Page 82 of The Boyfriend Zone

"Must be nice," I grumbled, though there was no real jealousy behind it. I was ahead on most of my assignments anyway, having learned early in the semester to work around Sean's game schedule. "Some of us still have two major papers and an exam to worry about."

"Poor baby," Sean teased, setting aside his takeout box to pull me against his side. "Want me to quiz you on something? I'm excellent at asking questions I don't know the answers to."

"Your specialty," I agreed, nestling into his embrace. The apartment was quiet save for the soft patter of rain against the windows and the distant sound of traffic. Nate was out with Zach, giving us a rare evening of privacy that we'd initially planned to use productively.

So much for that plan.

"Actually," Sean said after a comfortable silence, his tone shifting to something more thoughtful, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Should I be worried?" I asked, only half-joking. Serious conversations that began with that phrase could go multiple directions.

"No, no," he assured me, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips for a brief kiss. "Just... have you thought much about this summer? After my graduation?"

I had, of course. Extensively. The approaching summer represented the first major crossroads for our relationship—the end of our contained campus existence and the beginning of whatever came next.

"I've been looking at a couple of options," I said carefully. "There's that internship I mentioned, at the Tribune. It would be great experience, but it's competitive, and I won't hear back for another week or two."

"The one in Boston?" Sean asked, his thumb tracing circles on the back of my hand.

"Yeah. Three months, full immersion in the newsroom." I hesitated, then added the question I'd been turning over in my mind. "What about you? Will you be around here, or...?"

"That's what I wanted to talk about," Sean said, shifting slightly to face me better. "I got invited to a professional development camp for hockey prospects. It's a big opportunity—six weeks with coaches and scouts from several NHL teams."

My heart clenched at the thought of being separated for most of the summer, but I kept my expression supportive. "Sean, that's amazing. Where is it?"

"Boston," he said, watching my face carefully. "At the training facility for the Bruins."

It took a moment for the implication to register. "Wait—Boston? The same place as my potential internship?"

A slow smile spread across Sean's face, the relief in his eyes palpable. "Yeah. I wasn't sure if you'd made the connection when you mentioned the Tribune before."

"I hadn't," I admitted, my mind racing with possibilities. "I was just thinking about the journalism opportunity, not the location."

"So if you get the internship..."

"And you do the camp..."

"We could both be in Boston for the summer," Sean finished, his smile widening. "Different schedules, probably, but same city."

The coincidence seemed too perfect to be true.

"That would be..." I searched for a word adequate to describe the relief of not having to choose between my career aspirations and being near Sean. "Perfect. That would be perfect."

Sean's relief was evident in the way his shoulders relaxed. "I was worried you might be upset about me going away for most of the summer, especially right when you're finally free from classes."

"Upset?" I sat up straighter, looking at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? This is a huge opportunity for you. Why would I be upset?"

"I don't know," Sean admitted, rubbing the back of his neck in that endearing way he did when he was uncertain. "I actually considered not going at first. Thought maybe I'd stay around here, start looking into that graduate program as a backup plan. Be close to you for you final year."

I smacked his chest lightly, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Sean Mitchell, don't you dare hold yourself back because of me. We'll make it work, whatever happens. Six weeks is nothing—people do long distance for years."

"I know, I know," he placated, catching my hand and bringing it to his lips again. "I just don't want to lose what we have. This. Us."

The vulnerability in his voice made my heart squeeze. This was the Sean few people got to see—not the confident defenseman or the hockey star’s son, but the thoughtful, sometimes uncertain man who worried about the same things anyone would.

"You won't lose me," I assured him. "Not over something like distance. Not over anything, if I have any say in it."

Sean's smile was soft, a little shy even. "Yeah?"

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