For a while, everything felt perfect.
At first, Logan and I had thrown ourselves into planning the wedding.
Sarah and I had spent an entire afternoon flipping through magazines, arguing about colors and venues like it was a life-or-death decision.
“Rustic barn or beach?” she had asked, waving two pages at me like she was about to throw them in my face.
I had just groaned, dropping my head onto the couch cushion. “Sarah, I love you, but I don’t care.”
She gasped. “You don’t care?”
“No! I mean, yes, I do, but—” I sighed. “I care about being married, not about whether we have fairy lights or chandeliers.”
Sarah flopped down next to me, flipping dramatically through the pages. “God, you’re the worst bride.”
“I know.”
“You’re lucky Logan loves you.”
“I am.”
But even with all the fun and excitement, a small, nagging thought had started to creep in.
It was too much too soon.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry Logan. I did. More than anything. But every time we started making serious plans, reality crashed down on me.
Final exams. Applications. Med school.
I wasn’t even in college yet, and here I was, planning a wedding.
And then, one evening, as Logan and I sat in his car, watching the rain splatter against the windshield, I finally voiced what had been weighing on my heart.
“Maybe we should wait.”
His hands on the steering wheel tightened slightly before he turned to look at me. “Wait?”
I bit my lip, shifting in my seat. “Just… until after exams. Until we know where we’re going to school. I don’t want to rush into this while we still have so much ahead of us.”
For a moment, he was quiet. And for a terrifying second, I thought maybe I had hurt him. That he would take it as doubt, as hesitation.
But then he reached over, lacing his fingers through mine.
“Okay,” he said softly.
Relief flooded through me. “Really?”
Logan squeezed my hand, smiling. “Em, I don’t care if we get married tomorrow or ten years from now. As long as it’s you, that’s all that matters.”
I exhaled a shaky breath, feeling an overwhelming rush of love for him. “God, I love you.”
He chuckled, pulling my hand up to press a kiss to my fingers. “I love you too. And you’re right. We’ve got forever. Let’s focus on making sure we have that future first.”
So, the wedding plans were put on hold.
And in its place came weeks of studying, exams, and preparing for the biggest leap of my life.
The last few weeks of high school were a blur.
I practically lived in the library, surrounded by textbooks, coffee cups, and the occasional half-eaten bagel that Sarah kept throwing at me.
“You need to eat,” she scolded one afternoon, shoving a sandwich at me.
I just groaned, resting my forehead against my biology textbook. “I can’t. My brain is full.”
“Then unfill it. You’re not gonna pass out on me before graduation.”
I snorted. “That’s a low bar.”
Jake strolled up then, dropping a set of flashcards onto the table with a smirk. “If it helps, I think you’ve got a very high chance of not dying before finals.”
Sarah threw a pencil at him.
Logan, on the other hand, was annoyingly calm.
He was still applying for music programs, which meant his finals weren’t as intense as mine. So while I was drowning in organic chemistry, he was playing guitar in the quad like a goddamn movie character.
“You look stressed,” he murmured one evening, sliding onto the library bench next to me.
I just glared at him.
He laughed, reaching out to rub slow circles on my back. “C’mon, baby. You’re gonna crush this. You’re the smartest person I know.”
I sighed, leaning into his touch. “I just… I need this, Logan. I need to get into Clae. It’s everything.”
He pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Then you will. I believe in you, Em. Always.”
And just like that, the weight on my chest eased just a little.
The day of the final exams came faster than I was ready for.
I walked into the school feeling like I was heading toward my execution, my stomach twisted into impossible knots.
Sarah grabbed my arm before I could make a run for it. “Breathe. You got this.”
Jake saluted me. “If you fail, we’ll just tell everyone you were kidnapped by aliens and forced to abandon your dreams.”
Logan, ever the steady presence, simply kissed my forehead. “I’ll be waiting for you after.”
And then, suddenly, I was sitting in front of my test.
Pen in hand.
Future on the line.
This is it.
I took a deep breath and started to write.