Never the Right Time

Chapter 27 Sophia POV

The rest of the summer I spent all of my free time with Joel or Joel and our friends. I felt happier than I had in a long time and it was refreshing. It was also that much more amazing because Joel and I already knew our quirks and he had always been attractive in a nerdy way, but this version of Joel was even better. The hard labor tan and muscles really did it for me and he knew it. He joked that all he had to do was flex and I would be instantly turned on. We laughed about it, but it wasn't too far off from the truth. Since we both lived with our parents, we tried to keep our sexcapades to a minimum at our houses. It made us get a little creative. So far our favorite was as simple as bringing a blanket to a secluded part of the beach at night. We spent far too many nights curled up together under the stars and neither of us were complaining. 

A month or so after Mark left, I received a text telling me about the birth of his baby. I was so happy for him. To me she looked like a little ball of mush, but he was clearly ecstatic. He was going to be a great father and Emma was a lucky little baby. I was genuinely happy with all things right now. Mark and I had both moved on in the best possible ways.

Joel and I had three more weeks before I had to leave for school again. We tried to skirt around the issue so many times. It was looming over our heads and I was starting to get anxious about what he was thinking.

After a day at the beach, we had stayed long past sunset. Everyone around us had left and we were alone. We laid there with our limbs intertwined. Joel nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck.

"It's going to suck when you leave." His voice muffled by my neck.

"I know. Have you thought about possibly doing long distance?" I asked hesitantly.

"You were the one who wanted to break up last time. I should ask you the same thing."

"Well we weren't in a great place the last time we did this. I'd like to think that this time around is much different. I don't want to hook up with anyone else and the thought of our with anyone else pisses me off to no end." I said the last bit with a bit of unintended bristle.

He just laughed, "I have no intention of hooking up with anyone else. You're it for me babe."

I pulled myself up onto my elbows to get a better look at him.

"Really?" I asked incredulously

"Why is that so hard to believe?" He laughed

"Well for one girls are constantly throwing themselves at you and two, we will be on opposite sides of the country. We won't be able to see each other that often."

"Well, I don't want any of those other girls. We can figure out a way to see each other over breaks. We both have fall, thanksgiving and Christmas breaks coming up. And there is also FaceTime. So we could see each other and go from there." He explained.  He rolled me over and hovered above me. "You're it for me Sophia. We are great together and can make this work if we try."

I leaned up and pulled him into a hard kiss. After a minute I just slightly pulled away and whispered, "ok"

This time he kissed me hungrily while peeling off my swim bottoms. I reached the waistband of his trunks and pulled them down just enough for his manhood to spring out. We were a tangle of limbs and hungry movements. He impaled myself on him and continued to thrust as I quickly started to that familiar tingle in my core. We both came hard and fast together. He didn't pull out right away and put his forehead against mine.

"That is exactly one of the many reasons why I know we can make long distance work."

All I could do was nod my head in response. He was exactly what I needed right now and there was no way I was going to throw it away.

The next few weeks were a blur of the beach, work and making preparations to go back to Massachusetts. Joel always got a little grumbly when I talked about it, but was still fully on board with them staying together.

About a week before I left, I received a video message from Mark. It was a video of him and baby Emma.

"Hey Soph! It wanted to properly introduce you to Emma! She has started to wake up a little more, so is on her way to becoming munch more out spoken, if only we spoke her language! I just wanted to say hi and say that Emma is excited to meet you. Have safe travels! We will see you soonish. Miss you"

I couldn't help but smile at his goofy face. He was totally on board with this whole daddy duty. It was hilarious. Emma was also getting cuter than she was in that first picture he sent me. She had Mark's dark hair. I was texted him back.

She is adorable! Can't wait to meet her! Glad to see all is well and that you're surviving fatherhood. I'll see you in a few weeks.

I couldn't help but feel a little guilty about texting him, but they were very innocent texts so I knew he would understand, but I also wasn't about to offer up that information. I was also feeling a little guilty about not telling Mark about Joel and I officially being together. I knew he would understand, but still.

That last week flew by and I was getting sad about leaving Joel. He had reassured me almost daily that I was what he wanted. I still couldn't help but be a little insecure. We literally had the whole country between us. He had made plans to fly out to me for fall break and that I would come home for thanksgiving and Christmas. My parents were so happy that they would see me more, that they happily paid for my flights home.

Joel stayed the night with me that last night. We spent much of it, making love and making plans for our future visits. I couldn't wait to show him around town. The next day at the airport, he came with my parents to see me off. He kissed me softly as I wrapped myself around his waist. I looked up at hime with tears in my eyes.

"Hey beautiful, I'll see you in a couple months and we will FaceTime everyday. This is nothing close to a  goodbye. It's just see you later." I nodded and got up on my tip toes to kiss him. I gave my parents one last hug before turned to go to my gate. I breathed deeply. Everything would be fine. I knew that in my soul.