Max and Nina tried to spend as much time together as possible during her final days in LA, but it wasn't easy. She was forced to stay late at work throughout the week, trying to wrap up all the loose ends for her projects at Ascension.

Max's channel was also starting to take off at this point, so keeping up with his filming, editing, and uploading schedule was turning into a full-time job.

The hours in each day passed by in a blur.

Only two weeks after they returned from their apartment hunting trip to Seattle, Max suddenly found himself dropping Nina off again at LAX. This time, however, she wouldn't be coming back to Los Angeles for at least another month.

Max carried Nina's bags through the terminal and walked her to the security checkpoint. They hugged and kissed and lingered in each other's arms until Nina almost missed her flight.

"Four months," she whispered to him, "and everything will be back to normal, okay?"

He nodded and kissed her again, "Four months is nothing. We got this, mami."

Yet, despite the happy front he put on, Max got slightly choked up as he watched Nina walk away from him. He felt as though his heart was flying away to Seattle alongside his beautiful brown-eyed girl, and it left him with a heavy, hollow feeling in his chest.

Max didn't turn to go until Nina disappeared from his sight. Once Max got back to his truck, he immediately pulled out his phone to text her: miss u already :(

She responded with: Would it cheer you up if I sent you pics of my boobies? ;)

This pulled a low chuckle from Max.

He replied: fuck, yes, i would love that <3 <3 <3

He messaged her again: call me when u land, k?

Of course! I love you, Max. <3

love u more, mami

Ugh, I'm going to miss you so much. :(

i can send u pics of my junk :D

Lol! Thanks, but no thanks, you perv!

now my junk is sad :(

I'll wait to enjoy the real thing in person. ;)

Max wrote: god i can't wait to see u again

Omg! I haven't even left LA yet! :P

i know :(

Nina texted: Four months, okay? :(

four months!!! <3

He added: i still want those pics, k? :)

Nina sent back: On second thought, maybe I want pics, too... :)

Max chuckled before writing back: what a perv :P

They bantered back and forth through their phones until Nina told him that her plane was about to take off. With a gloomy sigh, Max tucked his phone away. He drove back to Santa Monica. Alone. He returned to their apartment. Alone. He ate dinner. Alone. He sat on Nina's brown couch and scrolled through Netflix. Alone.

God, he missed Nina, so much so that he ached for her.

Her presence had become so deeply ingrained in his day-to-day life for the past few months that suddenly not having her around him all the time felt wrong. So very wrong.

Was it normal to feel this attached to someone?

Max didn't know. He had never fallen in love before. Anxiety continued to flutter and rise as he waited for Nina's plane to land. The minutes dragged like three-legged turtles. Her flight from LA to Seattle was supposed to take approximately three hours. This was the longest three-hour wait of his life.

His phone didn't ring until he crawled into bed that night. Max picked up right away. "Nina?"

"I just landed, Max!" she exclaimed.

He smiled. His whole body relaxed. It felt so good just to hear her voice. "Did you get your bags yet?"

"No, I'm actually still waiting to get off the plane."

Max wanted to see Nina's pretty face. He asked, "Wanna FaceTime later?"

"Sure! I'll call you once I get to the studio, okay?"

"I'll be waiting," he promised her.

Max could sense her smile through the phone as she said, "I know you will, Max. I love you."

His heart swelled. "Love you, too."

Nina called again in about two hours. Max grinned as her face popped onto his screen. Her hair looked damp from a shower, and she was wearing nothing but her old gray sleepshirt. Max could see her nips through the thin cotton fabric, and he liked it. His eyes darted appreciatively from her chest back to her face.

"A bit chilly in Seattle?" he teased.

Nina followed his gaze and glanced down briefly. She smirked and played along, "Yeah, I guess it's a little cold. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Max murmured. His eyes rested on her boobs again. "Just enjoying the view."

Nina giggled. "You're such a perv."

He winked. "But you love it."

She sighed dramatically. "You're right, I do, I do."

"How was your flight?"

"Not bad. I'm a little tired, but I think I'll start unpacking some shit after I get off the phone with you."

His eyebrows rose. "Oh, right. Shit. I bet you have a bunch of crap you need to take care of right now. Did you want me to let you go?"

"No, no," she insisted, "I want to talk a little longer. I didn't think I'd miss you so much already, but I do."

The longing in her voice warmed Max's heart even while it saddened him.

For the next thirty minutes, Max and Nina flirted and chatted away as though they were sitting right next to each other, as though they weren't separated by more than a thousand miles.

As always, even through a screen, talking to Nina felt familiar, comforting, and easy for Max. He missed touching her like crazy, though. After they hung up, Max was left alone again to stew in his lonely thoughts and glum mood. Nina's bed simply felt too big and empty without her in it. He hugged her pillow tight and struggled to fall asleep.

He didn't want to feel this way for the next four months. Max knew he needed to find productive ways to fill the gaping hole that Nina's absence had left in his life.

Most likely, it would be easier said than done.

Still, Max didn't give up. Over the next few weeks, even while Max tried to throw himself into his work and reach out to his mom and get in touch with some of his old friends, the highlight of his days still revolved around FaceTiming with Nina, calling Nina, texting with Nina...

Basically, any time he could get to interact with Nina became his favorite part of the day. She always looked exhausted on screen, but his girl seemed happy, albeit insanely busy, with her new job. To Max's relief, despite her demanding work schedule, Nina always made the effort to talk or FaceTime with him at least once or twice a day.

Eventually, they decided to give FaceTime sex a try, which both of them had been shy and hesitant about at first. It sounded awkward as fuck, but, surprisingly, the whole experience ended up being kind of hot. Max loved watching Nina get herself off to his commands while listening to her tell him what to touch, when to touch, and how to touch...

In time, Max and Nina fell into a semi-predictable routine for their long-distance relationship. It seemed to work for both of them. Max worked hard on his channel from Monday to Friday, he visited his mom every Sunday, and he even got back in touch with his old friend from middle school, Chase Reynolds, and started hanging out with Chase and his friends. They were a chill group of guys who had nothing to do with Max's old social media crowd. On weekends, they got together to play Call of Duty, skateboard, or surf.

Occasionally, they even would go out to local sports bars to watch football and basketball games. Whenever Max went out with Chase and his friends, he was careful to keep his distance from overly friendly females, especially the ones who flirted with him either because they thought he was cute or because they recognized him from YouTube. Max never hesitated to talk their ears off about his amazing girlfriend, Nina, and how she was pretty much the fucking love of his life...

Little by little, Max worked through all the items on his to-do list. He kept meaning to get back in touch with Lexi as well, but, amid all the crazy new changes in his life, he never seemed to get around to it.

Christmas and New Year's came and went.

Max spent the holidays with his mom while Nina flew back to New York to see her grandma for the first time since she moved away. They hated being apart for the holidays, but Nina hadn't told her grandma about Max yet. The two of them had barely started dating, after all. Nina didn't think it made sense for Max to tag along this time.

"Next time, though," Nina had promised, "you can come. I'm going to tell my grandma about you soon."

Max had been a little sad, but he didn't make a big deal about it.

Life went on.

Then, one Friday afternoon in January, Max's phone dinged with a new text notification: Hey, Max. It's Lexi. I've been thinking about you lately. Wanna grab coffee sometime to catch up?

Apparently, his old friend had beat him to the punch.

Hesitantly, Max texted back: sure let's do it