Through His Eyes

Epilogue

They spent the rest of their senior year taking things slow, testing the waters. When he decided that he'd be going to college after all, Rhea helped him with his college applications—they drafted several of them together. Later, when she found out on their second year of college that he'd only actually sent the one for the college Rhea had got into with early admission, she swore she could have strangled him for being so careless, only if she weren't too busy smothering him with kisses.

College was an entirely different experience for them to take on, and they had their fair share of difficulties adapting. Insisting that they get the full experience, Rhea signed the both of them up for separate dorms on their freshman year. Now that was interesting, to say the least. She ended up sharing a room with a particularly annoying girl, who seemed to have no concept of privacy or personal space. On her second year, she got a room all to herself but it was still not the best of conditions.

Caleb was only marginally luckier than her, rooming with a guy he could at least tolerate, though he could be obnoxious and overbearing at times, too—especially with the inappropriate comments he made whenever Rhea came to visit.

Finally, on their third year, Caleb convinced her to get an apartment together, saying they'd both had enough of the so-called "college experience". Rhea was too sick of the dorm life to argue for long and so began their apartment hunt.

Rhea's parents offered to help out, and it took lots of convincing and coercing on Rhea's part to get Caleb to agree—he was still too proud for his own good when it came to money. He was entitled, of course; Rhea knew how hard it had been on him when he'd had to depend on his father for money. With the help of her parents though, they managed to find an apartment that was both close to campus and not falling apart at the seams.

And that is how they ended up in her car, driving home after going grocery shopping for the apartment they shared for the very first time.

Turning slightly towards her boyfriend and resting her cheek against the seat, she let herself inspect his profile, as she'd done a thousand times. In the three years that passed since the first time she watched him from the passenger side, his features changed so subtly, she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been paying great attention to memorizing every slope and angle of his face. His cheekbones became more prominent, and so did his jawline. He let his beard grow into a nice scruff, which Rhea secretly loved. He cut his hair slightly closer to his head, though she could still run her fingers through the wisps that fell to his temples whenever she wanted to. When she'd first fallen for him, she had thought he couldn't have been more handsome to her—she was wrong.

Later that night, Rhea lay in Caleb's arms with her back partly resting against his chest, relishing the way her bare skin felt against his. She was still slightly out of breath due to the strenuous activities they'd partaken in merely moments ago. Being with Caleb on such an intimate level never seized to take her breath away. Her damp hair stuck to her forehead and she moved to sweep it back, but Caleb beat her to it. He tucked her hair behind her ear and twirled a strand around his fingers, tracing idle circles on her stomach with his free hand.

Just a year ago, she would have felt self-conscious about lying in bed with him without any clothes on, and tried to cover herself up with the sheets or put on one of his t-shirts, but now she felt entirely at peace.

A moment later, Caleb tugged at the strand of hair he'd been playing with and cleared his throat before saying, "So, babe..."

His hesitant tone instantly got her attention and she slightly sat up, settling against his chest once more. "Hmm?" she asked, her voice coming out drowsy.