*Edited*

School drew to a close for the summer after a few quick months. Today was Uriah's graduation party and he had said he wanted to talk to me about something. When I had asked about it, he would look the other way without meeting my eyes and make up some excuse as to why he couldn't just tell me.

So here I was with my parents walking over to our neighbor's house. I had to hold back a few eye rolls when I saw Bianca and Christi, as well as their popular crowd, surrounding the food table in the backyard. I separated from my parents when Uriah found me and gave me a hesitant smile. As he pulled me to the far end of his spacious backyard, I made eye contact with Elijah who was sitting with his arm around Mae on a seat swing.

She smiled cutely at me as she snuggled closer to Elijah. I faked a smile at the two of them as I followed Uriah. He sat me down on a bench seated at the edge of the yard in front of a small garden that I was surprised to see. Uriah sat down beside me and nervously wrung his hands together.

"Listen, Veronica. I know how Elijah told you I was adopted, so I'll just get straight to the point. My biological father has been in contact with me for some time now and he seems like a different man."

"Aw, that's so great. I'm happy for you, Uriah," I said, genuinely. I didn't understand why this was so important that he couldn't have told me earlier.

But then he sighed and continued, "I've been accepted into Bryant University and I would be stupid not to go there."

"Oh...congratulations."

He turned to face me with a look of sorrow. "My father works at the college and he wants me to move in his apartment as soon as possible."

Sudden realization dawned on me. Uriah would be moving out of state for an unidentified amount of time. My eyes flew to his and I asked, already regretting the answer, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"What! But summer just started! You can't go-"

Uriah clasped both of my hands tightly in one of his. With his other hand, he placed two fingers under my chin to tilt my face up. "I've been thinking about it for a long time and I've already made my decision. That was the easy part about this whole thing, I guess. The hard part is leaving you."

"W-When are you coming b-back?" I stuttered, feeling my heart pound in my chest.

"Veronica, I won't be coming back."

The finality of his words made me gasp and I couldn't concentrate. These past few months had been amazing with him. We had hung out everyday after school without any interruptions from Elijah who had been too busy with Mae to care. I had also come to actually love Uriah.

"So what does this mean for us?" I asked with tears in my eyes. He rubbed his thumbs under my eyes as he answered, "You don't understand how much I don't want this to happen, but I think it would be the best if we were just friends. Then you could focus in getting into a college and I could focus on my studies."

I took a few moments to process everything he just said. "So this is it?"

He shook his head, tightening his hand around mine. "No. I don't want to lose you. We can still keep in contact while I'm away."

"Okay...I'm sorry, but I need some time to...think about this," I said, standing up. Uriah nodded and stood up with me.

"I understand. I'm so sorry about all of this. If there was any other way..."

I smiled at him through my tears and I said, "It's alright, I'll be okay. I'm just glad to see you're going to be living with your father and going to the university he works at."

Then I stood on my tippy toes and hugged him. He hugged me back and pressed a light kiss on the top of my head. I stepped out of his embrace and awkwardly waved as I took a step back. Then another. And another until I was on the porch of my house.

I couldn't stand to stay at that party anymore after everything that just happened. I guessed Bianca's popular squad had been invited for Elijah's sake, but he had only been focused on Mae. A few months ago, Elijah had told me to break up with Mae for him, but now he seemed all lovey-dovey with her.

Sort of.

Anyway, I went inside my house and collapsed on the couch to binge watch The Walking Dead and keep my mind off of everything so I wouldn't cry even though I sure felt like doing so.

I must've fallen asleep sometime during the show so when I woke up, the clock on the mantel of the fireplace read nine o'clock at night. I could hear my parents shuffling around upstairs so I figured the party must be over.

I went upstairs and stopped at my parent's bedroom door. My mom took one look at my face and crushed me against her, rubbing the back of my head. I immediately felt tears soak her shirt as I finally cried.

"Oh, honey. What's wrong?"

I sniffled and wiped my nose before I answered. Attractive, I know. "Uriah and I broke up because he's leaving for college tomorrow."

"Aw, that's okay. You can still keep in touch with him. It would be hard for you guys to have a long distance relationship and the first breakup is always the hardest. You're a strong girl; you will get through this," my mom said, placing her hands on my shoulders to hold me away so she could look in my watery eyes.

I thanked her and went into my room for the rest of the night. I slid under the covers of my bed and stared up at the ceiling to where I had put the Pierce the Veil poster. I'd put it there so I could look at it every night before I fell asleep.

A loud noise on the other side of my room had me sitting upright. Green eyes flashed to mine as a body filled my window. He knocked once on it, raising an eyebrow.

I hurried over and lifted the window. "Elijah?" I hissed, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Woah, why is your makeup running down your face? You look like a clown."

"Oh, fu-"

"Language, Ronnie. Anyway, can I come in? Scratch that, I'm coming in."

Before I could stop him, Elijah swept an arm out, shoving me out of the way as he climbed in my room. He casually took a seat on my bed, leaning against the headboard and patted the spot next to him as if he wanted me to sit there.

No way in hell was I going to do that.

I ignored him and sat down on my computer chair that I swiveled around to face him. "What do you want?" I demanded.

"My brother told you, didn't he?"

I didn't answer.

Elijah sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "I'm guessing you guys had to breakup because of it. I only came over to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, so you can leave now," I answered curtly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Mae broke up with me."

My jaw dropped to the floor. I mean, honestly, this had been the last thing I had expected him to say. They looked so comfortable together just a few hours ago. What could've happened in that span of time?

"Uh, why?" I wondered.

He narrowed his eyes on me. "I don't have to tell you the details."

"You know what? I was just trying to be nice, but forget it. You've probably had many relationships in the past so this one couldn't have meant that much. You don't even seem fazed by the fact you were dumped because you're used to it," I said a bit rudely.

He thought about that for a second before he agreed, "That's true. I've been in more relationships than I can count on one hand, or two hands for that matter. None of them meant anything to me."

"Wow, you're such a douche-"

"Because I knew I didn't actually love any one of them. Sure, I found a strong attraction towards them, but that couldn't be called love. They were fun while they lasted, but I was never upset when we broke up."

"Okay..." I responded, skeptically. I couldn't  understand why he was telling me this. I already knew he'd dated a lot of girls before and I knew he was a heartless jerk so there was no need to prove it to me.

"I told myself I'd know when I was in love. I thought maybe Mae could've been the one, but she wasn't. I haven't had my first love yet, Ronnie."

"Yeah, I don't really care about-"

He stood up suddenly and came over to where I was sitting. He placed his hands on the armrests of my chair and leaned forward so his face was just inches from mine.

"I want you to steal my first time falling in love."

"What do you mean?" I asked a little huskily. I couldn't concentrate with his full lips so close to mine.

"Make me fall in love with you. Uriah was in the way and I couldn't be your first love, so be mine."

**********

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