"Man of the hour," Eros sang, "yo."

I turned around, shooting him a smile. "Hey."

He smiled and jumped on my back, earning the eyes of a teacher. He quickly jumped down and stumbled a bit, but began walking with me.

"So," he said, "I'm planning this date for Josie."

"Oh, God," I muttered.

"Do you think your dad will let me take her to a hotel?"

I couldn't help but to laugh, looking over at him. "E, don't get too comfortable. He will still kill you."

He leaned his head back against the lockers as we stopped at mine, making me open it and throw my books inside. "Do you have any other solid ideas?"

"It's gotta be romantic," he said, "I'm breaking some news, man."

"Like what?"

He proudly pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket, holding it out to me with a broad smile.

I grabbed it from him and opened it up, my eyebrows shooting up at the contents.

"Y-you already got accepted, shit," I chuckled out, but it wasn't exactly a happy chuckle.

"U-Dub, baby!" He excitedly said, "I-I mean, I can't say I'll go, I'm still holding out for UCLA, but shit. This is a big deal."

"Y-yeah," I said, nodding as I looked over at him, "congratulations, man."

"Thanks," he said, grabbing the paper from me with a smile.

"Alright, I've gotta go. I cannot afford to be late again. See you, man."

I watched as he ran off, feeling more emotions than I could handle. I was happy for Eros, but U-Dub? U-Dub wasn't even on my list. I didn't want to do college without my best friend, even if I knew I was eventually going to have to accept that we wouldn't be going to the same college.

I was also jealous. Eros and I had played every sport together for the past ten years of our lives, and I hadn't gotten a scholarship nor acceptance letter from some college?

I let out a sigh and closed my locker, clearing my throat. I turned around and saw Zach on the other side of the hallway, my breath hitching in my throat.

Walk away? No, don't. Wait, yes. Definitely walk away.

I casually pushed myself off of my locker and walked towards class, hopefully not catching his attention. I was nervous to see him.

You're going to see him in class, but okay.

I quietly entered class and sat at my table, letting out a shaky breath as I began to pull out everything I needed. I heard Zach's voice approaching, making my breaths speed up.

"Hey, could I get your name?"

I snapped out of my trance, looking up at the substitute teacher. He'd been filling Mrs. Thompson's empty place since she'd gotten fired, and was just trying to familiarize himself with everything still.

"U-uh, yes, sir, I'm Henry," I said, nodding up at him.

"Henry King?"

"That's me," I said, smiling up at him.

"Awesome. Thanks so much. I'm sorry, I should know this by now," he chuckled out, making me shoot him a sympathetic smile as he walked off.

Hero walked in the room, carrying a grocery bag. I lifted an eyebrow and he placed everything on his table, bracing his palms against it.

"Hi," I greeted.

"Hey, have you seen Amelia?" He asked.

"No," I said, "I don't think she's here today."

When he looked over at me, his entire spirit seemed to break. "She's not here?"

"N-not that I know of," I said, unsure as to why that was so upsetting for him.

"No," he repeatedly muttered.

"Dude, are you good?"

"She, uh, she had an appointment thing," he sputtered out, raking his hands through his hair, "fuck. Tell the teacher I'm here, just running an errand for another teacher, or something. Please?"

Before I could even respond, he ran out of the room with the grocery bag. I let out a sigh and leaned my head back, and as soon as I pulled my head back up, I saw Zach walking in, his eyes fixated on me.

I folded my arms over my chest and let out a shaky breath, biting down on my lip. He grinned as he walked to our table, throwing his bag down.

"Hey," he greeted, "your cheeks are red. You nervous about something?"

I looked over at him, trying to get words out, but completely unable to.

"Oh," he said, leaning forward on his elbows, "I think I know. You're still thinking about the other night."

I couldn't help the nervousness- my entire body felt like it was numb.

"Me, too," he said, "I think my throat's still a little sore."

"Zach," I breathed out, turning my head away from him as I widened my eyes.

He chuckled, patting my leg. "We should definitely do it again sometime."

~*~

"Mm," I moaned against Eros's lips, smiling as I wound my arms around his neck and grabbed his hair.

He gripped my hips, pulling away from me after a few more seconds of intense kissing that was obviously turning both of us on.

"I put something together for you," he softly said, his eyes meeting mine.

"Yeah?" I asked, smiling at him as I trailed my hands down his arms.

"Yeah," he said, "come on."

I stood up from his lap, smiling up at him as he grabbed my hand. He led me upstairs to his room, turning around to face me when we stopped at his door.

"Here you are," he said, holding out a blindfold to me.

I giggled and grabbed it from him, covering my eyes. Was Eros about to show me some freaky sexperience?

I heard his door open, making me excitedly lift my shoulders and drop them. I had no clue what was waiting on me.

"Alright," he said, and I felt the front of his body press against my backside, "I'm about to pull it off."

I bit down on my lip and nodded. "Okay."

He pulled it off, and I was surprised by what was in front of me- pleasantly surprised.

"A blanket fort?" I laughed, looking back at him.

"Yeah," he chuckled out, "we used to make these when we were kids. Your dad would be yelling at us to come out, and it always took him hours to find us."

I bit down on my lip, smiling. "Y-yeah, I remember."

He nodded down to it, making me excitedly get down on my knees and crawl inside. "So I guess that was your reasoning for instructing me to wear comfy clothes."

He smiled, crawling in behind me. He dropped the blanket and I giggled, looking over at him.

"This is actually pretty spacious and big, definitely compared to our old ones," I said, looking around at the darkness around me.

"Hey, look," he said, turning on a star projector.

"It's the Big Dipper," I gasped, falling down on my back as I rested my hands on my stomach.

"Do you know how long it took to find a constellation projector?" He deadpanned, looking over at me.

