A week later, I suddenly found myself sprinting over to Harry’s house one afternoon, an envelope clutched in my hand as the breeze blew past my face.  My heart pounded nervously in my chest, my entire future with Harry hinging on the contents of the papers I held in my hand.  As soon as I reached his front door, I threw it open and let myself inside.

“Harry!” I called into the house, ducking my head in the kitchen quickly to find it empty before I saw him appear at the top of the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently, catching on to the frantic tone of my voice.  I didn’t say anything as I held the letter up, my eyes widening in anxiety as he connected the dots and realized what I had. 

“Have you opened it?” he asked, struggling to keep his voice calm.  I shook my head quickly, too nervous to speak.  I could hardly bear to think what I would do if I hadn’t gotten in and had to go somewhere other than Harry…

I wouldn’t be able to handle it, I knew that without a doubt in my mind.  My eyes never left his face as he bounded down the stairs and came to stand in front of me.  His hands wrapped around my cheeks as he bent down to kiss me once, my lips hardly able to respond as I tried to control the pounding in my chest. 

“Will you open it with me?” I asked shakily, my eyes flitting back and forth between his. 

“Of course,” he said, nodding as his thumbs stroked my cheeks.  “Let’s go upstairs.”

I nodded, copying his subtle reassuring nod as he turned to lead me to his room.  My body felt numb as I sat down on the edge of his bed, my posture stiff and upright as I watched him pull his desk chair to sit directly across from me.  My eyes followed his hands as they closed around mine, the letter still clutched between them.  His thumbs ran soothingly across my knuckles as he spoke.

“Joey,” he said calmly.  “I know you’re nervous, but it will all be okay, alright?”

My knees bounced under our hands as I continued to watch the trail his thumbs ran across my skin, unable to answer him for fear of choking on my words. 

“Joey, babe,” he said gently, lifting one of his hands to tilt my chin up, forcing me to look at him.  My eyes slowly trailed up his torso, his chest, his neck, and his lips before finally meeting his gaze.  He was watching me very closely, his eyes taking in every detail of my expression as he tried his best to calm me down and reassure me.

“Whatever happens with this letter, good or bad, we will get though it,” he said slowly, enunciating every word so I would absorb them.  “Do you hear me?”

I took a shaky breath and nodded slowly.  His hand that was still twisted in mine squeezed tightly while his other slid up to cup my cheek, his touch calming me down a little.  He gave me a small smile and took a deep breath, nodding at me to join him.  I followed his actions, sucking in a deep inhale that burned a bit on the way through my lungs, but it did make me feel better.

“I love you, Joey.  Everything will work out, no matter what, because there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to be with you, do you understand?”

I nodded, his words stilling the slight tremor that had settled into my hands.  “I love you, Harry.”

“I love you so much, and none of this will matter in a minute because I know you got in,” he said, smiling softly at me. 

“Okay,” I said, unable to think of anything else.

“Open it,” he urged gently, nudging my hand softly with his.  My hands started to shake again as I moved to slide my fingers under the flap and I fumbled with the paper.  Harry ducked his head to kiss the back of my hand gently, holding his lips there until I stopped shaking again. 

Neither of us said anything as I ripped the envelope open, my breath rattling through my chest as I reached inside and pulled out the folded papers.  I closed my eyes as I held them, taking a deep breath before looking at Harry once more.  His eyes were fixed on me, a gentle smile still pulling at his lips as he waited patiently for me.  I was so grateful for him in this moment because there was no way I’d have been able to do this alone. 

“You’re okay,” he said soothingly.  I nodded and swallowed harshly, keeping eye contact with him as I slowly unfolded the paper in front of me.  My pulse thudded through my veins as I straightened it out, not dropping Harry’s gaze until I had it completely unfolded.  With a sharp inhale, I shifted my gaze down, absolutely terrified I was about to be rejected from the only college I had applied to, the college I would go to with Harry and start the rest of my life with him. 

To Miss Joey Saunders,

My eyes skimmed over the words and I felt like I was going to throw up, my breath coming out in ragged pants through my parted lips.

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted…

My hand clamped over my mouth as a wide grin split cross my face, tears leaking at my cheeks and blurring my vision from reading the rest of the letter.  It didn’t matter, I had seen what I needed to.

I had gotten in.

I was going to college with Harry, officially.

My eyes flitted up instantly to lock with Harry’s, where my ecstatic expression was reflected on his face.  I was unable to speak but nodded sharply at him as tears spilled down my cheeks, the muscles of my face burning from my manic grin. 

“You got in!” he shouted happily, rising from his chair quickly and pulling me up with him, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist as he hugged me to him and lifted me off the ground.  I clung to him, shaking now from pure happiness rather than nerves as I continued to cry tears of joy and relief.  He spun me around the room, both of our arms gripping each other so tightly it was difficult to breathe.

