“Figured.”
“We need to talk about college, E. Tiptoeing around it would be a mistake, don’t you think?”
She sighs and takes a second to answer. “Yeah, we need to talk about it. How did you feel when you heard my school options?”
“Excited for you. Proud, scared. All of the above at the same time.” I laugh.
She smiles at me. “Yeah, ditto. Columbia and Harvard are fantastic choices. You’ll have no issue getting in.”
“Rhode Island and Harvard aren’t that far from each other.”
“They’re not. But Harvard and CalArts are. We need to be realistic, right?”
I hate that she’s right.
“So there is a real chance we’re going to be thousands of miles apart?”
“Yup.”
This is the part where we need to discuss our future. Possibly make decisions that will affect the rest of senior year. If Eden tells me she thinks we need to stop what we’re doing and try to stay in the friendzone, I might break. We’vebeen together officially for a week, and yet I already can’t imagine my life without her. I can’t go back.
Eden turns her body a little more until we’re completely facing one another. “This might be too soon. I don’t want to scare you away. But I’m in this, Sloane. If long distance is the only way to be with you, then so be it. I want to keep building on this,” she says, pointing back and forth between us. “It would be easier for both of us to say we’ll stop now. Stay friends to avoid the inevitable. But I can’t do that, not with you.”
Biting my lip, I force my tears back. “Yes. I want that. God, Eden, the thought of going back to how it was is awful. Now I get to kiss you. There’s no way we could be anything other than together, right?”
Her smile lights up her entire face. “Totally. We can’t let a pesky little detail like college stand in the way.”
I laugh. “So, long distance.”
“Long distance. But we’ve still got months before that. Plus we’ll have all of summer. We have time, Sloane.”
I know exactly what I want to do with that time.
“Are you sure I didn’t push you too far?”
Eden looks a little confused for a second before it dawns on her. “No. Not at all. I wanted that. Wanted to make you feel good.”
“You did. It’s the first time I’ve…with another person.” Oh god, I can feel my face going beet red.
The lazy smirk I know so well settles on her face. “Yeah?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Maybe…we could, um, try that again, sometime?”
I want to add on the caveat of no clothes allowed, but I’ll take whatever Eden wants to give me.
“I think that sounds like an excellent idea.”
We stay silent, smiling at each other like idiots.
“Oh, hey,” she suddenly blurts. “I managed the one-minute intervals this morning.”
I love how there is no segue, and that she is genuinely proud of herself. I know I am. “Babe, that’s fantastic!”
“I was close to dying at the end, but I didn’t.”
“So dramatic.” I laugh.
