As I thumbed through the envelopes, I set aside those items that were for Jess and those for Meg until I reached the envelope from the University of California Berkeley. My hands began shaking slightly as I opened the top of it, anxious to see the contents. UC Berkley was my number one choice by far because it had a research cooperative with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a direct link to the CERN facility in Geneva, which was the mecca for nuclear physics. Despite my partying and womanizing in the college years before Scarlett, I had always put a major emphasis on my studies. I was blessed that a lot of it just came naturally to me; for whatever reason, I just “got” math and science. I had known from my high school years that I wanted to do something in the world of physics. Proving and disproving molecular theories was fascinating to me, and my ultimate goal had always been to work at CERN.

As I unfolded the single piece of paper, I held my breath and began to quickly scan over the text of the letter. It wasn’t until I reached the words “We are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your application…” that I actually remembered to breathe again. I’m pretty sure if my neighbors had been home, they would’ve heard my roar of excitement. All of my hard work seemed to have started paying off; everything was falling into place. I just had to tell Scarlett.

The rest of the afternoon I could barely contain my enthusiasm, I was about to burst at the seams. I had told my boss the good news as soon as I had gotten to the lab, and he was not only extremely proud of me but understanding of my inability to focus. He let me off early to celebrate, so I went straight to Scarlett and Max’s apartment to tell them my good news.

I was a little surprised to not see her car in her parking spot when I arrived, but didn’t think too much of it. After several knocks, Max swung open the door and invited me in.

“Hey man, how are you? Come on in,” he said as he walked over to sit back down on the couch.

“I couldn’t be better actually, thanks for asking,” I replied, still beaming. “Where’s Scar?”

“Not sure. I haven’t seen her since I’ve been home,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug.

I found it odd that she wasn’t home yet, seeing that it was nearly six o’clock in the evening. The night before she had told me that she had class until one and then she would be studying the rest of the afternoon. I assumed that she must’ve done her studying at the library or coffee shop, but since it was nearly dark outside I figured she’d be back soon. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and joined Max on the couch, waiting for her to get home.

Thirty minutes or so later, I was starting to get a little worried about where she was. I texted her and didn’t get a reply, so I really began to panic. I got up to go throw my empty bottle away before heading over to the library to check for her car; however, when I was in the kitchen, I heard the front door open and then her voice.

“Hey Max! I’m so glad you’re here! Mase taught me how to play Call of Duty today, and I can’t wait to kick your pretty little assface.”

My heart shattered all over the tile floor, and the overwhelming excitement that I had felt about my acceptance letter was replaced by complete devastation.

SCARLETT

As I hurried into the apartment, trying to escape the near freezing temperature outside, I was thrilled to see Max home so I could show off my new and improved Xbox playing abilities. However after my announcement of just that, Max’s horror-stricken face followed by the sound of someone in the kitchen told me all that I needed to know. I could feel the color draining from my face as Ash appeared from around the corner. I couldn't tell if his expression was more of hurt or anger, but either way I didn't blame him. It definitely wasn't how I wanted him to find out, but since he knew I knew I better start talking fast before I lost him.

"Ash, babe, it's not what it seems. I promise," I tried to clarify, dropping my backpack and walking towards him.

"Oh, now it's 'babe,' huh? Convenient," he said with a snarl, backing away.

"I… I didn't mean…"

"And it never is what it seems when it involves him, is it Scarlett? In Miami it wasn't what it seemed, now here yet again, I get the same bullshit line." I had never heard such loathing in his voice before. "At some point Scarlett, it really IS what it seems!"

Thankfully, Max silently slipped out of the room in the middle of Ash's rant. Not that he wasn't able to hear it all from there anyhow, but at least we had perceived privacy.

"Ash, I know that you're angry, and I understand why. I had planned on telling you when I saw you this weekend. I didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. I knew that you weren’t going to be happy and I want to explain to you why. Please calm down. Let’s sit down so that I can explain everything to you.”

He stormed over to the couch and sat down. Looking up at me, he snapped, “I’m sitting so start explaining.”

I crossed the living room floor and sat next to him. Wringing my hands in my lap with my eyes fixed on my shoes, I told him everything~ from Mina calling Cruz to my first visit to see Mase to our counseling session with Heather to that afternoon of just hanging out. I emphasized how we both felt closure with how our relationship previously had been, and we were only interested in being friends. After I was finished laying it all out, I looked up in his icy blue eyes and pled to him, “Ash, I swear on Evie’s grave that I am telling you the truth. I know that I should’ve told you when I first went, but I am hiding nothing from you and am being one hundred percent honest with you about my feelings for him. I am in love with you and I want to be with you, but I am going to be a friend to him. He is far from perfect, just like both of us, but he has always been there for me when I needed him and I’m not about to turn my back on him, especially during this time of instability. I really hope you can understand that.”

