11:11

“We’ve been together for, like a year. And we didn’t even get to celebrate being together that long.”

“I know. We should do something.”

“Like what though?”

I pick up a handful of sand and watch as it runs through my fingers. The wind blows it towards Alex and he has to shield his eyes.

“I know what I want to do,” I say, looking at the sand remaining in my hands. “When I was younger, we went to Fire Island for a week. It’s in New York. We rented a house like a few minutes from the beach. It was really cool…”

“You want to do that?”

“Yeah. But if you had something else in mind -”

“No,” Alex interrupts. “That’s fine. We could go for a weekend or something. We’ll be recording in LA but I’m sure I can find a weekend to come to you.”

I nod and wrap my arms around his waist. The sun is starting to set and the few people who are at the beach, like us, are getting up to leave. Why would they leave before seeing the sunset?

“I’m gonna miss you.”

“Lex, we’re both going away. It’s not like one of us is stuck here. You’ll be in New York and I’ll be in LA. I’ll visit you as much as I can.”

His words, although true, don’t comfort me all that much. I don’t want to be away from him at all.

“I know that. I just can’t believe you’re recording a CD in two days. You’re going to be famous, Alex.”

“I don’t know if I would use the word famous.”

“One day, maybe.”

I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in his scent. He’s wearing the cologne I gave him for Christmas, which was just two days ago. I gave him a new iPod, too, because he needed it. Jack stepped on the old one. It wasn’t able to be saved.

“If you become famous, your fans aren’t going to like me, I bet.”

“Who wouldn’t like you? I for one adore you.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t really blame them. When I was obsessed with Good Charlotte, I hated Hilary Duff for a good year. Then I realized that Joel Madden is a loser. But that’s beside the point.”

“So, are you saying that I’m a loser?”

“I didn’t say that.”

We fall quiet as the sun disappears completely, and I feel Alex pull me as close to his body as possible, as if with the sun, I might disappear too.

**

Every time Alex puts a t-shirt into his suitcase, I pull another one out when he turns around. Once he’s finished packing he has to go load up the car, so I’m making this process last as long as possible. I’m not ready for him to leave me yet.

“Why does it seem like I’m packing too much?” I hear him question to himself, and I have to fight to control my smile. “I’m only going for 2 weeks. I feel like I’m packing for 2 months…”

“What are you talking about?”

He looks over at me and I do my best to conceal the pile of clothes forming behind me on his bed. His eyes narrow as he walks over. “Are you pulling out my clothes when I turn around?”

“Me? No!”

“Well it’s not Bella!”

At the mention of her name, Bella barks from her spot at the foot of the bed next to Alex’s suitcase. It’s hard to see her face behind the amount of white fur she’s got, but I know she’s looking at me and laughing inside. She really needs a haircut, or something.

“Well, Bella and I don’t want you to leave!”

Alex rolls his eyes as he picks up the many t-shirts I have hidden and moves them back to his bags. “We went through this. I’m leaving tomorrow morning, you watch Bella for 2 weeks, and I come back on January 12th.”

“That’s too far away! And then we’ll only have like 2 weeks to spend together before I go back to school!”

“And then while you’re in school, we have to go back and finish recording, so -”

I fold my arms across my chest and pout as best as I can. I know I’m being such a baby right now, but I don’t want him to go at all. For two weeks they’re preparing to record or something like that, and then in mid-February, they have to go back and finish it all up. I don’t really understand the details.

“I’m going to miss you too, okay Lex?”

I lie back on the bed, covering my face with one of his pillows. He lies down beside me and wraps his arms around me. How am I supposed to go two weeks without him when I seriously just got him back?

“Do you promise to call me as much as you can?” I ask in a quiet voice.

“Of course. I’ll call so much that you’re probably going to be so sick of me.”

He takes the pillow off my face and then his hand covers mine. He rubs the ring on my finger and I look up at him just in time to see him smile.

“I want to tell my mom tonight,” he informs me, and the nervous feeling I get every time he mentions revealing our ‘promise’ to everyone comes back. “If you want to, that is…”

“Of course… she deserves to know, Alex.”

“She invited us over for dinner. She said to be there at 6, which is in an hour.”

“So I guess we can leave after you pack the car and stuff…”

“Don’t look so sad, baby.”

He tilts my face up towards his and his lips press to mine, causing my heart, as usual, to over-react.