“I love you, but I miss them. I told myself they would never understand. I told myself they couldn’t understand. But what if I was wrong? What if we did all of this for the wrong reasons? I don’t know. I want us to be us. I never want to lose us. But if there’s a chance I can have my family too—I want it. I want them. I miss my old friends, my brother, even my hard-ass of a dad. I left them, but Nick... they want me back,” I said, lying beside him in bed after many long minutes of empty but heavy silence.

“But do they want me?” Nick asked, his voice low, his back still turned.

I stared into his brown hair like it hid a secret set of eyes. My hands clutched his body like I’d done so many times before. I held onto him like a lifeline, begging to tread old waters without drowning.

“It’s one night. If they don’t like you—if they don’t respect you and what we have—then we’ll come home and forget it ever happened,” I said.

“You think we can do that?”

“Why not?” I suggested, stupidly.

The dark room around us made every sound thunder. The silence wasn’t silent. It was a pressure system. It was a storm waiting to break.

“We have a life here. A real life. I know it hasn’t always been easy, especially when you try to take care of me. But this place feels like home. Not Oklahoma,” Nick said.

His hands found mine. I inhaled his scent and shut my eyes.

“They can’t make us do anything. We’re too old for that now, and...” I stumbled.

“Whatever happens, our life is here,” he finished.

“Alright,” I said. I agreed. I meant it.

Had that been the end of it, I would’ve dropped the request. I would’ve let the silence swallow it whole.

But Nick said, “We can go. I’ll go with you.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, pulling him deeper into my embrace until our edges were nonexistent. But sleep never came that night.