OPEN [boyxboy] ✓

epilouge:: when the future makes long-distance calls.

[At Your Best Frank Ocean version]

THERE IS A SEX SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER AND I WOULD GIVE YOU A WARNING BUT PAUL AND JULES ALREADY GIVE YOU A BIT OF A WARNING WITH THEIR WORDS SO JUST TREAD LIGHTLY.

EPILOGUE: when the future makes long-distance calls.

"Put the camera down, babe."

Paul had gotten into photography recently. With all of the things he'd been good at, he just had to add everything else onto the list to extend his artistic resume. He'd bought Brandon's old camera off of him when they cleaned the apartment out as he would be heading off to Chicago for art school and Brandon to Pratt in New York, Rilee for Rhode Island.

Everyone was going somewhere, even Landon was traveling with his YouTube money and I knew it would be difficult to stay in touch. But Paul was determined to not lose his friends and, in result, didn't allow me to lose contact with them as well considering him having to console me after Ben's enlistment in the Army. Not being as close to all your high-school friends in the future was inevitable but he was determined to keep our positive support system alive, not just for him but for me.

I was still, however, trying not to think about the inevitable when Paul had loaded my belongings into the back of my car and we took turns driving on a 35 hour car ride that extended into a five-day road trip, my father not being able to make it due to a case he was wrapped up in, court scheduled for a few days after I'd left. But it was okay, I had to remind him repeatedly before I left and he'd instead on visiting me sometime soon.

My boyfriend, ever the romantic, had insisted on making it about sight-seeing and spending that time together and, for some reason, it felt as if he were trying to pack four years of distance into that car with us.

But I hadn't said much, we were ten months into our relationship and I was so convinced that I would never feel closer to him than I did now, we were going to be okay. We were, we had to be. I just wanted him to turn the camera off and stop acting like he were capturing the last time he'd ever see me.

Throughout the summer, I'd taken the time to get to know everything I could about him. Our families were close... or, at least, thats how it seemed considering his parents invited my dad to every Sunday dinner and his extended family welcomed my not-so nuclear with open arms. We had grown too, Paul had been hitting the gym a bit less and growing his hair out a bit more, it now fuller and the curls would linger in his eyes more-often than not. He was still toned but we'd gotten so comfortable with each other and I could tell that letting off that pain he was holding had been so good for him.

He'd fallen more into himself, grown more comfortable with his quirks and his style had developed into a plethora of Hawaiian shirts and lazy fitted-jeans; he replaced his contacts with his frames and almost always had a carefree smile on his face. Brandon had called him a dollar-store Bob Ross and I was more in love with him than ever, it wasn't hard to notice how reciprocated those feelings were.

And I was so happy to be in his presence, even tired after we'd stumbled into our last motel of the trip. His eyes were half-lidded and nearly closed as he nestled himself in my old varsity hoodie and some sweatpants, my body nearly mirroring his in comfortability. We'd checked in on the edge of Las Vegas and left the bags in the car, only needing a place to lay our heads until we'd leave in the morning to reach our final destination by move-in day.

The past few months had been amazing and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that seeing him now would be more blue-moon. There was something so calming about just being around him that I couldn't find it in me to focus on the negative at that point, pushing away my anxieties if only for one night. The whole trip had been filled with my nerves getting the best of me, one night alone before I completely fell apart was warranted.