"I'm going out for lunch with Leo and Bryce before Bryce's flight. That's okay with you guys, right?" I ask my parents, anxiously rocking back on my heels.

I check my phone for the time once again, and it confirms that the two of them will be here any minute now.

"Of course, Lexi. Please don't cry to the point that you dehydrate yourself, dear," my dad teases me, and I narrow my eyes at him.

The doorbell rings, followed by a curt knock. It prevents me from saying anything stupid to my dad that I'll end up regretting, and I give my parents both a wave before heading out the living room and towards the foyer.

The moment I push open the front door, I throw myself into Bryce's arms, burying my face against his chest.

Tears begin to fall down down my cheeks already, and Bryce closes the door behind me so that my parents don't hear the whole messy exchange.

"I can't believe you're leaving in a few hours," I whimper, to which Bryce wraps his strong arms around my waist, holding me tight.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I wish I didn't have to go," Bryce says quietly, and when I pull away to stare at him, I see that he's trying incredibly hard not to cry himself.

He fails al little bit, as he suddenly has a single tear rolling down his cheek.

I reach up to wipe it away with the pad of my thumb, and Bryce gives me a weak smile before taking my hand and guiding me down the front steps.

It turns out that him and Leo chose to take a large Audi SVU that I've yet to see either of them drive before, presumably so that they can store all of Bryce's luggage in the trunk.

Surprisingly, Bryce opts to join me in the backseat rather than sitting up front with his dad, and so I choose to sit in the middle seat so that we're closer together.

After buckling my seatbelt, I rest my cheek against Bryce's shoulder. He kisses me gently on the top of my head and I press my face even closer to his chest, inhaling his warm and welcoming scent of cinnamon and vanilla for the last time in awhile.

"Hey, Lexi. How are you?" Leo asks me as he pulls away from the curb and out onto the street.

I let out a small, involuntary sigh at the question. "I guess I'm fine, but I just haven't doing great these past few days. I'm really going to miss your son," I answer him, to which I see him nod as he makes a turn out of my neighbourhood.

"Me too, Lexi. Me too," he then says to me, and I see Bryce shut his eyes as if he's holding on to every last piece of his sanity right now to stop from spiralling into an emotional breakdown.

All three of us seem to be a total mess, as none of us are able to bring ourselves to saying anything else until we reach the restaurant. It's a small, upscale place that I've seen before but never had been too, assuming that it's probably really expensive.

I momentarily wonder if the simple white dress that I'm wearing is fancy enough, but I know that it's a ridiculous thought, and so I push it away.

Leo parks the car in a spot near the door, and when he unlocks the doors, Bryce swiftly climbs out of the vehicle. He offers me his hand, and I take it, allowing him to pull me out of the car before he slams the door closed behind us.

We hold hands the whole time as we follow Leo to the front door of the restaurant, stepping inside to find the place fairly crowded.

A hostess greets us by the door, and Leo tells her the simple words, "Reservation for Bradshaw," before she grabs three menus, leading us towards a table along one of the windowed walls.

Bryce and I sit down next to each other, Leo sitting down in the seat across from his son, We all only order waters to drink, before beginning to silently skim through our menus, Bryce letting his arm rest around my shoulders.

I have absolutely no clue what half the items on this menu even are, and so I'm thrilled to find a salad that sounds simple enough. I then shut my menu, sliding it to the edge of the table.

"I texted you the addresses for the car dealership and your apartment building," Leo says to Bryce, before setting both of their menus on top of where I had placed mine.

Bryce nods to him. "Great. That's perfect. Thank you," he responds, sounding completely unenthusiastic about the whole situation.

Our waitress comes by to take our orders, and I know that Bryce is refraining from commenting on my choice of salad. I can see that he's really not in the mood to joke around right now by the way that the usual twinkle has dimmed from his eyes, not to mention that his voice sounds small as he gives the waitress his order.

She doesn't seem to mind or notice, nodding to him as she scribbles down in her notepad before walking back to the kitchen.

"So what are your plans for the summer?" Leo asks me, trying to change to an easier topic that we can all handle right now.

"Um, I don't really have any. I might try and get a summer job somewhere to rack up some extra money before college, but it's already July so it may be tough for me to find one," I tell Leo, but Bryce is the one to respond to me.

"Please, Blossom. Don't spend your summer working," Bryce requests of me, but all I can do is frown at him.

"I wish I didn't have to, but I really need the money, Bryce. I have some saved up already, but it's nowhere near enough to cover the costs of everything," I explain to him, and his brows immediately furrow.

"Don't be silly. If you're ever running really low on money and you really need to pay for something, I'll buy it for you. I don't mind, truly. I only need a portion of the money I make to pay for college, bills, my car and apartment, and food. I have nothing else to spend my money on, so I'd gladly lend you a hand if you need it," Bryce tells me, and as sweet as his offer is, I'm scared to begin relying on him for financial help so early on in our relationship.

"Bryce," I say sternly, begging for him to reconsider so that he'll realise how insane he's sounding right now.

He holds his ground though, giving me an authoritative shake of his head.

It silences me quickly, and I remain quiet even after he glances across the table to his dad, then telling me, "We'll talk about this later."

All I do is nod at him, and we both turn back to look at Leo.

He has a small, knowing smile on his face, and I can't help but to wonder just how much Bryce has told him about our relationship.

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I feel my entire body quivering as we walk down the airport, towards the package check. Bryce is rolling one suitcase, a backpack on his back as he carries his guitar in the other hand. Leo is dragging along his second suitcase, and though I had offered to help Bryce carry something, he refused, insisting that he was fine.