I giggled, my eyes meeting his. Even in this weird lighting, his eyes still sparkled.

"It changes, look," he said, switching it from the Big Dipper to the Little Dipper.

I smiled. I'd always loved constellations- Eros and I had sat up on his roof looking up at the sky and having meaningful conversations, more times than either of us could count over the years.

"And snacks," he said, smiling over at me.

"What is this all about?" I asked, looking up at him with a broad smile.

He looked down at me, and in that instant, I knew. He hadn't just done this because he'd wanted to.

I propped myself up on my elbows, looking over at him as my smile faded. "Eros."

"It's nothing bad, I promise," he said, "I just needed to break the news easily."

I looked over at him. Were his parents finally taking the jump and moving, like they'd talked about since the beginning of sophomore year? Had he found someone else?

I felt a lump in my throat as I swallowed, nodding. "Okay, just tell me."

He pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket, holding it out to me. I sat upright and opened it, briefly reading over it.

"Oh, my God," I said, looking over at him with a broad smile, "y-you got accepted!"

I laughed and continued reading, and I hadn't seen where it was. I'd figured it was UCLA, and that explained the obvious excitement. Eros and I had, even jokingly, talked about going to UCLA together for years- and now that things were getting more serious, so was the idea.

"To the University of Washington," I slowly read off of the paper, looking over at him.

"Y-yeah," he said, "I mean, it's not UCLA. I'm still waiting on them. But that's a big deal, Jo."

"Y-yeah," I said, looking over at him with wide eyes, "yes, it's a huge deal."

"And you're not mad?" He asked, wrapping his arms around my waist for a hug.

"No, of course not," I said, feeling myself break as I wrapped my arms around his neck, "of course not. I'm happy for you. So happy."

And I was- but Eros was my world. I was a stubborn human being, and wasn't settling for anything but UCLA. I, also, didn't want to settle for anything but life with him.

"I was a little worried," he said, chuckling as he pulled me closer to him.

"Well, it was for no reason," I said, blinking back tears.

I wanted to be the old Josephine, in this moment. I wanted to throw a hissy-fit, and tell him that we had an agreement, and that he didn't even tell me he'd applied to U-Dub.

But I couldn't. I was no longer that selfish, immature girl- I was someone new. Someone who supported her boyfriend in every endeavor, even if I wasn't a part of it.

I pulled away from him, cupping his face with my hands. "I'm so proud of you."

He pressed a kiss to my lips, smiling. "I love you so much."

I rested my forehead against his, sighing. "I love you more."

~*~

"Hey, where's my Josie?"

"Uh, I don't know, but your Henry is right in the living room," Henry yelled, making me laugh.

I kicked the door shut and dropped my shopping bags, making Lily run into the kitchen to see Fred.

"Hello, my little sunflower," Fred greeted, scooping her up off of the ground, "help me pick out a snack."

I smiled, walking into the living room. "Hi, Henny."

"Hey," he greeted, smiling up at me.

"I fucking love your bathroom, Fred."

I turned around and saw Milo walking down the hallway, wiping off his hands with a paper towel. "I mean, whose house is this fucking nice?"

"Mine, bitch," Fred said, covering Lily's ears with one hand.

I smiled and cleared my throat, avoiding Milo. "Hey, Henry, I got you something."

"Ooh," he said, dropping his phone as he stood up. He excitedly rubbed his hands together, looking in the bag.

"This," I said, holding a chain out to him, "it looks like one of the ones you wear. I thought you might like it."

"Oh, shit, this is nice," he said, "thank you, C."

"Mm hmm," I said, "come on, baby, let's go outside."

Lily jumped down from Fred's arms, running outside to the patio. I followed her and smiled, sitting down in a lawn chair. "You can sit on the edge. No getting in, because you're not wearing your swimmies."

"Okay, mommy," she said, sitting down to dip her feet in the pool.

"Mind if I join?"

I looked back at Milo, keeping my elbows braced on my thighs. I shrugged and he walked over to the chairs, sitting in the one next to me.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm okay."

He let out a heavy sigh, nodding. "Is your husband here?"

"Milo, in case you haven't noticed, I am really not interested in having a conversation with you."

He looked over at me. "Have I already managed to do something?"

"I just don't want to talk about anything with you," I said, leaning back against the cushiony back of my chair.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said, and I almost heard a hint of softness behind everything else.

We sat in silence for a few seconds before he broke it.

"You can yell at me if you want," he said, "I-I just don't want you to hate me. Specifically when it's been seventeen years."

I looked over at him, my arms folded over my chest. I saw twenty-one year old Milo Parker.

"You ruined me, Milo. And while you might have forgotten it from years of drinking and fucking other women, it's all I can think about when I see you."

"That's fair-"

"I'm not done," I said, keeping my eyes locked on his, "when I went to college, I didn't get involved with a single guy. Not because I didn't have options, but because I was afraid they were all going to be like you. I was terrified that every guy I'd run across would be like you."

He never broke eye contact, he took everything I was throwing at him without even blinking.

"My husband was the first guy I took a chance on after you, because he was the only guy that proved he was more," I said, and it stung to say that- because my husband had turned out exactly like that.

"I'm glad you found something good," he said, "you deserve that. But I'm not that same guy-"

"You're almost forty years old, Milo, and you still don't have anyone in your life. That's a reflection on the guy you are," I bitterly said, standing up.

I didn't mean to hurt him, but I knew that no one had ever put up a fight to Milo before this. No woman had ever called him out, and I wish I would've been the one to do so when I was eighteen.

"Lily, sweetie, come on," I said, "let's go inside."

"Okay, Mommy," Lily said, standing up. She shot Milo a wave and I grabbed her hand, my eyes meeting his one more time before we walked inside.

~*~

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