Always

Chapter Sixteen

Mia

I thought getting accepted would feel like the finish line.

Instead, it feels like the start of something terrifying.

The excitement hasn’t faded—but now it’s layered with reality. Northbridge isn’t just a dream anymore. It’s orientation emails. Housing forms. Financial aid meetings. A countdown.

Three states away.

Tonight, Liam and I are back on his roof. The same place where I told him about the interview. The same place where everything felt possible and far away.

Now it feels close.

Too close.

“You’re quiet,” he says, lying back with his hands behind his head, staring at the sky.

“So are you.”

He glances at me. “I’m thinking.”

“Dangerous,” I tease, but it comes out softer than usual.

The truth is, I’ve been overthinking everything.

Long distance. New schedules. New people. What if we grow in different directions? What if the version of me that fits here doesn’t fit there anymore?

“What are you scared of?” he asks suddenly.

I hesitate. Then decide honesty is easier than pretending. “That we won’t survive it.”

He doesn’t react right away. Doesn’t joke. Doesn’t brush it off.

He sits up.

“Mia,” he says carefully, “do you want to try?”

“Yes.”

The answer is immediate. Certain.

“Then we try,” he says simply.

“It’s not that easy.”

“No,” he agrees. “It’s not. It’s going to suck sometimes. We’ll miss each other. We’ll fight. We’ll probably get jealous.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Jealous?”

He gives me a look. “You think I’m not aware college guys exist?”

Despite everything, I laugh.

He reaches for my hand. “But here’s what I know. We’ve never been the type to quit when things get hard.”

“That was before three states were involved.”

He squeezes my fingers. “Distance doesn’t change what this is. It just tests it.”

I search his face for doubt.

I don’t find any.

“What about you?” I ask quietly. “What’s your plan?”

He exhales slowly. “I’ve been looking at trade programs. Automotive engineering. Something hands-on. Something real.”

That surprises me—in a good way.

“You didn’t tell me.”

“Wanted to make sure it wasn’t just talk first.”

My chest tightens.

He isn’t standing still.

He isn’t waiting around for me to decide everything.

He’s building something too.

“I don’t want to lose you,” I admit.

“You won’t,” he says firmly. “Not because of miles.”

The wind moves through the trees below us, the town stretching quiet and familiar in the distance.

For the first time since the acceptance email, the future doesn’t feel like it’s pulling us apart.

It feels like two roads running side by side.

Different destinations.

Same direction.

And maybe that’s what growing up really is—not choosing between love and ambition.

But learning how to carry both.