Lost in Love

Chapter 24 - Search Begins

"Any luck?" Ryan looks up from his desk, to me.
"No. You?"
"No, mostly pricing not working out."
"Exactly. This is a tedious process, to say the least."
I fall back on the bed, immediately Ryan's standing over me, looking down, "stopping for the day?"
"Might as well," I close my laptop, and put it on the bed. "I'll keep checking over the next few weeks, I guess."
"Good plan," he grabs the remote, "wanna watch something?"
"Sure."
He gets a movie going, then comes and lays down beside me. I scooch back, and lean against him, "thank you."
"For what?"
"For helping me. For always being there to help me."
"Oh," he chuckles, "you don't need to thank me for that."
"No, I don't need to, but I'm gonna. You've been through so much with me, nothing has ever changed you being there."
"Why would it?"
"I don't know, given that you're the only person who has cared, and hasn't walked away, it's nice. You know?"
"I suppose, and that's never gonna change," he puts his arm around me, and pulls me a little closer to him.
"What am I gonna do without you here?"
"You'll probably miss me, but you'll get on just fine, I know you will," he stops for a moment, before a chuckle escapes again, "besides, I'm sure you could use a break from me."
"Yeah, maybe," I nudge him, "only a few days though, not ten months."
"I'm gonna see you at points during those ten months, I couldn't go that long without you."
I nestle in to him, as a sigh escapes, "I'm just getting sad now, let's stop talking about this, for the time being."
"I mean, okay, you WERE the one who brought it up though."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I did, let's just enjoy the last few hours of our weekend."
"Okay," he leans down for a second, "just so you know, I'm not sorry you brought it up. I'd rather we talk about it now, than two months from now."
"Good point," that will be an emotional time as it is, let alone with these points added.
I don't think any part of me is prepared for him to leave.
I try not to let these thoughts keep me occupied, and just enjoy my time with him.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
"Good morning, Luna," that is one smile, I could never do without.
"Good morning, Darling," we begin heading to her class, for me to drop her off.
"How was your weekend?"
"Stressful. How was yours?"
"Really boring," while I know boring is not great for her, I also know that tone, so it wasn't 'eventful.'
"Well, that's all right then."
"Yeah, while I'm there at least. So, what made yours stressful?"
"I'll tell you about it later. Are you still good for "study group," this afternoon?"
"Yep. All set to go."
"Perfect, I'll see you at lunch, love you."
"Love you too."
————————————————————————————————————————————-
I go to the library, and pull out a random textbook, so we don't get booted out for 'not working enough.'
Bella comes up behind me, and kisses me on the cheek before sitting down.
"Hi."
"Hi," her smile just illuminates this room.
"How was the rest of your day?"
"It was fine, how was yours?"
"Very boring."
"Where's Ryan?"
"Woodwork's room. He's working some extra time on his latest project, until we're done."
"Oh, okay," she grabs her notebook, and we slide the textbook so it's facing both of us, "so, what happened?"
"Well, in simple terms my parents."
Her face immediately changes, with concern.
"They showed up while I was at Ryan's. Then said some things when I got home, and the morning after. I've given up on them. Completely. Ryan was helping me find a place over the weekend, but we had no luck, so I just have to keep looking."
"If you don't mind me asking, what did they say to you?"
I stay silent for a moment, just contemplating if I should tell her.
"Honestly, I'd rather not go into detail, if that's all right?"
"Of course, that's fine."
We decide to do some random work, while we talk, not that we get much done anyway.
"So, what are you hoping for, with your own place?"
"Something simple. Small. And preferably not my whole paycheck."
She giggles, then falls silent, I can see her thinking.
"If I'm moving in with you anyway, what if we just got a place together?"
Why hadn't I thought of that?
As if I don't know.
I'm still so timid. So worried. None of it changes how I feel about her, I still love her more than anything, but my inner saboteur just doesn't fully believe she'll stay. That I'll do something to chase her off. So why would she wanna get a place with me?
Exactly. Why would SHE suggest we get a place together, unless she actually wanted to? That's kind of a big deal.
"Yeah, we can do that, if you want to?"
"Yes," she's careful not to yell, "then we may have more luck in the cost department."
"That's true."
"Should I still move to your parents place then?"
"Yeah, no point in you staying with your family, unhappy, when we don't know how long it will take to find a place."
"Okay, and you're still okay helping me move? Because you don't have to."
"Of course, I'm not backing out on this. We'll do it whenever you want."
She leans her head on my shoulder, and we keep working until we have to leave.
"Are you getting picked up?"
"Yeah, Eli should be here any minute."
"Okay, I love you."
She kisses me quick, "I love you too."
I wait until I see her brother pull up, and she gets in, then I go to get Ryan.