The Junior (College Years 3)

Which is dumb because

I love this man and he loves me, so why should I be scared? But I’m really going out on a limb here, taking a job in the same area he grew up. Looking like some sort of stalker, even though I doubt he actually thinks that.

Here’s the thing. As we’ve gotten closer, he takes me to his parents’ house. A lot. Especially once the football season ended. I really like his mom and dad, and the relationship that they have. They genuinely love each other, and they’re having a good time right now. Life is all right for the Burkes. They have no complaints.

And that…appeals to me. I don’t need anything flashy. I just want to be happy.

Content.

“Gracie, what the fuck? Are you saying you want to have a mundane life and live in the sticks in some small house? Teach a bunch of brats while married to that one guy with the slight beer gut thanks to all those IPAs he drinks?” Caleb asks. He sounds serious, but I see the sparkle in his eyes.

He’s giving me shit. And repeating back to me something he said a long time ago.

“Minus the beer gut, yes,” I say simply, breaking out into a huge grin when he starts laughing.

“Okay then,” he says, yanking me into his arms, his mouth finding mine just before he murmurs, “Deal.”

Caleb

The moment Gracie and I walk into our apartment, hand in hand and laughing, we come to an abrupt halt. Eli is pacing back and forth in the living room with a grim look on his face, his phone pressed against his ear as he yells into it.

“You’re really going to do that? That’s what you want? What about me and what I want?”

Gracie and I exchange looks, her eyes wide.

Shit.

This doesn’t sound good.

Eli is quiet as he continues pacing, listening to whoever it is talking to him. His expression is grim, his lips thin and his eyes are blazing with emotion.

Mostly anger.

“Really,” he says mockingly. “An opportunity you can’t pass up? Fuck that, Ava. You promised me you would come home for the summer.”

Damn. He’s having a fight with Ava.

Gracie snags my hand and we squeeze past Eli to head for the short hallway. We dart into her bedroom and she’s about to close the door, but I quietly shake my head.

I feel like an asshole, but I want to listen to this argument, even if we only get one side. Why are they fighting? Yes, they argue, but I’ve never heard Eli sound so angry with Ava like this before.

We settle on the bed, Gracie sitting near the pillows while I sit at the end of the mattress, our bodies leaning toward the slightly open door. Swear to God, Gracie and I are so quiet, we can actually hear Ava yelling at Eli through the phone. I can’t make out exactly what she’s saying, but I can definitely hear her, and she sounds just as pissed as Eli.

“You have to make a choice,” he says, interrupting her. “You either come home for the summer, or you don’t. And if you don’t—”

He goes silent.

“What the hell is he doing?” Gracie whisper hisses at me.

I shrug. “I don’t know,” I whisper back.

“If you don’t come home this summer,” Eli continues, his voice eerily calm. “Then we’re done. Through.”

Oh fucking hell. We used to talk about this amongst the friend group back in the earlier days. About the two of them not lasting. Someone has to break up, am I right? We can’t all end up together forever. That’s just not how life works.

I just didn’t think Eli would be the one to try and end things in this situation.

“Yeah, I mean it,” he says, sounding downright hostile. “You’ve been pulling away from me for months and you know it. Prove to me you still love me, Ava. Come home after finals. If you don’t, I know where we stand.”