Finding My Way

As Long As I'm Here

I wake up to the room being pitch black, the tv being turned off and no outside noise. I twist in Chase's arms to face the nightstand, looking at the clock to see it's 2:57am. Being the weekend, I know I have plenty of time to sleep, not having to get ready for school in a few hours.
I sink back into Chase's embrace, willing myself to fall back asleep, but it's no use. I'm wide awake, my thoughts going a mile a minute. In the matter of twenty-four hours, I ventured across the country alone, won the love of my life back, and became homeless. Who says you can't pull off the impossible in a single day?
The conversation I had with my mom starts to play in my head:

"First, you leave in the middle of the night, then you lie about your whereabouts, get a friend to lie for you, use your emergency credit card to fly across the country, just to be with him. I thought we had an agreement. You were not to spend any more time with that boy, and certainly not be in a relationship with him."
"No, mom. We didn't have an agreement. You demanded I break up with him. But I didn't break up with him for you. I broke up with him over so many stupid things that don't even matter anymore. I'm nineteen, I'm an adult. I can date who I want."
"Y/n, you either break up with him and come home right now, or you are not welcome back home. Ever."

I startle when I feel Chase turn me towards him in his arms and he starts rubbing the tears off of my cheeks. I didn't even realize I was crying, but now I violently shake with each sob as I bury my head into his chest.
He rubs soothing circles on my back as he presses a kiss to the top of my head. "You're okay," he murmurs into my hair, "no one can hurt you. Not as long as I'm here."
I wrap my arms around his torso and pull him closer to me in response. He presses another kiss to my hair, just letting me cry until I'm ready to talk about it.
After several minutes, I finally calm down enough to catch my breath and mutter a quick sorry.
"It's okay," he whispers, still rubbing circles into my back.
"Did I wake you?" I sniff, rubbing the left over tears off of my cheeks.
"No," he shakes his head, but I know tell he's lying.
"I can't sleep," I sigh.
"Come on, I'll take you somewhere to take your mind off of everything," he moves to get up, pulling me up with him.
"Okay," I whisper, not bothering to ask the destination. He gives me a hoodie to pull on over the shirt he let me borrow. The shorts he let me borrow sag low on my hips and I pull them up for the hundredth time, tightening the string around the waist.
We soundlessly make our way downstairs and out the door before getting into his car and driving away.

***

The drive is filled with peaceful silence, the only sound being the tires on the pavement and the random car we pass. His right hand rests on my knee the entire way until we pull into the parking lot at the beach. He parks in our usual spot at the end of the boardwalk before killing the engine.
"Let's go," he says and opens the car door.
"Is it safe?" I ask, looking out at the dark night. It was impossible to see much of anything, the only light being the moonlight reflecting off of the ocean's surface.
"Like I said, nothing and no one can hurt you as long as I'm here," he smiles sweetly before exiting the car and appearing at my door.
As he opens my door, I remove my seatbelt and turn to face him, my feet dangling just outside of the car. He leans in, pressing a soft kiss to my lips, and I can't help but smile against his mouth. He always knows how to make me feel better.
He pulls away, but I keep my hands in place on the back of his neck, keeping him from straying far. "You didn't have to bring me to the beach to get my mind off of everything," I laugh lightly.
He chuckles, "yeah, but the beach needs to be our happy place again."
I look at him through my eyelashes, a small smile playing across my lips as I say, "your my happy place."
He smiles, and I can see a soft tinge of blush on his cheeks (thanks to the moonlight) as he says, "and you're mine."