“Alright, thank you guys and have a good rest of your afternoon.” Tobias leans back and stretches, multiple bones cracking as he ends the stream and shuts down his PC.

“That seemed like a fun stream.” He turns to see his beloved with two drinks in her hands, the dog behind her looking at him from the in-between of her legs.

“You look like you went through hell.”

“Thanks for the compliment, leaving your best friend isn’t the greatest.” She walks towards him, handing him his boba tea before finding a spot on his bed to sit. Juneau follows, jumping on to his bed and sitting with the girl.

“So what are you going to do in the time being?”

“I guess just, I have to visit the university tomorrow, Professor Beacon wants to see me to give me a rundown of how the semester is going to go as his assistant.”

“Does that mean you won’t be going to the mental hospital?”

“I will after my meeting with her but I can take the bus over there.” The boy takes a drink of the brown sugar bubble tea, not remembering how good it was since he hasn’t had it in a long time.

“I can drive you over there, but since it’s your day off, why don’t we go out and on a date?” The girl chokes on some of her drink, causing her to go into a pretty heavy coughing fit. “Sorry.” Tobias goes over to her and holds her drink for her, rubbing her back as she hacks up a little bit more.

“N-No no it’s fine it’s just,” a cough stops her from continuing, “it was a surprise ya know. But I would love to go on a walk with Juneau since we didn’t get to yesterday.”

“Alright, then we’ll walk to the park and hangout there.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll just have to tell Colton that we’re stepping out and that he doesn’t burn the house down.” The girl chuckles, taking another drink of her drink that she had gotten back from the boy.

“Alright, well, in the meanwhile, can we cuddle? I want to feel okay right now.” The boy agrees, taking both of their drinks and setting them on his bedside table, crawling onto the bed with the girl and holding her close, messing with the strands of hair that fell in front of her eyes.

This felt very calming to the psych major, the warm feeling and the security felt just what she needed in the moment knowing that Marce was on her way back home and was going to be safe and was going to her partner. Juneau cuddles next to her, his back pushed against hers as she looks up towards the boy who captured her in a hug.

“Thank you.”

“I’m just doing my best to repay you for all those months you stayed by my side.”

“Is that all this is? You just repaying me?”

“No, I still love you after all these years, this just comes with it because I never fully let you express your feelings sometimes.” The girl puts her head on his chest, saving his arm from falling asleep as it magnets itself to her hair, stroking it and making it tangle within his fingers. “Did you dye your hair like you said you would?”

“I did freshman year of College, it was red again.”

“Figured, it is your favorite color after all.”

“It’s your favorite color as well so you probably would have had a ball if you saw.”

“That’s true.” Tobias cackled, “very true.” Lianna reaches over his chest for something, something the boy couldn’t tell if it was the TV remote or her bubble tea. “What do you need?”

“The remote, I want to watch How To Get Away With Murder with you again.”

“Right, we didn’t even finish that now did we.” He hands over the remote, turning on the TV in the process.

“Well which would you rather choose, Adventure Time or How To Get Away With Murder?” She sits up, trying to guide it over to HBO Max.

“Adventure Time, you seem really interested in that show.” There was a slight spark in the girl’s eyes as she turned to look at the boy.

“Really?!” Her happiness tanked a little when she threw herself into another coughing fit but she just laughed through it, turning it to the show and pressing play on the first episode. “I promise to not spoil it.”

“I don’t really care if you do.”

“Well we’re watching it so you better not fall asleep on me.”

“I make no guarantees.” She rolls her eyes, laying back down on the boy’s chest and continuing to watch the show.

-

The next morning Lianna woke up to her alarm, looking at the time she saw that it was seven in the morning, her meeting was at eight so she at least needed to leave around 7:30. She looks over at the boy who was over at his desk, typing away on something.

“Are you making a new script?”

“No, it’s some summer work for one of my classes.”

“Oh, alright, well if you’re going to come with me then we need to leave at 7:30.”

“Alright, and don’t forget--”

“To take your meds, yeah I know.” The girl takes off the covers, being careful as to not cover Juneau with them yet he wasn’t on the bed. “Where’s Junie?”

“He’s under the desk where my feet are.”

“Interesting, it seems he got used to you in such a short time.”

“Maybe, when you fell asleep last night I let him out so he could use the restroom.”

“Mm, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but it’s now 7:10, you should probably get a move on.” She chuckles, getting out of the bed and walking over to the boy, giving him a sweet and tender good morning kiss before turning away and going into her room.

As she sauntered over to her room, thoughts cloud her mind. The majority of them were of how she had been spending the majority of her time with him and had neglected the majority of her duties, such as writing and her friends. An overwhelming feeling fills her lungs, making her feel extremely bad.

