forever you

[two years and ten months]

"How can you even listen to that band?"

"I have wonderful taste, what can I do."

Marcela's retort was lost somewhere over her head and Siobhan stopped trying to listen. At her left, she heard Jason snicker before his own retort flew. She let out a heavy sigh.

Both of them had been bickering back and forth since they boarded their plane. The plane hadn't even departed yet, but if they kept this going, it was going to be a long flight. Siobhan refused to spend the next three hours stuck between two proud, strongheaded fools who thought bickering a synonym of flirting.

Interrupting Marcela with a tap on her shoulder, Siobhan sprung to her feet under her friend's surprised eyes. "Change seats with me."

"What? Why?"

Her exhale didn't need to be so loud, but given she'd endured their verbal fencing their entire vacation, Siobhan reckoned she was allowed a bit of drama.

"Because I can't stand being separated from Noah, of course. Why else? My heart bleeds from the distance between us."

Marcela rolled her eyes but obeyed, under Bastian's cackle, seated a row in front of them. After a few contorsions and tumbling limbs, a sigh of relief left her lips as Siobhan dropped next to Noah. Sharp retorts and snickers soon invaded the space. Sharing a look with her new neighbor, she pretended to gag while Noah winked at her. The playful grin on his lips stood out against his sun-browned skin, the shade closer to the long curls now threatening to cover his eyes. Eyes she watched gleam under the Caribbean sun over the past two weeks. The hazel took on a golden hue when the light hit just right. With his hair ruffled by the wind, his entire face beaming with laughter, Noah had never looked so beautiful.

Not that Siobhan told him that. But she'd told him other things. How she and Marcela met in fifth grade and the pact they made to attend the same university. The two months the girls had spent in Mexico after Connor's passing in Marcela's family, from which Siobhan had come back fluent in Spanish – a fact Noah discovered after hearing her chatting with a waiter in a perfect Mexican accent. Seated on the beach, with nothing but the sand coating their toes and the regular roll of the waves, their tongues came undone in shared moments of quiet over the sea. Noah also shared a few stories. Of his older sisters' tricks on the shy kid he was, his love for his abuelita's cooking, the traditional family dinners that were really more like parties. But he mostly listened.

The offer had been unexpected. Out of the blue. Bastian had walked up to her, Noah trailing behind him, just before the start of their finance class. Their faces had worn such elation she'd thought the basketball team had won a crucial match – she tried her best to follow. But what had come out of Bas' mouth had been something else entirely. My aunt offered her summer house for two weeks in July. Wanna join us? Siobhan had been ready to call out his bluff – or just straight up refuse because this was crazy and she didn't do crazy – until her gaze had met Noah's. Hope had shone so bright in his irises that her mouth had blurted out "yes" before her rational brain could refute. The smile illuminating his whole face had been worth all the nervous knots of her stomach that ensued.

The invitation was kindly extended to Marcela, whom with Bas were thick as thieves, and Jason. The third flat mate of Bas and Noah was sly winks and mischief incarnate and not into basketball, which explained why she'd never met him during her lunches at the team's table.

"I'm glad we all got along," she said to Noah as a stewardess was announcing their imminent takeoff.

"Me too. Some of us even got along a bit too well," he added with a sideway glance towards the left end of their row.

"How sweet. I knew you were crazy about me too," Siobhan deadpanned, though her lips wore the same smirk she'd given him every time Marcela and Jason had gotten into their verbal war.

It was only after the plane was stabilizing in the sky that Noah resumed their conversation. "What have you planned for the rest of the summer?" The question drew a sigh out of her. "New York City sightings, though my parents have probably booked a trip somewhere."

"Not going back to Korea this year?"

"Nope. Said it wasn't worth it since our stay would be shorter by two weeks." She tried to ease the curtness at the edge of her voice, didn't succeed if Noah flattening her lips told her anything. Quickly changing the subject before he pressed for more details, she returned the question. "You?"

"Just spending time with my family. My sisters should have one week of vacation too, so it'll be great." The glint he wore each time he talked about his family suddenly dimmed. "I'll have to sort out classes and practice though. If I want to survive next year." Which made sense. Noah's goal was to be drafted into the NBA, but she knew he still intended to graduate his MBA with the highest GPA possible.

"You'll make it out just fine, don't worry." Trying to sound as certain as possible, she saw the brown of his eyes lighting up again and knew she'd succeeded in conveying her unshakable confidence in his abilities. "Yeah."