in the Netherlands was maybe one of the best of our whole trip. Julia said that she needed a distraction and delved into her phone, scouring around for something to do near us.

I tried to get her to meet my eyes, but she just wouldn't. Her eyes were completely focused on her phone and when she finally looked up, she snapped her eyes to Dawson and Atlas, telling them that there was a drive-in movie playing a few minutes from us.

Jude said he didn't want to go, earning a deep frown from Julia. She didn't raise an argument, but Leah did, telling him that we only had 2 weeks left until we had to go back home. Jude shrugged, eventually agreeing.

As I was slipping on my skirt and a fitted shirt, a knock sounded at my door. I called out "Come in!" and I saw Leah walk in from the mirror. I turned around and smiled at her.

"Hey, Leah." I said, walking over to my bed and picking up the comb I threw a few minutes ago. I watched her smile at me and sit down on the bed, watching me run a comb through my hair.

She avoided my eyes for a second and took in a deep breath. When her eyes met mine again, it looked like tears were ready to slip down her cheeks. I froze, my hands falling from my hair. I moved towards her and took her cold hands in mine.

"Leah, what's wrong?" I asked.

That question seemed to make her angry, her face turning a deep shade of red as she angrily took her bottom lip between her lips. I frowned, my hold on her hands loosening a bit.

"Leah--" I started, but when she angrily stood up and moved towards the door, I panicked. I chased after her, calling her name as she angrily stormed downstairs.

"Leah!" I called out, thoroughly concerned and confused, "What the fuck?"

When she reached the kitchen, she grabbed her phone off the counter and tossed it to me. I fumbled around with it in my hand before I finally gripped it between my ice-cold fingers. I looked at her, confused and watched the angry tears roll down her cheeks. "Read it."

I looked down at the phone and noticed that the screen was open to her messages with my mom. I frowned as I read the latest of their text messages, my face paling.

——

July 21, 2021

7:16 PM

: How are you and the girls? Having the time of your lives yet?

: heck, yeah! europe is amazing and i'm loving every bit of it. the food, the museums, the boys, the clothes! UGH i want to stay here forever

: That's amazing to hear, Leah. At least you guys are having a little bit of fun before you start your senior year.

: yes, exciting!! what about you, ma'am? how are things at home? how's dia?

: Oh, things are great! We're up to our necks in boxes and Lydia doesn't want to help pack. She's her usual lovely self.

: packing?? where are you guys going

: Eden didn't tell you?

we're moving at the end of the summer.

: Oh, yeah. I remember her mentioning it.

: Yeah, we'll miss you so much and you have to promise to visit us during breaks.

——

I looked up and felt the shards of my heart clatter to the floor of my chest. Leah seemed to have been keeping herself together for the past few minutes, but now that I read the texts and was looking at her, sobs were escaping her lips and her face was red and slick with tears.

"Why didn't you say anything, Eden?" She cried out, pressing the tips of her fingers to her lips.

Tears were collecting in front of my eyes and the lump in my throat felt close to exploding. I put her phone down on the counter and reached my hand out to her, but she snatched her hand away from me.

Tears fell from my eyes and I tried to swallow down the pain that was pulsating in my bones. I let my hand fall back to my side.

"Leah, I'm so sorry." I breathed, my voice wavering halfway through my sentence.

She shook her head and dropped her head in her hands, "Why the fuck didn't you say anything, Eden?" She spat, her voice rising considerably, "Why?"

"I don't know!" I yelled back, a sob escaping my lips, punctuating my sentence in the pain that was crawling its way out my throat. "I didn't want to ruin this summer with the shit going on back home!"

She stayed quiet, softly sobbing into her hands. I watched, my eyes clouded with tears as she attempted to wipe the tears from her face with her palms. When she looked up at me, she shook her head and moved towards me, pulling me into a hug.

I pressed my face into her shoulder and let the tears soak her shirt as she did the same to mine. "I'm sorry," I croaked.

She brushed my hair back and planted a kiss on my head, "You have to go?"

The stairs creaked and Leah pulled away a fraction. We turned towards the stairs and saw Julia making her way down the steps. She was dressed in a floral dress that stopped below her knees. Around her waist, she had tied on a brown corset. My lip trembled at the sight of her.

She frowned at the two of us and I pulled away from Leah, making my way towards her. She gave me a wary look, "What— Why are you guys crying?"

I pulled her down the last two steps and let my eyes roam over her face and her lightly freckled cheeks. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," I breathed out, willing away the tears that threatened to slip down my cheeks.

"Tell me what?" She asked, her lips dipping into a frown, "You guys are scaring me."

I sucked in a breath, "I'm moving in August."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head, "To a new house?"

When I didn't respond, her lip trembled like mine. Her face flooded with heat and her eyes flooded with tears, "Why?"

I bit back the tears that were ready to escape again, "Lydia got accepted into a new school in DC and my parents accepted."

Julia steeled over her face and clenched her jaw. I pulled her into a hug because God, I loved her so much. She didn't want to cry in front of me and I hated that I was the reason for all of this.