There's no real line by where Bryce has to check in, and so he walks straight through to one of the desks. Leo brings the other suitcase over for him, dropping it off by his side before he heads back over to stand next to me.

We watch as Bryce rummages around through his bag to retrieve whatever documents he needs to show right now before Leo turns around to look at me.

"I really am sorry that he has to leave so early. It's just how things seemed to work out," he tells me, and I give him a small shrug of my shoulders.

"It's not your fault. Don't worry about apologising to me when you're going to be missing him just as much, if not more," I insist, and Leo smiles down at me, his eyes darting back to his son who's now walking towards us, only having to lug around his backpack and guitar now.

He reaches to grab my hand, before suggesting, "Let's go. I've got to get to security. My flight boards in an hour."

Leo nods, and so Bryce takes the lead, walking us through the airport and towards where he has to show his boarding pass to get to the security lines.

It's unfortunately not a very long walk, seeing as this airport is one of the smallest that I've ever seen, and so we reach where we're forced to part ways far too soon for my liking.

Bryce pauses, pulling his hand away from mine and setting his backpack and guitar down on the ground.

He turns to his dad first, pulling him into a tight embrace. They're speaking in Arabic right now, and so I have absolutely no clue what either of them are saying. I can tell though that it must be something important and sentimental to them, as I can see tears welling up in both of their eyes.

When Bryce pulls away to look to me, he takes one fast step before we collide. He scoops me up into his arms, and I'm sobbing against his shoulder before I know it.

Luckily he wore a black shirt today, meaning that it conceals all of the tears stains, and I can feel the soft sound of Bryce crying against my ear too.

"Take care of yourself for me, okay baby girl? I'm always going to be one call away. Text me if you need anything, anything at all. We can FaceTime every night if you want. I would definitely not be opposed to the idea. I love you so fucking much. Never forget that," Bryce says rapidly, his voice shaky.

I nod at him, pulling my face away from his neck to look him directly in the eyes.

I wrap my legs tighter around his waist, reaching to grip his jaw between my hands as I respond to him, saying, "I'm going to be thinking about you all day, everyday. You know that, don't you? I love you with my whole heart. I can't wait to see you again."

He finally presses his lips to mine, and the kiss just makes me cry even harder.

It's an official goodbye, and as I think about how badly I'm going to miss these tender kisses from him, I nearly feel my heart shatter apart into a trillion tiny pieces all over the floor.

Reluctantly, Bryce breaks the kiss, resting his forehead against mine as he keeps eye contact with me.

He sets me down on the ground, and I miss his arms around me right away.

"Wear your necklace everyday. Please. For me," he says, reaching to press a finger against the cherry blossom pendant of the necklace I of course have secured around my neck.

All I do is nod at him, letting him give my hand one final squeeze before he picks his things back up again, stepping away from his dad and I.

"I love you, kid. Call me if you need anything at all, especially some money; I'll see if I can spare you some pocket change," Leo says jokingly, and Bryce grins at him.

"I love you too, but I doubt I'll need that money. I will call you often though, I swear," Bryce responds, and Leo grins at him.

"I'll try and make time to get a flight down to visit as soon as I can," he adds, to which Bryce only nods as his eyes are already back to me.

In the moments that have passed since our kiss and embrace, I've managed to clean up the tears all over my face.

Bryce has too, and all he does is give me a small smile as if he's unsure of the best way to leave things between us.

"You better call me everyday, though, because I'm a lonely seventeen-year-old girl who loves you a little too much for her own good," I say with a huge smile on my face, and Bryce bursts out laughing for the first time all day; it makes everything seem a little more normal to hear his laugh again.

"I would kiss you again, but I don't think I can stand to see my pretty girl cry anymore today. I'll call you every single fucking day, I swear," he responds to me, and I feel my heart swell a little bit at his promise.

I nod, staring at him for a moment.

He's the one to break the silence, asking, "I guess this is goodbye, huh?"

I now shake my head at him, biting down on the inside of my cheek.

"No. Just a 'see you soon'," I say in hopes of sounding positive, and Bryce beams at my words, a wide grin that shows his teeth and his dimples.

"I'll text you guys when I land, and I'll call you both when I get to my apartment. Try not to miss me too much until then," Bryce says, winking at me in particular, and I've never been more happy to see cocky Bryce again than I am right now.

That seems like a good note to end things on, and so we all seem to have a mutual agreement to not ruin the moment, as with one final glance towards us, Bryce picks his things up, turning around so that he's no longer facing us.

He only has to take a couple steps before he's directly in front of the security guard watching the entrance to the security lines.

Bryce is just about to hand the man his boarding pass when Leo suddenly stops him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back to stand in front of him once again.

"Wait," he says, and Bryce looks towards me for help.

I'm just as confused as he is, and so I can only shrug, sticking my hands into my pockets and bunching the material of my dress up in my fists to try and remain at-ease.

"I've been holding off telling you this for eighteen years too long," Leo sighs, a worried expression playing across his face.

His gaze meets mine for a moment, and I have no clue what he's getting at as he reverts back to staring at his son.

"Can this wait, Dad? I really need to go," Bryce says, sounding a little concerned himself.

I can feel even my own heart racing in anticipation to hear what Leo has to say, and so I can't even begin to imagine how on-edge aBryce must be at the moment.

Leo shakes his head quickly. "No, Bryce. It's important. There's something that I really need to tell you."

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