The feeling of her chest contracting and closing up was one that she was familiar with. Once she gets into her room she looks over at her dresser, gripping her chest as she tries to take deep breaths, trying so hard to calm down and be under control.

“Come on, Li, just, think about Tobi, think about Junie, think about anyone that makes you calm and happy. Just until you take your medication.” She takes staggered steps to her dresser, taking time in between to just stand and close her eyes and breathe, trying to calm down the pre-panic attack.

When she finally reaches her dresser she grabs the bottle and takes the medication, not even using water to swallow the pills as she has an overbearing feeling that she’s going to run late if she doesn’t check the time.

“Okay Google, what time is it?”

“It is currently 7:14.” The assistant and its robotic voice responds, just as emotionless as it can.

“Oh thank god.” Her gaze moves over to her closet, taking the steps over and she picks out some shorts and a sweater that would work well with the start of fall. Putting everything on she looks at herself in the mirror, debating if she should put the front ends of her hair up or not.

Maybe I can ask Tobi what he thinks. The calming thought cools her nervous feeling, all the way down to how she’ll get a compliment from both her Professor and her beloved.

“Tobi!” She yells from her room, sitting in front of her mirror on the floor as she tries to put her hair up.

“Yes?” The panicked breathing of the boy made her feel a bit worse but she put that behind her as he sat down next to her.

“You think I should put my hair up or not?”

“You should, it’ll make you look pretty.” Lianna smiles, putting her hair up and tying it the way she wanted it to be. “See, you look amazing.” The boy tightens the girl’s mini ponytail before hugging her.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I got lucky with you coming back into my life didn’t I?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“When I first met you in that science class back in Freshman year, I always dreamed of going out with a girl like you, you’re smart, beautiful, funny, kind hearted, and overall know how to deal with people.” She smiles again, closing her eyes as she remembers the fateful day that they first actually met.

It was in November of their freshman year and it was the first semester exams. The week beforehand Mathias and her had thought about going to Tim Hortons, or Timmies as the girl calls it. Around Wednesday of that week, when they were walking from Science to their third period classes he asked the question.

“Hey, you think Tobias can come with us?”

“I mean, sure, the more the merrier right?” The boy chuckles before getting his phone out, seeing that they have to split ways.

“Well I’ll tell him, see you at lunch.”

“Alright, see ya.” The two split ways, talking over Instagram the rest of the day and getting everything planned for that next Tuesday. Yet the boy and the girl hadn’t spoken to each other until that day where the two waited for the girl at the end of the exam period. “So, are we gonna go or are y’all gonna stand there like idiots?”

Mathias rolls his eyes before leaving the classroom, walking down the hallway and down the stairs to go out the main entrance.

It was a nice time that they had out there but it sure was a lot of walking for the girl so she felt like she was going to collapse at some point. Tobias at the time even offered to carry her but she declined the offer knowing of her physical psyche that she was still quite embarrassed about.

“So are we going to sit here or are we going to go to your meeting?” The girl gets out of her thoughts as she looks at her phone, the time displaying that they have exactly five minutes to get everything together and for them to get out the door.

“Yeah, yes, just, help me up please.”

“Arm.”

“Right.” The boy pulled her left arm so that both of them could get up. She grabbed some socks from her dresser before getting her bag and heading downstairs.

“I already told Colton that you’ll be out most of the day.”

“It’s only until twelve.”

“And then you have your job at the mental hospital.”

“Oh.. right I took a late-in shift today.”

“See, exactly. So I’ll be taking you everywhere.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Well I have to go to the music building to pick up my tuba anyways.”

“You still play that?”

“Yeah.” The girl puts on her socks and shoes before grabbing her water bottle and filling it up, knowing she’ll get thirsty when making and helping with lesson plans. “Are you friends with your psychology professor?”

“Yeah, we’re practically friends, we talk after class often and I’ve gotten to know alot about her, we even went to lunch a few times. She’s around our ages but at least three years older.

“Interesting.”

“Yeah, now I’m going to go get--”

“Juneau’s already in the car.”

“My god you’re amazing.”

“I know.” The girl grins, standing on her toes again and kissing his cheek before putting her bag around her shoulder and opening the door.

“Come on, it’s 7:29.”

“We can wait a moment.”

“No, I’m going to be early if anything.” The boy hums, following her outside before stopping to lock the door. Lianna on the other hand goes off and jumps down the steps, opening the passenger door before getting in and shutting it again.

Tobias snickers at what the girl did but takes no offense to it, it truly is nice seeing her as he did years ago, still the crazy little happy girl he’s always known.

When he gets in the car he pushes the button to turn on the engine, it flaring up to get ready to move. He backs out of the driveway and out of the apartment complex.