Him and Me.

Fifty Three.

“Colby?”

“Yes, love?”

“Can you bring me my shoes, please?”

*****

We spent the rest of the night at Susan’s living room, sprawled out on the carpeted floor, just talking and laughing and kissing. We had changed out of our dressy clothes, and was now donning our pajamas. My face was clear from make-up, and I had let my hair loose as well. Colby just told me that he was looking forward to volunteering at Corwin’s again for the summer.

“I wonder what you’ll dress up as,” I said before stuffing a chip in my mouth.

He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll appear as a can of Pringles.”

I giggled. “The kids will eat you up.”

Colby raised an eyebrow. “Well, that was funny.”

I frowned and threw a chip at him, then leaned against the couch, my legs spread out in front of me. The prom had been great, and Matty was right—I had tons of fun, despite of my aching feet. Before we parted ways, Tyler lifted me off my feet in a big bear hug. I spotted Kyle and Cynthia talking, too, so I had high hopes for the two. I just wished they would stop being idiots.

“Graduation’s coming up,” Colby piped up suddenly. I looked at him, and found his eyes trained on me. “Got any responses yet?”

Shaking my head, I answered, “Not yet. They should come soon, though.”

I had been working hard with my college applications, too, but there was one university I really wanted to get in to, and that was The University of Chicago. I applied for a degree in astronomy, and as I thought about it, nervous tingles crept up my toes.

“You haven’t gotten any responses yet, too, have you?” I asked. He actually sent a couple of applications to several universities in the state, with chemical engineering as a degree. I guess he decided he would give college a try, too.

“Nope,” he replied. A tense, almost awkward silence followed. We hadn’t talked about this, about what would happen after graduation. The nervous tingles made their way up my legs, and I felt them in my stomach. I knew that Colby didn’t apply at the University of Chicago, so we wouldn’t end up at the same university. I had no idea why he didn’t apply, but it was his choice, though I didn’t like the thought of being separated from him for too long very much.

“You’ll get in,” Colby said in a confident tone. He smiled and softly gazed at me before adding, “And we’ll see each other so often it would be just like high school.”

I actually felt better hearing that. Still, Colby crawled toward me and sat beside me with his back leaning against the couch as well. He slipped a hand around my waist. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I brought graduation up, that was stupid,” he murmured, his lips grazing the side of my head. “Seriously, who brings graduation up after prom?” He paused and checked the wall clock. “And at 2AM?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “You?”

I felt him smile against my head. “But you love me anyway.”

Lifting my head up, I caught Colby’s eyes. “But I love you anyway.”

He quickly kissed my lips. “Okay, no more talk about graduation.”

“Okay,” I murmured back, my head finding his shoulder again.

Colby shifted his position slightly, and cleared his throat. “You may be interested to know that Kyle kissed Cynthia tonight.”