“Are you going to come with me?” he whispered, barely getting the words out.

I could hear the strain in his voice. There were tears that he was holding back on my accord.

“I want you…” I forced my words out, “…I want you to go. Don’t worry about it while you’re there. W-we can talk whenever you want.”

“Sam?” he sniffed, trying to control the tears that flowed from his eyes.

“And, hey, just think about it. When you get back, I will be my perfect size five,” I tried to ease the tension with one of my lame jokes. I could tell that it made him feel worse about the situation, but what more could I say. I was going to lose him again, but this time we had a choice.

“I-I…” he muttered, “I can’t go, Sam.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kris. Your grandpa needs you,” I reminded him, “I will be all right. I know that you will come back to me.”

A slight smile formed on his lips, “You called me Kris.”

We both snickered at once. I wish I could say that I was confident in my decision, but honestly, I didn’t know. We were finally back together, and fate throws another wrench into our relationship. Life can be cruel.

“Just so you know, I will call you every hour of every day that I’m gone,” he kissed me on the forehead.

I laughed, “I bet you will.”

“I’m gonna go, but you have to make me a promise first,” he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

“It depends on the promise,” I joked.

He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes intently, “Promise me?”

“Okay. Okay. I promise,” I finally agreed.

“Pinky promise?” he held out his pinky to grab.

I sighed and grabbed his pinky with mine confirming our agreement. He was asking for a pinky promise which means this is going to be a big promise that I can’t easily break.

“Pinky promise,” I smiled.

“Promise that if I go, you will marry me when we graduate?”

My heart skipped a beat as my brain tried to comprehend what he was asking me. How could he ask such a huge commitment from me?

“Sam?” he asked.

“Maybe I should’ve pinky swore after the promise?” I laughed uncomfortably.

“I’m serious,” he told me as he scratched his head in frustration, “Well?”

I thought for a moment carefully before answering him. This would be a huge decision ad I needed to take some time to think fully about it and the consequences, “Can I answer on the day you leave?”

Exhaling heavily, he intertwined his fingers in mine, “Sure.”

                                                            ********

I sat in class staring at the empty desk next to me. Keyz stayed home today to get ready for his move to his grandpa’s house two states away. He was soon going to be 10 hours away from me. It doesn’t seem like a long-distance, but for me, it was oceans apart.

BZZT! BZZT!

I could feel my phone suddenly vibrate in my pocket. Pulling it out, I noticed several missed calls and messages from Keyz. He must be ready to leave.

I quickly checked to see if the teacher was watching me before I opened the messages. I hid it under my desk out of sight of anyone.

‘mom wants me to get going soon! coming to the school to get ya!’

“What? He’s coming now?” I spoke aloud.

“Miss James, do you need to stay after school?” the teacher turned and glared at me.

“N-no!” I responded shoving my phone back in my pocket.

“Then please refrain from interrupting my class,” the teacher returned to the blackboard.

I sat tapping my foot on the floor in anticipation or the bell. The clock seemed to be taking a long time to get to the end of class.

BRNNNNG!

The bell finally went off, ending my torture. I quickly dashed out of the classroom and headed towards the office. A strange feeling of butterflies and anxiety began to creep up on me when I rounded the corner to the office. Standing there was Keyz and his mother. His mother didn’t seem happy to be here. She kept checking her watch and tapping on her phone.

“Sam?” Keyz called out to me through the large crowd of students fighting their way to their next class.

“Hey!” I waved and ran up to him throwing my arms around him.

He squeezed me tight, lifting me up off the ground. I could see the disgust in his mom’s eyes when he put me back down.

“I’m going to be in the car. Make it quick,” she rolled her eyes at me and headed out of the school.

“Yeah, yeah,” he shooed her away, “How’s your day?”

He put an arm around my shoulder and walked me out of the building.

“Your mom still hates me?” I laughed, “Her precious little baby boy is in love with a porker.”

“Well, that’s her problem. I’m never getting rid of my little piggy,” he chuckled kissing my cheek.

“Ha, ha,” I pushed him playfully.

We came to a stop at the edge of the sidewalk. A calm silence fell over us as we stared at each other. Words could not express how either of us was feeling at the time, but our hearts knew how we felt.

“Well—” I began to speak, but Keyz cut me off.

“I love you, Sam,” he smiled.