"I love you. I love you, and I'm so sorry about everything."

    I knew I was dreaming. The fact was buried deep in my subconscious, and I knew that I wasn't in reality. I knew that Connor wasn't actually saying that to me.

    But I wanted him to say it, so I let the dream continue.

    "Sydney?" His face looked so hopeful, so full of life and not at all the face I had seen the night before. He was Connor again: happy and optimistic and just a bit on the shy side. He was my boyfriend.

    "Yeah?"

    "What do you say? Give me another chance?"

    And despite my knowledge that this was just a dream--that I was laying in my old bed at JMU and that there was no way that Connor was actually saying these words to me--I couldn't even bring myself to accept his apology. Not even in a dream.

    His words from the real world entered my mind: one of the last things he had said to me on Christmas Day, over the phone, before hanging up and undoubtedly forgetting about me.

    " I'm breaking up with you. Maybe the next pen pal couple will make it through the girlfriend-cheating-on-her-boyfriend phase of their relationship."

    Relationships were supposed to be built on trust. Long-distance relationships were required to be built on trust. And yet ours hadn't been, and Connor had made that perfectly clear.

    As I looked into his eyes, knowing it was just the two of us, alone in my mind, I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

    So instead, I woke up.

    The room was light, the sun streaming in through the window. Katie had already gotten up and could be heard in the kitchen, talking to Mel and Britt as they made breakfast. Christmas break was a great month in college, and I tried desperately not to remember the last Christmas break I had had at JMU.

    Yet, like most things in life, I couldn't control that.

    December 29th, 2019.

    The day before had been a day that Connor had made me feel special, a day where he had reminded me of why I loved him: I was the only girl in his life, and the only one he had eyes for. He proved that, over and over again, constantly. There was nothing about him that made me nervous in that respect.

    I trusted him unconditionally.

    Waking up the next morning was a breeze, and I sat up in bed to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen. Knowing that Katie was the only one home, with Britt at Dan's parents' house and Mel with her family, I didn't bother making sure I looked decent before waltzing into the kitchen.

    "Morning, Kate."

    "Morning, sunshine."

    I rubbed my eyes and jumped at the voice; it was definitely not Katie's. I opened my eyes and saw Connor standing at the stove, jumping backwards as bacon grease threatened to burn his arms.

    "How--"

    "Katie let me in when she left for the gym. Told me you were still asleep, so I figured you would be hungry when you woke up." He looked me up and down, grinning from ear to ear as I blushed crimson. I was wearing one of his giant T-shirts that I usually wore to bed, without pants or a bra. My hair was undoubtedly a rat's nest and makeup from the night before was smeared under my eyes.

    "You look breathtaking."

    I let out a loud, barking laugh.

    "You're funny."

    "I am." Connor nodded, sliding his arm around my waist and kissing the top of my head, "But I wasn't joking just now."

    I shook my head violently to clear the image from my mind; the last thing I needed was for year-ago Connor to enter my memory. Current Connor was the real him; it had just taken me four years to see it.

    "Morning, sunshine!" Britt sang to me as I emerged from my old bedroom, "You slept late!"

    "It's like noon already." Katie laughed, sliding a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon over to me. "But we let you sleep since it's your first night here."

    "Why thank you." I rolled my eyes, "How thoughtful."

    "Hey, be grateful we saved you food!" Mel laughed, "Britt almost ate the whole thing."

    "Shut up." Britt hit her, "I'm not eating anything because I have to fit in a wedding dress in six months."

    "You picked a date?" I exclaimed, my eyes wide.

    Britt nodded, smiling widely.

    "The wedding's set for July 3rd. It's going to be a summer wedding, on the beach!" She was hopping up and down with excitement, "Dan has been the sweetest through this whole thing."

    "I'm so happy for you guys." I smiled, "I'll be there for sure."

***

    "Are you actually dragging me to go dress shopping?"

    "It's not dragging if you voluntarily came."

    "You needed my car. I wasn't going to let you drive it."

    "Same difference."

    The truth was, I absolutely hated dress shopping and definitely wasn't going to do it alone. But I didn't have any dresses that were good enough to wear to Britt and Dan's engagement party, and there was nothing I could have done at home: I couldn't exactly afford to buy nice dresses in New York City. Harrisonburg Virginia had much nicer prices.

    It took approximately one hour to find a dress I liked, which was remarkably quick. I hadn't planned on meeting up with Katie for another two hours.

    "We have two hours to kill." I informed Jacob upon getting into the car. "What should we do?"

    "It's up to you." He shrugged, sitting in the driver's seat. "But I kind of have something to confess."

    I looked over at him, unsure of what was coming.

    "Yeah, what's up?"

    Jacob looked me in the eye, and I sincerely hoped he wasn't about to confess some kind of undying love or something that would generally happen in a romantic comedy at this point in the story.

    "I'm craving ice cream. You want to get some?"

    I nodded, my heart rate returning to normal.

    "Of course. I'm not trying to fit into a wedding dress."

    That definitely could have been awkward.

    And if Jacob had said what he had really wanted to say, instead of chickening out at the last second, it definitely would have been awkward.

A/N: GUYS yesterday I went BLONDE I am so excited so I'm sharing a picture (duh, I do that all the time) and I've already started having more fun so the saying must be true.

Also, I got an update in on time? Who am I? Is this real life? Probably not.

New Year's Eve is coming up for our favorite estranged love birds, and that can't be good. Thoughts?

-Katherine