One more Night

Prologue

"Do you think you will be happy here?" I smiled again. My happiness couldn't be contained. "More than happy my love. I'm with you and that's all that matters. And wherever you are is where I'll be happy."

"Better than the suburb that you lived at with all the rich folk?" I hugged him a little tighter. "Much better." I poked his back. "And hey you're part of the rich folk over there." He chuckled.

*******

"Jake!" I screamed excitedly. Jake ran into our bedroom. A worried expression on his face as he analyzed me to see if I was okay. "What's wrong babe? You practically screamed bloody murder babe! Are you okay?"

I threw myself into him and hug him tightly. "Everything is fine. I'm just excited." He embraced me back and I felt his body relax. "What are you excited about?"

"Remember when I told you I was applying to a few colleges?"

"Yes."

"I got into the one I want to go to!" I gave him the letter to read as I told him exactly what the letter said. "UIC accepted me. Full ride. I don't have to pay anything out of pocket." He hugged me tightly. "This is amazing, Ana. I'm so proud of you. See I told you that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it."

"I love you, Jake."

He smiled. His smiled was contagious. "I love you more, Ana Banana." He claimed my mouth was his and pulled my shirt over my head. "I think we should celebrate this great news." Excitedly, I let my head fall back so that he could claim my neck with his kisses. Each kiss going down my neck made me lose my breath little by little. Until I was helplessly naked. "How are we going to celebrate, Jake?" He softly bit my shoulder. "Well, first off I'm going to make love to my beautiful loving girlfriend. Whom worked so hard and diligently to get into UIC. Then and only then...we can go out to a nice dinner at the Grand Lux Café or wherever my you choose."

We never made it to dinner. Instead we stayed in bed after we made love and ordered a stuffed pizza from Giordano's. We ended the night by binge watching a marathon of a show that Jake claimed not to like but secretly totally did. Season one of Scandal.

******

It was a year and a half letter and Jake and I had settled into the perfect life. Living together was a complete different experience. It took some time to get used to but eventually everything fell into place. We took turns doing the laundry, cooking, we both cleaned. He worked from home some days to keep me company and I rushed home from school to be with him on days he didn't work. He was my rock on days where I felt like I was done with the stress and I was his.

It was a Tuesday night when we got the call. Jake had fallen asleep halfway through the movie Fight Club. I was up late working on a school midterm paper about immigration. His cell phone went off first. When he didn't answer it rung again and this time I leaned over him to grab it from the bedside counter. "Hello?" I answered without looking at the caller ID. "Ana, can you put my son on the phone?"

"He's sleeping, Susan. Is there anything I can help you with? He has an early morning with his dad tomorrow." Susan's voiced changed. It was more muffled. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "T-That's why I'm c-calling." My heart dropped. "Is Brian okay?"

"No." She started crying. "Brian is dead, Ana! He had a stroke and when I got to him it was already too late. They took him to the hospital and they couldn't save him!" My own tears welled in my eyes and cascaded down my face as I tried to understand what she had just told me. We had just had breakfast with Brian this morning. He was perfectly fine. This couldn't be real! But it was. I set my computer down quickly on the floor and turned to wake up Jake. "Please let me talk to Jake." Her voice was barely audible through her tears and muffled voice. "Baby!" I shook Jake to wake him but he swatted my hand away. "Babe, not now" he cried. I'm trying to get my beauty sleep. I can't look this hot for you if you don't let me get some rest."