He set me down on my feet and wrapped his hands firmly around my face.  He pressed his lips to mine, holding me tightly against him as he kissed me.  My smile splitting across my face again broke our kiss, but it didn’t matter.  He was here, sharing this moment and celebrating with me, and I could not be happier.  His hands remained on my face as he dropped his forehead to mine, standing as close to be as possible and grinning like a fool, just as I was.

“I know you’d get in, Joey,” he said happily, never more pleased in his life to have been right about something.  A happy sob choked from my throat as I held his eye contact, not bothering to stem the tears that were leaking from my face. 

“I’m so relieved, oh my god,” I gasped, my words coming out slightly weak from my crying and my utter bliss. 

“Baby, we’re gonna be together,” he said, his grin so wide I could practically see all of his teeth.  The happiness flowing around the two of us was inescapable, encapsulating us in a bubble of pure and unadulterated elation. 

“I can’t stop crying,” I sobbed, my cheek muscles burning from the width of my smile.  Harry laughed easily as his thumbs wiped away the wetness beneath my eyes. 

“It’s okay, love,” he reassured me.  I let out a weird half laugh, half cry as I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged myself into his chest.  He held me tightly, letting me bury my face in his neck as he squeezed me against him.  I breathed in the familiar scent of him, ecstatic beyond words that I’d be able to spend the next four years at the same school with him.  There was nothing in the world that could make me happier in this very moment than the prospect of our future and being here with him. 

“I love you so much, Harry,” I mumbled into his neck, standing up on my toes to bring myself even closer to him.  He kissed my temple gently.

“God, Joey, I love you, too.”

He moved us backward to sit on his bed again, pulling me to sit on his lap.  My legs swung off to the side of his and my arms stayed looped around his neck as his wound around my waist.  I leaned back so our faces were even and I could look into his eyes. 

“We’re always gonna be together, aren’t we?” I asked, my emotions running extremely high due to the good news I had just received.  His eyes were blazing green as he watched me speak.

“There is nothing in this world that could keep me away from you,” he said honestly, his thumbs tracing along the skin of my lower back.  “I’m in this forever, Joey.”

Another tear slipped from my eye, his words causing an explosion of exhilaration to run through my veins. 

“Forever?” I bit my lip vulnerably as I watched him.

“Forever. Besides, you already said you’d marry me someday so you’re pretty much locked in,” he said, his pink lips pulling wide in a smile.

“I meant that,” I replied as I let my fingers twist into his hair gently.  “I wanna be yours, in every way possible.”

“You already are, love.”

“And you’re mine?” I smiled gently, already knowing the answer.

“I’m yours.  You have my heart, body, soul, everything.  You are my happiness, Joey,” he said, his tone growing more serious the more he spoke.  Each word that drifted off his lips felt like an electrical current running through my heart, shocking me and making my veins buzz.  “I don’t know what I was doing before you found me, but I’m never, ever going back to that again.  I’m with you for the rest of my life, I already know that.”

“There is nothing that would make me happier, Harry,” I told him, leaning my forehead against his.  I felt so safe and secure wrapped in his arms, it was like there was nowhere else in the world I was meant to be.  “You’ve changed my entire life and you make me so much… happier than I deserve.  You couldn’t love me any better.”

“Joey, you deserve the world, don’t say that.  I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to love you the way you deserve to be loved, I swear.”

I felt like my heart was absolutely going to burst with love for him; I felt it radiating through my body and off my skin, the feeling almost palpable in the air around us.  I shook my head slowly.

“You’re wrong, though.  It’s you who deserves all the love I can give you and more.  You’re the best person I’ve ever met, Harry.  You’ve made me a better person and you’ve taken over my life in the best way possible… I can never thank you enough for loving me.”

“Just be with me, that’s all I’ll ever want,” he answered quietly.  “Just be with me, Joey, and I’ll be happy.”

“I can do that,” I sighed contentedly.  He smiled softly and leaned forward across the small space still separating us and pressed his lips to mine.  Every word we had just spoken seemed to have built up into a powerful shock that jolted through my body when our lips connected.  His lips molded over mine perfectly, my lower lip captured between his as he kissed me gently.

Everything we had been through flashed through my mind, making me feel even more overwhelmed with love for him that I already was.  The first day we’d met, when he had been an awkward, nervous wreck simply because he was sitting next to me.  The first time he came into my room after practically being dragged in there by me.  The tiny details I had quickly started to notice about him, like the way his muscles would flex when he’d write a note or the way he’d shove his hand through his hair then frantically try to smooth it out again.

Thoughts of that very first dinner we ate with my mom crossed my mind.  I remembered now how she had easily picked up on my budding feelings for him, even when I had denied them.  Then there was our first kiss, which had been slightly awkward yet perfect, and would end later that night with him fleeing my house as he tried to hide his excitement in endearing fashion. 

Next came memories of the ups and downs I had experienced with my friends and Harry, like when everyone had been blatantly rude about it and effectively making me hate them all, or when they tried to understand and come around to my side. 

