“So, what are you doing here?” I ask as we walk down the stairs.
“Checking out a University.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, thought maybe I could look into a law degree after all.”
I smile.
“And because of you. You did great by the way.”
“Thanks.”
The cool breeze blows across the back of the studio. I watch the cigarette butts from the crew dance across the pavement, along with a wadded up piece of paper. I don’t know what to say to him. I’m glad to see him, but I’m annoyed. I don’t want to feel this way and all seeing him does is confuse my heart even more.
“I’ve played that night over and over in my head,” he says.
I swallow. “What night?”
“The last time I was with you.” He steps toward me. I step back. “What we have…” another step and this time my back is against the concrete wall of the building. “What we have isn’t something we’ll ever find anywhere else.” Tyler takes my chin in his hand and tilts my face up, forcing me to look at him. “And you know it.”
“I know,” I say, slowly removing his hand from my face. “But sometimes you have to learn when to let things go. Tyler, I wish—”
“I quit before you left.”
My heart holds back several beats before forcing a back supply of blood through my veins, my skin buzzing. “I heard.”
Tyler leans in closer until I have nowhere to go. Tilting his head, he stares me down. “You told me it didn’t matter if I quit…” his lips barely brush over mine as he speaks. “I call bullshit. You can’t stay mad at the person your heart belongs to.”
And without another second, his warm mouth covers mine, his tongue thrusting deep into my mouth. I grab onto his shoulders and tug his hard chest against my breasts. His fingers tangle in my hair as he jerks my head back, moving his lips over my neck and throat. “I fucking love you, and you fucking love me, and we belong together.”
And he’s right, we do. What defines him is the way he loves me, and that is something no one will ever be able to taint or ruin. After all these years, turns out we do have that epic kind of love that can withstand anything.
One year later
Jemma’s finished her second session ofDisaster.I’m almost finished with my undergrad degree and studying for my LSAT. We’ve come home to visit our parents over Thanksgiving, and, well, right now, I’m sitting in a tree. In our tree. I’ve been sitting in this damn tree for twenty minutes. I nearly broke my neck the first time I tried to climb up here and right now I’m staring at a bleeding gash I got from my second attempt. I swear to God, this tree was much easier to climb as a kid. She said they were prepping the turkey so I thought ten minutes max. What the fuck are they doing to it? Jesus Christ! I can’t feel my hands and my lips are starting to go numb. There’s a loud flapping noise followed by a high-pitched screech which nearly makes me lose my footing. A fucking Barn Owl has perched next to me, its huge yellow eyes glaring at me. He circles his head a few times, slowly inching toward me. The fucker’s brave. I shift to the right a little, and he follows me. One of the branches snaps beneath me and the owl flaps its wings, hooting before he calms the fuck back down.
The light flips on in Jemma’s room. I drag in a breath as I shimmy my way up the old limb, praying that the damn branch doesn’t break in half. This is just like it was ten years ago, I sit here admiring how gorgeous she is and feeling a little bit like a creeper for watching her when she doesn’t know I am. Reaching out, I tap on her window, and she startles. She tiptoes to the window and peers through the sheer curtains, laughing when she sees me in the tree.
“What in the hell are you doing?” she asks when she opens the window.
“Sneaking into your room.”
When I shift my weight to climb in through the window, the branch creaks again, and that fucking bird flies off just before the limb gives way. There’s a loud snap followed by a crash as I go plummeting to the ground, landing on my back with a THWAP.
“Oh, shit. Tyler!”
I can’t breathe. Pain is radiating throughout my entire body.
“Tyler, are you okay?” Jemma screams.
“Mmmph,” I manage to groan.
A few minutes later, she’s hoovering over me with wide eyes. She brushes a few stray twigs off of me before yanking me to my feet. “You could have killed yourself, you freak. What in the hell possessed you to do that?”
“I thought you said it was romantic,” I mumble, attempting to catch my breath.
“Yeah, it was when we were kids. It’s just weird when you do it as an adult, pervy on every level.”