Next Door

Forever

Ashlyn knocked on the front door of her boyfriend's house a few weeks later. He answered, resulting in a tight hug from her. "Hey."

"Hi?" He hugged her back. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. EJ's, um, down at school— college, bringing some stuff to his dorm or whatever." She explained. "I don't wanna think about it so... wanna hang out?"

"Sure." He smiled.

"I love you." She grinned.

"Love you more." He started walking backwards and inside, keeping the hug. He barely managed to close the door without letting go, but they (tripping and falling) made their way to the couch. There really was no use in it, they were just tired.

"Hon?" Ashlyn laid on his chest once they had sat down.

"Mhm?" He kissed the top of her head, cussing her to smile.

"Did you pick a college?" She asked quietly. "Or a few?"

"I mean..." he trailed off. She nodded. "You came here to not talk about this Ash."

"I'm scared of long distance, Biggie. I know fate is fate and what's meant to be will be, but... I'm just scared of finding out things aren't meant to be. Everything feels so perfect when we're together."

"Come on. We've been forced not to date multiple times. We got past it. And, you know, things could be messed up for awhile but I do think we'd figure them out eventually."

"But..." she let tears roll down her face. "You're the love of my life. If things don't work out with us I'll never get over it."

"It feels like that, yeah, but—"

"I don't want a but." She sat up. His heart felt like breaking as she looked into his eyes with her own teary ones.

"If things don't work out you can't be caught up with me Ashlyn."

"You're sweet, okay? You're sweet, and I love your reassurance, and your positivity. But I don't want that. I want the 'we'll never end' speech. If things don't end well I want us keep trying. If we break up I want to be sure one day we'll be on the same page and we can be together. I don't want to be able to get over you, I'm 99% sure I wouldn't be able to, and I don't want to find out. You're a great guy, babe, and I love you. I don't want you to give up because of stupid college."

"I'm not giving up." He frowned, now crying.

"But... if we break up... I don't want you to try and move on because that's what I deserve or something. If you move on, that's... fine, I guess, I want you happy, but I don't want you to willingly move forward. I don't want anything ending. And I know it's kinda ignoring the problem, but I just want to be told things won't change."

"I don't think they will, I'm just trying to be nice about if they do..."

"I know that baby." She hugged him tightly. "I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong right now. I could just use some... 'we're together forever' energy right now."

"Okay." He hugged her back, putting his face against hers as they both closed their eyes. "I really do think this is forever, Ashlyn."

"I know." Her face now had the faintest smile. "I do too. That's something I should tell you too, I guess constantly thinking we may break up isn't very reassuring."

"I definitely like to hear it. But I know it comes from a place of love."

"It really does. And I really love you."

"I love you too." He adjusted their faces slightly, their eyes still shut tight, and connected their lips. Her arms made their way out of the hug and rather around his shoulders. He pulled her closer by the waist, both of them melting into the kiss before splitting apart. "No more college talk?"

"No, I wanna know where you picked out." She smiled, leaning on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow. "All positives love, I'm good now."

"Okay." He smiled and pecked her lips once more.