“I came to see you because I had to…” God, how did I even word it? How did I even begin.
“Yes?” she pushed me.
“I had to apologize to you. I had to tell you that… that I was wrong to break up with you. Really, unbelievably wrong, and I’m so sorry for that. I guess, when I saw that failing grade, I just got so wrapped up in my perfectionism. I’ve always striven toward it, and the thought of being held down by anything, even you, seemed like an unbearable thought.”
“Is it still unbearable?” she asked.
“No,” I said definitively. “No, since leaving you, only one thing has been unbearable, and that’s been living without you.”
A smile appeared on her face. “Really?”
“Really. I’ve been studying every moment of the day. I’ve been in a constant state of busy, because it’s the only way I can cope with my feelings without you around. There hasn’t been a spare moment when I haven’t thought about you. And I know maybe it’s too late, maybe I can’t come crawling back to you now, but I’m not sure what else to do. I can’t not come crawling back, because maybe this is my only chance. Maybe this is the only shot I have to be with you, and if it is… I’m going to take that shot. If you can’t forgive me, I understand completely, but… Kaitlyn, will you take me back?”
She stared at me seriously for a second, and my heart began to sink. I thought from her smile a moment ago there had been a good chance she’d take me back, no questions asked. But the way she was looking at me now, I wasn’t so sure.
Then suddenly, she leapt from the chair and into my arms, planting kisses all over my neck and cheek.
“Yes, yes, absolutely yes! I’ve been so unhappy without you, Em, I really have.”
And just like that, in just a moment, it was like all of my problems had vanished.
“Can it really be that easy?” I found myself asking the question that was in my head out loud.
“Can what really be that easy?” she asked back.
“This… all of this. Can it really be that easy to just have you back into my life? We can just get back together just like that? No resentment, no pain between us?”
She shrugged. “I’m sure we might have some issues to work through, but what couple doesn’t? And there is still the issue of you and school, which is the whole reason we broke up.”
“Right… yeah, speaking of that, I’m probably not going to be able to hang out with you as much as we had been before we broke up. I’m going to need to set aside more time for studying. The good news is, I’ve been doing a ridiculous amount while we were broken up, and I’m already almost through most of my textbooks, so that should make the rest of the semester easier. But still, school is still important to me. Maybe not more important than you, but a close second.”
She grinned. “Baby, I will support you one hundred percent. I promise I won’t tempt you to hang out with me extra nights. I won’t so much as text you while you’re studying. I’ll totally push you to do your absolute best.”
As she said that, I felt guilty. Because, really, it likely could have been this easy from the beginning. We could have been like this from the start, had I not messed it up.
But I wasn’t going to dwell on it, not now that I had her back. Like Abby had said, we all made mistakes in life. I couldn’t be a perfectionist in everything. I had to accept that I was going to make mistakes like everyone else. This was definitely one of them, but I was fixing it. It was all going to be better from here.
“Thank you,” I said to her softly.
“For what?” she asked.
“For being you. For forgiving me, for loving me, for everything you’ve done in the past and everything I know you will do in the future. Thank you for all of it.”
She kissed me on the cheek. “You’re welcome for all of it.”
And with her arms by my side, with the warmth of her kiss on my cheek, I knew we were going to be okay. It was all finally going to be okay.
Epilogue
Kaitlyn
I looked over at Emily in the driver’s seat, decked out in her graduation gown and cap that she hadn’t taken off, even though the ceremony had finished an hour ago. But I didn’t mind. She was excited, and she looked so good in the black robes.
“Congratulations, baby. I always knew you could do it. Even with a giant distraction like me by your side.” I was mostly teasing her about that time she’d broken up with me because I was setting her back in school, because really, ever since that break up, I’d been anything but a di
straction.
She rolled her eyes. “If anything, you helped push me to this. By constantly denying me extra date nights and reading flashcards to me, you kept me focused.”