Leap of Faith

Chapter Eighteen

Rebecca

It was foolish of me to think that love would make an exception for me. I'd seen what it had done to Mom, the first few years after Dad died. She'd spiraled into depression, shutting Seth and I out, gaining weight quickly, then dropping it even faster. She was moody, angry, I knew she had cut herself at some point, but she rolled out of that faze pretty fast.

I was so stupid, so naive, to think that I wouldn't get hurt.

I had finally fallen in love. Finally found someone who I could imagine spending my life with, and he was being ripped away from me.

I lay in bed, even though it was nearly noon, and stared up at the ceiling. I tossed and turned, threw the covers over my body, then off onto the floor. I couldn't get comfortable, couldn't sink into the matress like I usually could. I felt uncomfortable, out of place, a puzzle missing the corner piece.

It had been a week since Mason told me he'd spoken to his Mom, and today was the day he was moving. I didn't want to go. Didn't want to witness him being pulled away from me. I knew if I went to say goodbye, I would break down, lose it, and I didn't want to be the girl that couldn't survive away from her boyfriend. If I went to say goodbye, I wasn't sure I would be able to let him leave.

Mason

I wasn't sure if she would come today, to say goodbye to me, because if I were in her place I probably wouldn't.

I loaded the last box into the trunk of our minivan, and Mom slid into the drivers side.

This was the last move I would ever have to endure until I left for college. That meant, that when we got to Maine, I didn't have to be afraid to make friends. I could make friends, and join clubs, and have a social life. The thought was startling.

But I didn't want to move. I wanted to make a life here. I didn't want to leave, and have Bex fall in love with some other dope. She was mine, and the thought of someone else having her heart made me see red. I would love her, even from thousands of miles away, I would love her. I wasn't going to let her slip out of my grasp so soon, not after she had just given me her heart in return for my own.

I slammed the trunk shut, and looked back at our house. Could I even call it that? We'd been here... what? Two months? It was just a house. Not ours.

I wanted her to come. I wanted to see her running down the street yelling my name, saying she loved me and would never stop. I sat in the passenger seat, and shut the door, waiting a few seconds before I buckled my seat belt.

She said we could make it work, but there were too many things fighting against us, and not enough fighting for us. Mom typed in the address to our new home, and then stuck the GPS onto the windshield. She set the car in drive, and as we were pulling out the driveway, I saw her.

Her car came speeding down my street, parking haphazardly on the side as she swung out of the car and sprinted across the street to me. I sprang from the car, a mouse trap set to snap, and met her halfway.

Her mouth was on mine, my fingers in her hair, her arms tight around my neck, our bodies melded together. I would never forget this moment. I didn't even care that Mom was watching.

Rebecca

I needed to see him. I couldn't let him go so easily.

I even ran a red light to get there on time.

It didn't matter that his Mom was watching, and probably judging us. Te only thing that mattered was Mason's mouth on mine, and all the love in between.

Because if Mason had taught me one thing it was this: maybe love wasn't so bad. Maybe, instead of always tearing people apart, it brought them together instead, in a way that was unbeknownst to us until it happened.

Maybe we just needed to keep an open mind.

Maybe love was all we needed in the first place. Maybe it was the lack of it that hurt so much.

"Promise me something," he murmured, pulling back from me.

"Anything," I said, breathlessly, thinking that if this was the kind of mindless monkey love made you into then so be it.

"Love me," he whispered, his eyes shut. "Love me with your all, for as long as you can."

"Only if you do the same," I said, then gently tilted his head down to look at me again. "Don't give up on us. Even if I do, don't do it Mason. Convince me, keep me, love me, and I wont let you go."

He smiled at me, tugging me closer as I buried my face into his chest again. I heard his heart beat, thumping against my ear, reverberating through my own body, in sync with mine. This was what love was, I thought. Hearing someone else's heart beat in your ears and knowing that no other sound could make you so happy. Knowing that one single person could be all you needed for the rest of your life, knowing that they complete you, they make you better than you are - the best you can be.

I held Mason tight, and he kissed the top of my head.

"I love you," he said, kissing my ear lightly. "Distance doesn't matter. Your heart is why my home is."

"Cheesy," I laughed, and he smiled down at me, fingers pressing against the pulse in my neck, connecting the two of us, savoring this moment. "You're where my heart is," I told him, and he grinned.

With the breeze rustling through the trees around us, and the passing of cars on the street, and Masons mother sitting in the car nearby, I looked up at  Mason, meeting his eyes.

And I knew we would be okay.