Back to you and me - Larry

CHAPTER SIX

I wake up on the day we sent in our applications to our respective universities. By now I'm not surprised to wake up in the past, but I'm still hugging my Mum and Fizzy as tight as the last two times because it's such a lovely part of being back. I know what I'm supposed to do this time around, but I'm worried Harry won't be thrilled about the plan, because maybe he always wanted us to go to separate universities. It wasn't something we had to deal with in the real past because we had already broken up when we applied.

"So," Mum says, putting down my cereal and everything that comes with it, "are you ready to apply to uni?"

"I think I might choose London instead."

"London?"

"I know it's not as close to home as Manchester, but it's close to Harry."

Mum sits down next to me. "I know you don't want to be without him, honey, but you can't choose a university based on his location."

"I know, but I have to, Mum. I can't explain it, but I just know we won't make it otherwise. And London has the same classes as Manchester."

"I just don't want you to regret it."

I can tell what's on her mind—if you can't handle long-distance, then maybe you're not meant to be together. It's the third time I've gone back to change things, so in some ways, I'm thinking the same, but I also know it's nonsense, because I wouldn't be so caught up in him had we not been soulmates—not unless I'm so desperate that I've convinced my mind he's the one. But I want him to be because nothing makes sense otherwise.

Harry picks me up the way he nearly always did our senior year. I want to tell him as soon as I'm in his car and have received my good-morning kiss, but I can't get the words out. Harry and I were always good at communicating, but during this moment I'm so worried about his reaction that I can't even have a regular conversation with him as we drive to school. He might want to have his university experience without his boyfriend around.

I end up spending the day worrying, mainly because I know long-distance is apparently enough to break us up. I don't have a plan B in case Harry doesn't want me to come to London with him. He brings me home once school is over so we can apply together, but he can tell something is bothering me—he has known since this morning—so I suppose I should've expected it. And it's not as though I can somehow get around telling him anyway.

"I've changed my mind about university."

He raises an eyebrow. "Do you not want to go?"

"No, that's not it, I just... I was thinking about going to London instead, but I don't want you to think it's a bad idea or something."

He tugs me into his lap when he sees my distress. "Love, why would I think that?"

"Because some people aren't interested in having their boyfriends attend the same university."

He moves his hands under my shirt to trace my waist. "I wanted to ask you to come with me because you aren't planning on taking any classes that you can't take in London. But you were gonna choose Manchester to be close to home, so I wasn't gonna ask you to give that up, much less take you away in case you ended up making a decision you weren't really happy with."

"Home is you, H."

He squeezes my waist. "I don't want you to choose something you only want because it means we're not apart."

"I want London with you."

I'm not sure why past me didn't choose London so I could chase Harry. I only went to university because I wasn't sure about my other options, but I also wasn't sure about my dream job, so I thought there was something clever in going to uni in case I eventually needed it. I choose something where I could've skipped university, but I'm worried about changing the past too much by not going to university and starting my apprenticeship too soon. But going to another university with the same classes can't possibly change that much when it comes to our present.