Behind us, Leah let out a frustrated groan, "Please don't cry again. I'm sick of crying over this."

Julia laughed lightly into my embrace and pulled away from me, "We were supposed to have fun today and now we're all crying."

I snorted, brushing away the last of my tears, "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you guys earlier. I thought it'd be better—"

Julia shook her head, cutting me off, "It's okay, Ede. Let's just focus on the time we have left, okay?"

Leah nodded, "Exactly. No more crying allowed, okay? Today, we'll go to the movies and have the time of our lives."

I smiled as tears flooded my eyes. I was so thankful for them it hurt. It hurt to imagine what it would be like not seeing them and talking to them everyday. It hurt to wonder what it would be like not having Leah and Julia one call away. It hurt to picture what life would be like if I ever moved on from this friendship we've built over the years.

I pulled them into a hug and buried my head into their embrace, "I love you guys so much."

Julia laughed and Leah snorted, "Fuck yeah you do."

Before we could pull away, Dawson's voice floated down from the top of the stairs, "What's going on here?"

Leah rolled her eyes as she pulled away, a shadow of a smile on her face, "Fuck off, Dawson."

When she turned around, I watched Dawson's eyes snap to her face before slowly falling down the rest of her body. Leah placed her hands on her hips, giving him a bored look, "Eyes up here, pretty boy."

His eyes snapped to hers and the beginning of a smirk stretched his lips, "You think I'm pretty?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look, "Don't make me take it back."

He bounded down the stairs and draped his arm over her shoulder, "Wouldn't dream of it, Ma."

My eyes moved to the landing at the top of the stairs and landed on Atlas and Jude's descending figures. I felt my heartbeat thump in my chest and the air in my lungs dissipate.

I watched his eyes meet mine and a smile spread across his beautiful face. I couldn't help but smile, too. He was dressed simply in a pair of black cargo pants and a simple black pullover, its front covered a patterned text with the cover of the Pulp Fiction movie. Around his neck was a glossed, pearl necklace along with the one I had given him at the pool all those nights ago.

I smiled at the memory.

"Ready to go?" Jude asked, mainly aimed at Julia, but she smiled at the rest of the group instead.

"Yeah, let's get moving before the movie starts." She said walking towards the door, trying to get the rest of us to hurry up. I watched Atlas's eyes meet Jude's for a second, passing him a reassuring smile. Jude sucked in a breath and nodded, smiling before walking out the door.

While Dawson followed Leah around as she pressed her thumb to her face, smoothing over the dried tears on her face, I felt Atlas's hand glide across the curve of my waist before resting his palm to the small of my back. "You okay?"

I glanced up at him, tucking my hair behind my ears. I sucked in a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

After we left the house and made our way to the area where the movie would be playing, I felt a few hundred pounds fall off my shoulders. All through the trip, I had felt as if there was something horrible keeping us all on our toes.

I felt close to toppling off my seat because all I could think about was our next destination and whether I'd be meeting Keldan or not. Leah pulled on a smile wider than the world itself, but I could tell that she felt everything she was sure about was falling apart. Julia was barely keeping herself together and it pained me to see her like that. Jude was becoming more and more distant, trying to figure Julia out, trying to get her to open up to him. Atlas, every minute of the day, had a swirling dark cloud of thoughts brewing in his head; he'd never be free of it.

While Dawson was the only one of us who seemed to have his life in order, not a trouble on his mind, I could only be jealous.

As we settled in on the grassy floor in front of the projected screen, I let out a sigh. The nerves that were crackling under my skin was getting exhausting. Our trip to Europe was supposed to be relaxing and fun. So why did I feel like I was walking deeper and deeper into a tunnel without a ray of light at the end.

As the lady on the black and white screen, walked out onto her porch, her face bathed in light, making her features angelic and cherubic, I felt a hand wrap around mine. I turned my head and my eyes met Atlas's shining ones. I smiled, softly dropping my head onto his shoulder. His thumb moved back and forth over my hand, making my skin tingle and my hair to stand on end.

On the screen, a man, a year or two older than the lady on the screen, emerged out of the darkness below her balcony. He smiled up at her and said a few words, bringing a small laugh from her lips.

Atlas pressed his lips to the top of my head, "Why were you crying earlier?" His voice was barely above a whisper, a few tingles running down my spine. I shrugged softly, "I told them I was moving."

He let out a small breath and nodded softly. We stayed like that for a few minutes, watching the lady on the screen talk to the man at the foot of her balcony. When Atlas randomly stood up and offered me his hand, I frowned, my hand slowly reaching out to him anyway.

"What are we doing?" I asked him as he wrapped his hand around mine and hoisted me up. He winked at me, sending a rush of heat to my cheeks before he tugged me along to the parking lot. As we walked hand in hand down the street, he pulled me down a few rows of parked cars until he stopped us by a tree a ways away from the movie.