Memories of accidentally spying on Harry, hearing him play his guitar and sing for the first time only to get caught moments later flitted through my brain, the memory of our sneaky little make out session warming my heart.  The countless evenings I spent with Harry at the beginning of our relationship, when all we would do was kiss, made me smile as I thought back to them. 

Then came the night where I had tried to go to a party without him, only to end up punching Colt in the face.  Without a moment’s hesitation, he had been there, rescuing me from the people I hated and the freezing cold, bringing me back to his house with no questions asked, taking better care of my drunken self than I had ever thought possible.

A collection of memories, where I had learned bit by bit about his father and what losing him and done to Harry, flashed through my brain.  So much of who Harry was had been shaped by his father, whether from when he was alive or after.

There was the night he took me to the lookout spot and showed me his boat.  There was the night Colt had beat him up and I’d taken care of him.  There was the time he finally sang his beautiful song to me, melting my heart.  There was the night he had finally touched me after letting me for a while, nervous about being so inexperienced but succeeding in his attempts anyway. 

There was the night I told him I loved him, only to have him walk out and for my entire world to crash down around me.  Never in my life had I experienced more devastating days.  All of it was made better, though, when he showed up on my front door in the pouring rain, apologizing profusely and confessing that he, too, was in love with me and proceeded to show me with his gentle actions.  That was one of the best days of my life. 

There was the time I had gotten in a fight with Colt, defending Harry from someone I hated so much.  There was the night he had taken me to his boat and showed me so many of the things he had shared with his dad.  It had been such a beautiful experience, and it was a night I’d never forget.

While there were so many beautiful memories, there were also bad ones: the night we had discovered my parents fighting, when my parents told me about the affair my father had had, when they decided to get divorced.  One of my biggest regrets in our relationship was not trusting Harry and blaming him for something that was out of his control.  Of course, he had forgiven me instantly, taking me back into his arms to comfort me when I had been in the wrong. 

There was the night we had played games with his mother and sister, only to end up sleeping together upstairs later, unable to control ourselves around each other.  There was the time Harry had forced me to meet with my friends and let them apologize; of course, he ended up being right, like he always was. 

The night of Harry and I’s first party together flashed through my brain.  What had started off as an actually fun night, complete with us sneaking off once more to be alone, had ended in a horrific tragedy.  What we had witnessed of Colt’s car wreck had been something truly awful, his banishment from the party making us feel to blame. 

Another memory came to me, this one I knew was one that would be burned into my brain forever: the day Harry had taken me to his father’s grave.  It had been the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him, breaking down and confessing to his father how much he missed him and how much loved me.  It had been beautiful, devastating, and so completely life changing all at once that there was no way I’d ever forget a second of it. 

There was the day Colt had shocked us all by apologizing and saying he wanted to change.  There was the day Harry had chased me around the library, teasing me playfully and kissing me between the stacks only to nearly get caught by the librarian.  Memories of the beautiful wedding I’d gone to with him and the most mortifying moment of my life that followed when we had gotten caught sneaking off by his mother.

There was the night we discovered we couldn’t stand to sleep without each other and Harry had snuck over, both of us falling asleep instantly once we were together.   That next morning, we had discussed what had so happily been resolved now: college.  There was the day we had gone to the park and I’d met Katie, instantly disliking her and feeling my jealousy flare up, rightfully so, it would turn out. 

Next had come the second party, where instead of an accident with Colt, I had discovered Katie trying to come on to Harry and gotten into the first real fist fight of my life, only to be broken up by the looming threat of cops. 

The last few days flashed through my mind- Harry helping me with my application, helping me ‘relax’, and now today, one of the happiest days of my life, when I discovered I would indeed be with him for the next four years. 

It was so insane to think about all the things we had gone through together, how much we had grown both as individuals and as a couple.  I had never felt such an all-consuming attachment to another person, my love for him absolutely taking over my entire life.  There were times when we weren’t together that I thought I would simply break in half, my constant need for him to be with me overwhelming any regular sense of the world I may have held. 

I don’t know why he had chosen me to love, but I would be forever grateful to him for it.  He made me feel so incredibly happy that I couldn’t even imagine my life without him now.  Before I had really met him, I had thought he was just a quiet, shy, nerdy boy in my class. 

Now, the idea of thinking of him so simply absolutely shattered my soul, because he was so much more than that; he was kind, loving, gentle, sweet, sincere, genuine, and every other positive aspect this world had to offer.  He was a better person than I, in every way, and I loved him for it.

He was the other half of my soul, the keeper of my heart, and he was everything to me.  Without him, I knew my world would absolutely shatter around me.  His love was what made me who I was, what made me strong.  There was no way I deserved him, but I knew I would cling to him for the rest of my life.  He was mine, I was his, and that was it.  We belonged to each other, our grips on each other’s hearts so strong that nothing in this world could break it. 

“I love you,” I mumbled against his lips, my heart feeling so fulfilled that I thought it would fall out of my chest.

“I love you, too, Joey.  Always.” 

**

The End.

Thank you for reading my story :) x