She held her hands up. "Then why haven't we turned them in?"

I took a deep breath.

“I dunno. Maybe I was procrastinating until I knew where everyone else was going. I mean, what if everybody else got into Stanford instead?"

Belle frowned. "WE didn't get into Stanford, so why would it have mattered?"

“Bad example. What if nobody got into any of the top universities and everyone else was going to San Jose State?”

Belle blinked. "You'd give up Berkeley Engineering to go to San Jose

State?"

I shrugged. "Tell me that if all five of the others were going to San

Jose State, including Mari, you wouldn't be tempted to go with them."

Belle blushed and averted her eyes.

I rolled mine.

“Nevermind. You'd just be thrilled you'd get to have me all to yourself at Berkeley. You're STILL thrilled you get to have me all to yourself at Berkeley.”

She winced and gave me an innocent look.

“Can you really blame me? I love you, Matty. And I‘m cool with sharing you with all my friends. But come fall, it'll just be you and me. I mean, we can still get together for the holidays and have a big orgy together. I'll be happy to masturbate watching you plow the shit outta them and go slurp up the creampies. But the rest of the time? You'll be mine. Only mine. The two of us together, the way we were always meant to be. Am I supposed to

NOT be happy about that?"

I shrugged and looked up at the ceiling for a minute, taking a deep breath. "We all have our dreams. I would've been thrilled to have everyone I care about go to Berkeley together where we'd all live ina big house off-campus and I'd get to bang all six of you non-stop for the next four years. But that's just not realistic."

Belle's eyes glittered. "I'd have been fine with that if it had come true. Please don't think I'm HAPPY none of our friends are going with us. But this is the reality we have. Cal is the best school for both of us, we both got in, and you may think there's more to picking a college than where our friends are going, but -I- need to be SURE that I'm going to college with YOU. I'm not leaving you. We get to be together.

I THOUGHT you'd be happy about that!”

“I am, I am." I sighed, taking her hand and drawing her into my Lap.

She straddled me and smiled while I thumbed her cheek and then held her head behind her ear. "I love you, Annabelle. I always have. The selfish part of me wishes the others were coming with us to Cal. But destiny has decided, and it is what it is. This would have been a much harder decision had I gotten in but you didn't, but we both did, and... well... doesn't it feel a little ‘meant to be'?"

“It does," she enthused and kissed me quickly.

“Believe me, I am THRILLED we'll still be together."

“Me, too." She kissed me again, this time with a Little more passion.

I chuckled and pulled her off. "So fine. You wanna get this done? Go get your paperwork, I'll get mine, and we'll even drive down to the post office together to send them off via certified mail."

“Not yet."