A small laugh bubbled from my lips as my back pressed against the smooth bark of the tree, Atlas's legs pressed in between mine, his hands on my waist. I stared up and into his eyes that tied my stomach in knots and soaked in the rush of electricity that thrummed under my skin. His slow fingers against the curve of jaw brought a shiver to my lips.

He stopped his tantalizing movements against my skin, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "What are we doing here, Foreman?"

His eyes watched my lips move, his lips coming closer and closer, aching to meet mine. His eyes flickered to mine for a moment, "I wanted to tell you that I don't want to go to Boston next year."

I frowned, my fingers on one hand losing themselves in his hair and the other burning a trail across his skin, "Why not?" I asked.

I didn't know whether Atlas had a choice to go to Boston or not, but he didn't seem against the idea. When he had first told me, he expressed that he wouldn't want to leave behind his family and friends, but would have to. It was to better his education and to cover up the incident in April.

Atlas absentmindedly pressed his lips to my jaw, setting a fire under my skin and making my knees go weak. When he answered my question, he kept his lips close to my skin, softly brushing the sensitive skin with every syllable. "I'm not sure leaving my home would be a good idea for me anymore. I want to stay and live for a little before I can't anymore... And I want to do that with you for as long as we have."

I sucked in a breath, willing away the tears that usually came with remembering how close our moving date was. We had less than two weeks left of this trip —13 days— until I had to go home and pack. Then on the 16th of August, we'd be boarding our plane and leaving everything we've built here behind us.

"31 days." I said as he pulled back a fraction to meet my eyes. He nodded, brushing my hair back from my face and holding his hand to my cheek. "31 days," He repeated.

I nodded and let my hands fall to his chest as he pulled me closer, resting his forehead against mine.

Being with Atlas, whether it was the conversations on rooftops or by the water, or the times he held me as I fell asleep, I felt a surge of calm wash over me. Not just a regular sort of calm that you feel when you're in the dark or alone by the beach. It was a sort of calm that filled you with a soft hum of giddiness and all you wanted to do was smile. Atlas made me feel exactly like that.

"Is there no way?" He asked the question that's simmered in my head from the moment he pressed his lips to mine for the first time.

I wondered for hours at a time whether this thing we had would work long-distance. Whether I'd be able to make the constant flights from D.C. to home once a week seemed like too much money? Would I be able to make the drive from D.C. back to Charlotte every week? The thoughts just brought a deeper and deeper frown to my face.

The question hung in the air between us begging for our attention. I softly shook my head and he nodded, "It's okay."

The air between us was electric and when he pressed his lips to mine, I should've expected it. The familiar softness of his lips and the slow buildup of the beating of my heart. I should've expected it, should've begged for it, but his lips to mine felt like a kick in the stomach.

The ache that was supposed to carve out my heart into a hollow shell was supposed to arrive after he left. I was supposed to be doubled over in this pain after I left home. But the squeeze around my heart was brutal. I pulled him closer, wrapping my arms around him, holding him while I still could.

A small breath left his lips as my hand moved around his torso, pulling him impossibly closer. My grip tightened around him as he moved his lips against mine, making my body heat up with each passing second.

A wince from Atlas's lips pulled us apart and my hands fell from around him. He closed his eyes for a moment as I stared up at him, watching a wave of discomfort wash over his face. "You okay?" I asked, softly.

The embarrassment that I accidently hurt him while we were kissing rushed up to my cheeks.

I watched him nod and his eyes open slowly. He dropped his hand to the front of his stomach, grimacing slightly, "Bruised myself this morning." At his laugh, I smiled, reaching up on my toes and planting a kiss on his cheek.

After Atlas planted a few more kisses on the curve of my neck, he looked up at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "You smell good,"

My heart tumbled in my chest and my stomach fluttered. I giggled up at him, my cheeks tinting pink, "Thank you,"

As he assaulted me with questions about what body wash I used, we walked back over to the movie where a slow song was playing. When we passed by our seats, our friends engrossed in the movie, I frowned at Atlas, "Where are we going now?"

He shushed me, a taunting smile on his lips. I giggled as I followed him behind the screen that was playing the movie. When he suddenly stopped and pulled me against him, his hands against my waist and his breath mingling with mine, I gave him a bored look, ignoring the heavy beating in my chest.

"Will you dance with me, Ede?" He breathed out, his voice shallow and raspy. I offered him my hand and placed the other on his shoulder. When he slowly started to move his feet, pulling me along with him, I let my head rest against his chest, feeling the beat of his heart in my ear.

An uncontrollable smile stretched my lips as Atlas pressed his lips to my temple, making my cheeks warm at the flutter in my chest. As his lips pulled into a smile against my temple, I was sure there was nothing more that I'd want but him and me like this till the end of time.

The heavy beating of his heart in my ear was the only answer I needed.

i'm so sorry for taking so long to update holy shit. i would've had it earlier, but i just hated this chapter so much and had to rewrite it.

also i was on winter break and i went to universal studios. kinda mad i didn't get my gryffindor robe

anyway, i hope you liked the chapter babes. I LOVE YOU FOREVER!