Walk Through Hell

So... I'll... see you at the reunion?" he tried joking.

"...yeah," I said, trying not to cry.

We just broke up, mutually.

We had talked about it before, but now, it finally had to come.

"But, I'll call you. Myspace. Text. Keep in touch. You have to tell me what's up," he said with a smile.

How is he taking this so easy?

"Yeah, same, babe. Erm, same... dude."

I'm going to Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He's going to UCLA.

It is as it stands, we won't last.

Long distance relationships during college don't last.

But I still feel horrible.

I don't know how he feels, but I hate it.

"Well, I'll see you later," I said, and leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

I sware he twitched his head, ever so slightly, towards my lips.

But I'm just imagining it.

I walked away.

This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

This is harder than when I quit smoking two years ago.

This is easily harder than losing Ben.

This is...

too much for words.

This is me leaving Jake, the guy I'm sure is the one, forever...

Jake's POV

"...yeah," she said, distanced.

Idiot.

Stop trying to make a joke out of this!

"But, I'll call you. Myspace. Text. Keep in touch. You have to tell me what's up," I said, faking a smile.

I don't want her to remember me breaking down and crying, or something.

Just... say something. Say you don't want to break up.

She looked at me, finally. Big eyes. Big, glassy, eyes.

All my fault.

Why didn't I apply to any East Coast schools?

She dropped her head back down.

"Yeah, same, babe," her head shot up, "Er... same.... dude."

Don't correct yourself.

Call me babe.

Tell me you don't want to go through with this.

I need to say something. Say how I really feel.

"Well, I'll see you later," she said, standing on her tip-toes and leaning in to kiss me.... on the cheek.

I was so tempted to catch her lips with my own, I almost thought I did.

She lingered for a few seconds, then walked off.

Leaving me standing there.

Sick to my stomach.

She was... the one.

Two and Half Years Later, Mid-Junior Year, Lexie's POV

"Charlie!" I laughed out, begging him to stop.

"These hands," he started, faking a Spanish accent, "rrrroll like the wind!"

He tickled me on that bench until I couldn't breathe.

We were in New Haven for the weekend, seeing some of his friends at Yale.

Charlie was my first roommate's boyfriend. They broke up two years ago.

Now he's with someone else.

"Lexie?" I heard a familiar voice behind me.

I whipped around. The smile fell from my face and i felt tears stinging the back of my eyes.

"Jake." I managed to breathe out. I regained my composure. "Uh, Jake, this is Charlie, Charlie, this is Jake."

How did he even recognize me? I have long, like, really long, dark brown hair now. With blue and purple low-lights.

Jake's face hardened. Charlie stuck out his hand.

"Jake, nice to meet you," he said, shaking Jake's hand.

"You, too," he sort of spat out.

"Wait, Jake? the Jake?" Charlie asked, looking at me.

Jake smirked, but it fell quickly. "Is uh, are you two..." he stammered, trying to find the right words, "dating?"

Me and Charlie looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

How could I be laughing at a time like this?

"Charlie was my first roommate's boyfriend. Not only is it wrong to date your friend's ex-boyfriends, but my first roommate's name was Mike."

Jake lightened up, and make an muttered an "oh."

"So this is Jake, huh Shmexie?" Charlie asked, embarrassing me.

Jake can't know I told someone about him. He'll think I'm still not over him!

I gave an awkward chuckle, "yeah." There was a short moment of silence. "Uh, what are you doing here?" I asked, feeling horrible afterwards.

I don't want to seem rude.

"I transfered here for my last two years of college," he said, a little short of breath.

Remember when we said we'd keep up? We didn't. It was too hard for me. I just... couldn't reply.

"Really? That's great! I almost transfered here, they've got an awesome music program going on this year, but I'm in love with Berklee!" I said, trying to sound like I've been nothing but happy for the past two years. How am I supposed to do that?

I've missed him.

He tensed up when I said love, but calmed down when I said Berklee.

"So... do you have a boyfriend?"

"Way to be blunt about it," Charlie murmured.

I tried to hold in my laughter while Charlie rolled his eyes and continued. "She's been on a date since she started school. She's impossible to get with. Ask anyone who knows her. How many guys ask you out a week?" I shrugged, turning red. He turned to Jake, "For a while I thought she was just going for that mysterious, you can't touch this thing, but it turns out--"

"I just wasn't interested in any of the guys here." I cut him off before he said something to make me even more embarrassed.

There was another silence.

"What about you?" Charlie asked, obviously in a tone of mock interest, because he knew I wanted to know but was way too afraid to ask.

"Uh, there's been a few hopefuls... " he started towards Charlie, "that's a lie, Lex," he said, turning to me. I held my breath. "I switched schools to be closer to you, in the off chance that one day, I might see you. I've missed you like crazy. I can't even think about another girl. Breaking up was the stupidest thing I think I've ever done."

I breathed out the air I'd been holding in. "I... Jake, I missed you, too," I said. "I can't think of another guy. After the first year here, I almost moved back. I just figured you'd moved on."

"Never," he said. "Wanna... go get some coffee?" he asked.

I paused. "Aren't you going to kiss me first?"

His lips lunged down on top of mine. The world spun around me.

"You know, I'm just gonna go... see... Bert now. Call me, Lex, babe. Bye!"

I barely heard him, though.

We broke apart. "Coffee, then?" he asked.

"Coffee." I confirmed.

We both chuckled. He put his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close to him. A wave of comfort I haven't felt for two and a half years crept over my body.

We're back together. And this time, nothing's tearing us apart.
awe...

Epilogue

Jake and Lexie stayed at their schools, but made sure they spent at least two week ends together a month.

They both graduated on time. Lexie started working for a music magazine and Jake worked part-time for an ad company, continuing or degrees in art and business.

A year after graduation, he proposed to her when they were back in L.A. for summer break.

He snuck her out of her old bedroom at one in the morning, made her scale the fence in her pajamas [his boxers and an old t-shirt], and proposed at the very spot where he first told her he had a crush on her, right after he sang their song.

They got married three months later in autumn.

They currently have a four-year-old son, named Ricky, and two-year old twins, Olive and Samantha.

Speaking of which, Samantha and Ricky, who were the Maid of Honor and Best Man, despite the distance they had to travel for the wedding, were married two years after Lexie and Jake. They fell out of contact when Ricky went to college, but were re-united at the Jake and Lex wedding. They've recently moved to Europe, and in six months, it'll probably be Ireland, and in another six months, maybe Japan? You get the picture.

Lexie now owns her own music magazine. One of her sponsors is Jake's new independently owned marketing company.

...

And they lived happily ever after.
awe.