Adam
“You looked so hot walking across that stage,” Cassie says, drawing circles on my chest as we lie in my bed.
Or should I say on my bed, since it’s just a mattress on a bed frame now that I’ve packed up my whole room.
“Oh, yeah? That oversized, shiny, black gown really does it for you, huh?”
“Mmm, I think it was more the funny hat on your head. And when you switched that tassel over to the other side?” She groans. “So sexy.”
I chuckle, absentmindedly playing with the strands of her hair with one hand, the other propped under my head, both of us looking up at the ceiling.
“I’ve spent a lot of days and nights staring at this ceiling,” I say on a sigh. Then, I pinch Cassie’s side. “Most of them driving myself crazy over you.”
“Hey!” She giggles, squirming away from my pinch until I hold her close again.
“You drove me just as insane, thank you very much.” She pauses, rubbing my chest again.
“It’s so weird, seeing this room empty, seeing all your stuff packed up in boxes.
I mean, sure, we pack up at the end of every semester, but when I come back in the fall… you won’t be here.”
She swallows, and I can feel the motion against my chest at the same time my stomach does a somersault.
I pull her close and kiss her hair. “I know. It’s surreal.
I think even though I knew college was only for four years, it’s always felt like it would never end.
I just thought I had all this time, you know? And now…”
“Now you’re about to be a freaking Field Executive!” Cassie says, squeezing me.
I shake my head. “So crazy.”
“And I will have to figure out how to survive this place without you.” She sighs. “I met you so early on, my first day being a KKB sister. Remember? The slip and slide?”
“Like I could forget. Have you seen yourself in a bikini?”
“Have you seen you shirtless?” Cassie whistles. “Abs for days.”
“One day, I’m going to be hairy and have a dad bod. You still going to love me, then?”
“Probably even more,” she says, kissing my neck.
I smile, holding her close as we lie together with nowhere else to be.
It was all I wanted tonight, after graduation — to be with Cassie.
My aunt drove in for the ceremony, of course, but she’s got a hotel on the beach and a new boyfriend keeping her company for the evening.
The rest of the weekend will be filled with family celebration.
But tonight, it’s just us.
“Remember the first time I climbed through that window?” Cassie asks, nodding to the window, which is open now, letting the breeze softly roll in the empty room.
“I remember every time.”
“You were always there for me,” she says, propping herself up on one elbow to look down at me. “Even when you were with Skyler, even when I was with Grayson. It’s crazy, isn’t it? How we were always more than friends, but never more than friends.”
“At least, not until we both pulled our heads out of our asses.”
“Mostly you, though.”
“Yes,” I agree with a laugh. “Mostly me.”
Cassie chews her lip, drawing circles on my chest again with her eyes focused there. “I’m scared, Adam.”
A painful zing hits me right in the middle of my chest, and I roll us over until I’m on top of Cassie, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Don’t be. You and I have been through much worse than a little distance.”
“What if you find some hot girl who’s super cool and funny at one of these other universities?”
“She’d never hold a candle to you.”
“I’m serious,” Cassie insists. “You’re a graduate now. You’re about to go out in the real world.”
“And you’ll be right behind me. By the end of this year, we’ll both be out there. Together,” I remind her. “Don’t you know by now that you’re the only girl for me?”
She smiles at that. “And you’re the only boy for me.”
“Man,” I say, furrowing my brows and puffing my chest.
Cassie pokes my stomach, making me let out all my air in an oof.
“Just promise me we won’t mess everything up over this,” she pleads, holding my gaze. “We have to communicate. We have to see each other as much as we can. And we have to have patience and understanding, even on the hard days.”
“I promise,” I whisper, and then I hold out my pinky, waiting until she wraps hers around mine before I kiss my thumb and press it to hers to seal the deal.
Even so, I can tell Cassie is still worried, and I can’t blame her. We’ve seen our friends struggle through long-distance relationships — some of them successful, others not. I’m not na?ve enough to think we won’t have some rough patches to overcome.
But I’m also not stupid enough to ever let this girl go, no matter what we face.
I lean down and capture her lips with mine, hoping she can feel it in the way I kiss her, in the way I cradle her face in my hands, in the way my breaths don’t begin until hers end. We’re in sync. We always have been.
And I’d never do anything to mess that up.
The longer we kiss, the more my desire burns for her, and I slip myself between her legs, widening her thighs with my hips. She moans, arching off the bed and into the touch, her head falling back to allow me access as I kiss down her neck.
I’m not rough with her tonight. I don’t toss her around or pin her arms or slam inside her with a wicked grin and a mission to make her come as fast as I can. I don’t talk dirty or fuck her mouth or twist her up in one of the many positions we’ve discovered since we’ve been together.
No, tonight isn’t about fucking.
It’s about sealing the promise between us.
It’s about reminding her that I put those letters around her neck with intent and purpose.
And that I meant every word I said.
As I strip her down and kiss every inch of her body, I take my time, touching and tasting, licking and sucking. I commit every moan to my memory, every touch, every curve and slope that makes up who she is.
I look longingly and deep into her eyes when I slide inside her, and I hold her gaze as we move together, breathing in tandem, our slick chests pressed together like a seam.
When she comes, it’s softly and sweetly, and she digs her nails into my back with the release.
I’m right behind her, and the moment we both finish, tears flood Cassie’s eyes until I roll over and tuck her into me, wrapping myself all around her so she feels safe.
“We’re going to be okay,” I whisper in her ear, kissing the sensitive skin right below it. “We’re going to get through this.”
Cassie nods, holding me tighter and wiping away the tears that have slipped free.
“Me and you forever,” she whispers.
I nod, kissing her shoulder as my eyes softly close. “And even longer after that.”