“Shut up, old man. I’m sure you’ll be the same woman-stealing fucker when I get back,” he huffs, handing Mom a ten dollar bill. “I’ll give you updates.”

I shove him while ruffling his hair and watch him head to security. The next day, Bonnie leaves, which means Sky doesn’t answer her phone. Shaking my head after work, I go to the same place I found her when she was really upset after everything with her dad.

She’s there, wiping her nose and trying to stop crying.

I wrap around her from behind, and she turns to cry into my chest. “Ten years!”

“I know.”

“And now she’s in another state!”

I rub her back in slow circles, letting her tell me fun stories about when they were together, how much she’s going to miss Bonnie, how much she wishes she would have gone to NYU, too. I listen to all her whimpering and rambling while actually joining in and sharing my favorite Bonnie moments.

She laughs and wipes her eyes. “I’m so glad that you made the efforts to be friends with her.”

“I owed her for putting my head on straight,” I admit. “She talked to me after we broke up, and it helped. She’s wonderful.”

Sky nods and continues telling me things while I try to push my feelings down – taking a page from her book.

Five months and change from now, I’m going to be the one blubbering when my girlfriend gets on a plane and goes into a completely different time zone. And I’m not going to have a person to confide in other than maybe her dad … or Tyler. Kenny and his wife did long distance once.

When Sky stops crying, she looks up at me and kisses me softly. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“Sky.” I cup her face between my hands. “You’re going to school.”

“I know. I just … I wish you could come with me, I guess. I’m too weird to be in a whole university alone.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I promise.

And I know we will. Sky and I are good at figuring things out. Since May, we’ve managed to forgive and forget about the past, get into a relationship, try just about everything in bed, get me into a ranked position with boxing, break up, make up, and reveal our relationship to everyone.

If we can do that, we can do anything.

“I love you,” I remind her.

She groans and kisses me hungrily. “I’m yours, Ash. All of me.”

“You’re only saying that because you can’t behave around me,” I tease before kissing her again.

Epilogue

Sky

February

I can’t believe how hard it was to leave Ash last month. All the video calls, the phone calls, the texts and pictures, it’s not the same as having him. And for a solid two weeks, I was sure I was going to end up running back to him.

The holidays together, dates together, getting to be together anytime around his work and training schedule, plus my internship, it was like trying to put in two years’ worth of moments so I wouldn’t feel exactly like I do right now. Like I can’t get comfortable.

I look at Dracula with his heat lamp, all happy in his bigger tank. I ended up in a studio apartment just off campus, and he gets the best upgrade he’s had. And Arizona is beautiful, there’s so much to see, a complete change in landscape and life and ecology, but I’m missing home. My dad and Chase. Even Mom. She and I are still a work in progress, but I think we’re going to make it, especially since she and Dad are in a good place. They’re seeing a marriage counselor and are discussing her moving back in. I’m genuinely happy for them.

It does nothing to change my loneliness, though.

I’m missing Bonnie.

Missing my boyfriend.

---