The New Separation (Book 2)

Chapter 1

Elliot

Today was the last day I'd have with Colton. I didn't want him to leave. He and I have never been apart for as long as we were going to be, once tomorrow comes. I hope tomorrow never came. Except it was already getting to be late afternoon and tomorrow was quickly approaching. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Babe, why do you look so sad?" Colton's voice cut through my thoughts. He was on the other side of the pool from the edge I was siting on, and when I didn't answer right away, because I'm pretty sure he already knew the answer, he swam over. "What's wrong?"

I watched as he pulled himself out of the water to sit next to me, the water droplets glistening beautifully on his almost-distracting body. "I'm going to miss you."

He smirked. "You better miss me. 'Cause I'm totally going to miss you too, so it's only fair." He then leaned over and kissed me.

I smiled into the kiss, glad to hear him say that, even though I know he would anyway. I trusted him, wholeheartedly, I just didn't trust all the people he was going to meet at college. He would make new friends and slowly forget about me, because I was still stuck in high school for another year. What if he met someone else that he wanted to be with instead of me?

Colton back up. "Hey, stop being so sad. I'll always be yours. I promise."

I kissed him again, a short one this time. "What time do you need to be home?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Ten. At the latest. But, like, I can totally get away with leaving at maybe ten fifteen to head back."

I smiled. "You rebel."

He closed the distance between us to once again kiss me. It's like neither of us really wanted to ever let go of each other. Not that I minded. I wouldn't be able to see him or touch him or kiss him for weeks. I didn't even know the next time I'd see him in person.

The lifeguard blew her whistle and Colton and I broke away from each other to see what was going on. Last I checked, he and I were the only ones in the pool.

And we still were. But standing next to the lifeguard stand stood an elderly lady, who was glaring at us.

"Sorry guys," the lifeguard - who I'm pretty sure had graduated with Colton, but I didn't know her name - said. "Can you try not getting too personal here?" She looked uncomfortable having to ask, my guess was that old lady was bothered by it. Whether it was two teenagers kissing each other in a public place, or two boys, I didn't know and didn't particularly want to find out.

Colton seemed slightly bothered by it though, but shook it off quickly. "Sorry, Anna," he called back as he stood up. "We're just about to head out anyway."

I looked up at him, confused. When did we decide this? I hadn't actually asked though when Anna answered. "You guys don't need to leave, Colton. Just remember you are in a public pool?"

"It's totally fine, really." Colton looked down at me and held out his hand. "Come on, babe."

Deciding to trust him, because I'm sure he was going to explain in a minute, I grabbed hold of his hand and got to my feet. By the time we had dried ourselves off - Colton needing it more than me because he was actually swimming more recently - the old lady had gone back to sitting in the corner with a book, although I'm pretty sure she was watching us rather than reading it. Anna had pulled her phone out and was scrolling through it, not bothering to watch an empty pool.

"Your moms aren't home, right?" Colton asked me as we left the gated area.

I shook my head. "They left us money for pizza if we want."