The Distance Between Us

Eleven.

After our final exams were completed, it marked the end of our junior year, and the beginning of summer. We all had registered for our classes for the fall, and we had all moved our belongings back home until we had to repeat the same process one last time when we would return after summer.

Since Cillian and I didn't want to be apart from each other for the whole summer, we compromised by Cillian spending half of the summer with my family and I in California, and the other half I would spend with him and his family in Ireland. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. We had so much fun in Cali, I showed Cillian where I grew up and took him to all of my favorite places to eat, shop, etc. But, I had never been to Ireland so this would be a new experience for me, but I was excited to go nevertheless knowing that I would have Cillian by my side.

His entire family was very lovely and they were happy to see that Cillian was in a healthy relationship. I would admit it was a bit embarrassing at first knowing that Cillian and I were sleeping in the same bed in his parents' house, but Cillian reassured me that I have nothing to be embarrassed about, his parents weren't the type to be strict on him regarding his love life. Ireland was incredibly beautiful. We went on so many hikes, venturing out to almost every part of Ireland- even though Cillian still didn't get to show me everything he wanted to since we were only here for a little over a month.

"I wish we could stay here forever."

Cillian wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on the top of my head as we took in our last sunset before having to return back to the states since our fall semester was quickly approaching.

"Well you know there will always be a place for us to stay at. We can come next summer and stay with my parents for as long as you'd like."

"I'd like that." I slightly turned my head towards Cillian to look at him and we both smiled at each other, leaning in and giving each other a quick peck on the lips before returning to look at the sunset.

"We do have to get back to the house to pack our things, love. My parents are throwing a farewell dinner for us, so we should get our stuff packed before then."

I nodded as I took one last look at the beautiful sun slowly resting over the horizon before Cillian took my hand into his and we made our way back to the car and began the drive to his parents' house.

"Any chance we could stay just a little longer?" Cillian looked over to me briefly while giving me a smile, before turning his head back to focus back on the road ahead of us. "You know I wish I could stay here longer too, Lil. But, we unfortunately do have to go back to campus. Plus, you would miss Elle too much if you stayed here." A small laugh escaped my lips as I looked out of the window, enjoying my last few moments here.

I never wanted this to end.

~~~

"I missed you so much!" Elle practically leaped onto me as she gave me a hug, causing us to tumble over onto her bed. We both giggled as we remained locked onto each other.

"Are you stealing my girlfriend from me?" Cillian tried to keep a straight face, but you could see a faint smile he was trying to hide.

"Oh please Murphy, you had Lily all summer, let me enjoy her for a few minutes." We all laughed and Elle got up and went to hug Cillian as well before she wanted to hear about our adventure over the summer.

"Well before we tell you about our whole trip, I'm desperately hungry and if I don't eat within the next hour I'm going to go on full hangry mode." Cillian and Elle both laughed as they knew me all too well when I was starving.

"Okay Ms. Hangry, let's go downtown and eat. The boys will meet up with us there too."

We all left our somewhat unpacked dorm room and made our way to our favorite lunch spot to catch up with what everyone had done over the summer. It was quite bittersweet; we were entering our final year of college, and nobody had really thought about if we would all go our own separate ways after graduation, or if we would still stick together. We all lived in different parts of the world, so unless we all decided to either all live together or at least near each other, it would be very difficult for us to find a time to be reunited if we all move back home.

Cillian and I have already talked about getting an apartment together at the heart of New York, since there are plenty of opportunities for the both of us to flourish in our respective careers. Cillian has started to appear in small acting gigs in order to bulk up his resume so that it will be easier for him to find a job straight out of college, so it would just make more sense to stay living in New York.

Apart from that, our band has been receiving some more recognition, and not just from the students on campus like how it used to be. We have begun to perform in different bars and cafes that venture out past the neighborhood of our campus, and we were excited that there were more people that enjoyed our performances. Our band still mostly did covers of other bands, but we also decided that it was time to create more of our own original songs, and the feedback was amazing.

As for me, my heart still wants to continue my career as a nurse, but my passion for the band seems to outweigh my nursing degree. But, I told myself that I would not let that get in the way for now since our band still is not on the famous level and I would not be able to make a living out of it if I only depended on that as a job. Maybe if we eventually get signed to a record label, then I can re-evaluate my options.

"You okay Lily? You haven't said anything for the past ten minutes." At this point, my whole friend group was now looking at me, and I felt self-conscious since I had not noticed that I had been so deep in thought.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about how much I'll miss you all depending on what happens after graduation."

"Well Lily, we haven't graduated just yet, so we all still have each other for another few months. Let's not think about that just yet, just focus on the time we have right now." I nodded in agreement as Evan gave me a side hug and I leaned onto his shoulder, accepting his hug. The rest of the day after lunch was spent going back to our dorms and to finish unpacking since we all just left our rooms halfway done, and then pure exhaustion hitting us due to the amount of work Elle and I put in to make our room very decorative.

"We really never decorated our room this much before have we." We both stood back as we admired the effort we put in to have our room finally done. I took a deep breath before replying.

"True, but I guess we wanted to go out with a bang for our final semester."

"Gosh, Lily, can you believe that? We're really almost done with school. Fucking crazy, right?"

"Yes, fucking crazy."

We were both feeling nostalgic, wishing that we were both freshmen once again, coming into our dorm room like it was the first time again. The feeling of nervousness and being excited to start our uni experience; the sleepless nights, the parties, the laughs and tears from our assignments, and everything in between. It genuinely is fucking crazy how fast the time has gone.

Granted, we did have this semester plus our final spring semester to get through first, but we just couldn't help but feel the uneasiness settle that this was really the final run. But, we would sure make it a hell of a good senior year.

"Wanna order takeout and watch a movie? My mom gifted me this projector that she said she'll never use." I smiled as I nodded and began to pull my phone out to call our usual spot to place the order while Elle began to set up the projector.

"Okay food is being made right now, and it'll be in the way soon." Elle nodded as she looked deep in thought staring at the projector. Before I had the chance to ask what happened, she beat me to it.

"Now comes the difficult part. What are we going to watch?"