I sighed and squeezed her close.

“I'm having a hard time imagining a future without you in it, either."

A moment later, she suddenly turned in my arms, grabbed my head, and planted a fierce kiss on my Lips. A wail of sorrow gurgled up from her throat, and I pulled away to find her already in tears.

“I'm gonna MISS you, Matty!" she whined.

“I'm gonna miss you, too."

"I Love you!"

I... hesitated.

And Naimh's face fell.

"I'm sorry," I said immediately.

“It's not that I don't care about you."

“No, it's alright. We've had a LOT of discussions about the meaning of love, lately. I'm not asking you to prove yourself with the L-word or anything right now." And with that, her momentary frenzy passed and she set her head back down on my chest.

I gently stroked her hair and cuddled her close. And for a moment the two of us Lapsed into silence.

But eventually, she spoke.

“I still can't believe we're all splitting up. Well, apart from me and Alice. And of course everyone's perfectly aware you and Belle will be together.”

I read a bit of bitterness in Naimh's tone, and I glanced down. "Does that bother you?"

She thought about her words before answering.

“I don't think ‘bother’ is the right word. We're all certainly jealous of her. Everyone, including Zofi, would have liked for you to go with them. I mean if anything, I'm a Little more worried for you - being alone with her and all."

I frowned.

“What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Naimh pursed her lips and got off my chest. Twisting around to face me, she raised her eyebrows and said, “Everyone's noticed how much more clingy Belle's gotten over the last couple of months. It used to be that she was happy to be your little sister voyeur and wanted to stretch her wings a bit before settling down. But as time went on, she started to resent how much less of your attention she got and apparently tried to just bottle up her jealousy. I mean, there was that whole bit where she admitted to hating my guts, remember?”

“How could I forget?"

“I know she's working on it. She told me you took away her house key after the whole butt plug incident, and she's desperate not to lose your trust. But she's even more desperate not to Lose you, period. I mean, Belle getting all outraged about you not confirming the two of you were going to Berkeley together is what set off the whole fight in the first place."

I pursed my lips.

“I sorta forgot about that part.”

“When the two of you get to Berkeley, without the rest of the BTC, everything's gonna change. I've always been envious of your relationship, envious of the bond you two share. If you ask me, this