“I do understand that Scarlett, but you have to know how hard this is for me. I know what he once was to you, and it scares me that those feelings between y’all will reemerge. I don’t associate with any girls that I have a past with, and I never even had true feeling for any of them. I do that mainly because I have no desire to be around those people any longer, I’ve grown up and moved on from that stage of my life, but also because I have respect for your feelings. I know that you wouldn’t feel comfortable with me even being just friends with them.

“I honestly feel like I’m painted in a corner here. Either I give you my blessing to see him or I risk losing you if I don’t. You know I’m not the type of person to tell you what you can or can’t do; we don’t have that kind of relationship. So I’m going to tell you this one time and one time only.” He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “You are an adult and you need to decide who you have relationships with. That being said, I expect for you to put me first in your life, just like I do with you in mine. I don’t need daily or even weekly updates on what’s going on with him, because I really don’t care, but I don’t want this cutting into the time we get to spend together either. I love you and I’m going to trust you until you give me a reason not to, but I will not be made a fool of. I deserve to get back the same commitment that I put into this. Do you think that’s fair?”

I nodded my head before launching myself at him. I crawled into his lap, my knees on either sides of his thighs, and pressed my forehead to his. “Thank you so much. Thank you for being so wonderful. You are always my first priority and I’m not gonna let you down. I love you so much.”

His strong arms engulfed my waist and he pulled my chest down to his. His soft lips found mine, tenderly pressing them against each other before his tongue began teasing me, begging entrance into my mouth. Parting my lips, our tongues found one another, delicately caressing and massaging into the perfect kiss. As the kiss ended and our mouths broke apart, a thought crossed my mind.

“Not that I ever mind seeing you or kissing you, but was there a reason that you came over tonight or was it just to hang out?” I asked him before giving him another soft peck on the mouth.

He stood up with me still wrapped around his body and rubbed his nose against mine. “Nah, it wasn’t anything important really. Plus I don’t want to spend any more time talking tonight; I need to feel your body against mine. I think it’s time for another reminder fuck,” he growled.

My body responded to the possessive tone in his voice, as I instantly ached for his intimate touch. I clenched my legs tightly around his body so that my clit rubbed against his crotch and I nipped at his bottom lip before sucking on it. “What are you reminding me of?”

“That. You. Are. Mine.” He walked us down the hall to my bedroom where he spent the next couple of hours reminding me of just that.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Nothing Fancy ~ Dave Barnes

Burn ~ Ellie Goulding

Together ~ Demi Lovato (feat. Jason Derulo)

ASH

I knew that I should’ve told her about the doctorate program acceptance letter when she asked why I had come over, but I just couldn’t. Not then. We needed to deal with one issue at a time, and in that moment, pretty much everything else was on the backburner. I also decided to wait to confirm that she had gotten accepted at UC Berkeley as well so that I could present it to her as a package deal. I had to make her see the future for us there… away from here.

To be honest, as Scarlett told me the story about how she had gone to see Mason in rehab, I believed her that she truly was worried about him as a person and that her intentions were to be his friend and to help him through his recovery. It was him that I didn’t trust for shit, especially in a time where he was sure to feel abandoned by his friends, his fans, and his steady stream of groupies falling at his feet. He was an attention whore, plain and simple. I had never met a frontman of a band that wasn’t, that’s why they were what they were. My musical skills were just as good, if not better than his, but I never had any desire to be up in front of hundreds or thousands of people. He craved the spotlight and it fed his egotism and vanity, and having her coming to visit him, to coddle him, was just another form of that. However, I also knew if I forbade her from seeing him, she would either resent me or see him anyway behind my back. Either of those scenarios would end in us breaking up, which was the last thing I wanted.

After worshipping her body for most of the night, reminding her exactly who it was that gave her everything she needed, we both skipped our early morning class and slept in, staying warm and cozy under the covers. I really wanted to do something special and fun with her that weekend. It seemed like ever since we had officially been together as a couple, it was always something causing a strain on our relationship. When we had come back from California, first it was Mina and Noah’s wedding, then it was Mason’s overdose, and for the past couple of weeks it had been the stress of classes in the new semester. We had never really had any time for ourselves, so I wanted to get her away for a couple of days.

I slipped out of bed while she was still in dreamland and made a few calls to set everything up. When she finally decided to roll out of bed a little after eleven, I told her to get showered up and to pack a bag because we were going away for a surprise weekend getaway. The smile that lit up her face when I told her warmed my soul, and I couldn’t wait to get us away from there. I ran home, got ready myself, and packed up some clothes. A little more than an hour later, I had Scarlett secured in my front seat and we were heading west on I-10.