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But she needs to be here for that first.

"I miss you, Jace."

The words slice through the quiet on the phone and the noise inside my head, saving me from all the doubts coming next.

"I miss you so much, Lenny," I say. "I—I didn't think it would be this hard."

The waiting. The loneliness.

She breathes out. "Trust me, I know."

"Things have felt… off with us," I admit before I can stop myself.

My heart sinks in my chest as I wait for her response, praying that I've somehow misread everything.

"I know," she says again.

I rub my hand over the back of my neck, then slip my fingers underneath my chain and drag them across the front. "We'll figure it out."

She doesn't answer right away.

For a second, the only thing I hear is the steady flow of the shower still running beside me and the faint sound of something shuffling on her end—maybe papers she's been studying or her body in the sheets.

I swallow down the thought.

Then she exhales.

"Yeah," she says quietly. "We will."

We.

The knot in my chest loosens just enough for me to take in my first full breath.

I lean back a little on the toilet seat, dragging a hand down my face before letting my fingers slip back underneath my chain, holding onto it like it's keeping me grounded. "It's just distance," I say quickly as if saying it aloud will make it true. "That's all it is."

"Right," she says.

The thought that I've been here before—with my dad—lingers in the back of my mind.

I push it down.

Distance with him isn't distance with Lenny.

I nod even though she can't see me. "Things will be so much easier in a couple of months."

"Yeah," she says, and it's all I need.

Because that's all this is—temporary.

A few more months of quick texts and phone calls we just manage to squeeze in between studying and showering, and then she'll be here.

Walking the campus. Watching from the stands. Waiting for me after practice instead of being thousands of miles away.

I'll finally have her. She'll finally be here. And the future we've talked about will finally be ours.

"Hey Jace…" she says.

I jump forward. "Yeah?"