The Forever of Ella and Micha

he has a thing for me, but I disagree.
    “I’m not going to just go up and ask him for a ride.” I tug on her arm. “Let’s just eat in the cafeteria—”
    “Hey, Blake!” she hollers, waving her arms in the air, then giggles under her breath.
    Blake’s brown eyes scan the campus and a smile expands across his face as he struts across the lawn toward us.
    “He knows I have a boyfriend,” I tell Lila. “He’s just nice.”
    “Guys are hardly ever just nice, and I’m using his little crush on you to get us a ride out of here,” Lila whispers. “I’m so sick of being stuck here.”
    My lips part in protest, but Blake reaches us, and I cinch my jaw shut.
    He has a beanie over his dark-brown hair and blue paint spots dot the front of his faded jeans and the bottom of his tan T-shirt.
    “So what’s up? His thumb is hooked on to the handle of the ratty backpack slung over his shoulder and he looks at me like I’m the one who called him over.
    We’re almost the same height and I can easily look him directly in the eyes. “It was nothing.”
    “We need a ride.” Lila flutters her eyelashes at him as she coils a lock of her hair around her finger. “To get some lunch.”
    “You don’t have to take us,” I intervene. “Lila just really needs an off-campus fix.”
    “I’d love to take you anywhere you need to go,” he offers with a genuine smile. “I’m headed back to my apartment first, though, so if you don’t mind stopping you can just come with me now.”
    From inside my pocket, my phone starts ringing the tune “Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who and my lips curve into a grin.
    Lila rolls her eyes. “Oh dear God. I thought you would have been over your giddiness by now. You two have been together for almost three months.”
    I answer the phone, loving the flutters in my stomach that are caused from just hearing the song play. It reminds me of how his hands feel against my skin and how he calls me by my nickname.
    “Hello, beautiful,” he says charmingly and the sound of his voice sends a quiver through my body. “How’s my favorite girl in the world?”
    “Well, hello to you too.” I amble toward a leafy tree in the center of the lawn. “I’m doing great. Are you having a good day?”
    “I am now.” He uses his player’s voice on me. “I’ll have an even better day if you’ll tell me what you’re wearing.”
    “Jeans and a ratty T-shirt.” I press back a smile.
    “Come on, pretty girl, it’s been like a month.” He laughs into the phone, a deep noise that makes my insides vibrate. “Tell me what you’re wearing underneath it.”
    I roll my eyes, but tolerate him. “A red, lacy thong and matching bra.”
    “That’s a really nice mental picture you painted there,” he growls in a husky voice. “Now I’ll have something to help take care of myself later.”
    “Just as long as you’re taking care of it yourself,” I say and there’s a drawn-out pause. “Micha, are you there?”
    “You know I’d never do that to you, right?” His tone carries heaviness. “I love you way too much.”
    “I was just joking.” Kind of. Lately, it’s been bothering me that he spends so much time with Naomi, especially because a lot of his stories involve her.
    “Yeah, but you always joke about it every time we talk and I worry that deep down you believe it.”
    “I don’t,” I insist, although the thought has crossed my mind. He’s a lead singer in a band. And gorgeous. And charming. “I know you love me.”
    “Good, because I have something to tell you.” He pauses. “We got the gig.”
    My mouth instantly sinks. “The one in New York?”
    “Yeah… Isn’t that great?”
    “It’s awesome… I’m really happy for you.”
    Silence takes over. I want to say something, but the sadness has stolen my voice so I stare across the campus at a couple walking and holding hands, thinking about what it’s like to have that.
    “Ella May, tell me what’s wrong,” he demands. “Are you worried about my being gone? Because you know you’re the only girl for me. Or is it… is it Grady? How are you doing with that? I never know since you won’t talk to me.”
    “It’s not Grady,” I say quickly, wanting to get off that subject. “It’s just that… it’s so far and I barely get to see you as it is.” I slump back against a tree trunk. “You’re still coming up here this weekend, right?”
    He lets out a gradual breath. “The thing is, to make it to New York in