No really, I'm okay. I'm also a great liar.

i wear your clothes and sleep in your bed and yet you're still so far away

It's becoming increasingly common for me to randomly turn up at Annabelle's house. So common, in fact, that one day I came in to find a key on the counter with a note telling me I may as well have one.

Felicity and Bonnie have grown used to seeing me in the mornings, curled up in Annabelle's blankets wearing Annabelle's clothes, having spent the night in her bed.

I hardly wear an outfit without something of Annabelle's on. It's the best I can get, what with my inability to jump on a plane and fly to the U.K. just to hug my girlfriend.

(I would, if I had the time and money.)

But classes have started back up again. I'm still taking English with Professor CLark, though it's not the same. When I walked in without Annabelle by my side, he gave me a sad but knowing look. The class (who I know shipped the two of us) also seemed a little put out.

Being honest, everything's a little duller than it was when Annabelle wasn't a million miles away.

In all my other classes that I don't have with her, people assume my slightly glum demeanor is just teen angst.

Jenna and Jacob are still here, though. And it's hard to be sad when Jacob's (terrible, but still funny) puns and Jenna's endless banter are always surrounding you.

Also, it's not like we don't talk. We text a lot, and she Skypes every other day. (She doesn't have enough time to do it every night. Whereas I would video call her six times a day if she wanted me to.)

I'm trying my best to stay positive about the whole affair, and it's not as hard as I thought it would be, relievingly.

Not counting, of course, the fact that the number of views DKLA is getting on my iTunes is climbing steadily, which I choose not to read into.

It's only forever because we just got started. She'll be home in December. For now, I'll wear her clothes and carry her around with me.

It's really not like she's away. She's in my head, poking my cheeks and resting her arm on my head, despite the fact that she's not that degree of taller than me.

And she's still here six hours a day, giving me hugs and burying the slightly cold tip of her nose into my neck. The problem is not that she's any farther.

It's that she's not there when I wake up.

Nowadays, when I wake up, I have to take a shower to get rid of the tingling feeling from our contact during my dreams, where she's back and we're married and we have a cat and a quiet, tucked away house.

If I don't think about the gaping hole in my life, I'm fine.

My phone vibrates from under my open psychology textbook.

I pull it out, and it's Annabelle. I press Accept before stopping to wonder why she's Skyping me — we talked last night.

"Hey, Haze!" her face comes onto the screen, and the now-familiar pang of seeing her bright eyes and dreamy smile. There are blue lights in the background, and it appears to be loud and crowded.

I turn down the brightness of my phone display, not able to deal with the flashing after only looking at my textbooks for the past two hours.

"Hey, Annabelle," I say, then clear my throat. My response had come out throaty and quiet.

"Sorry it's so loud," she apologizes, and her voice is louder and more liquid than normal. I wonder if she's a bit tipsy.

"Well," I say, leaning forward to prop my phone against my pencil cup. "What's going on, beautiful?"

Her cheeks turn rosy and flushed, and her hair is down and all around her face.

"I'm at a light festival at the harbor somewhere, and I thought it was pretty. Almost as pretty as you, Hazel Ava, so I thought I should show you. Also, there was something else I wanted to tell you, but I think I forgot it ..." she taps her chin and sticks her tongue out. Definitely tipsy.

"Oh! I tried this drink here ... what's it called?" She jerks out an arm and asks a passerby what it is. "Pimms! Hazel Ava, this is really good. I'm gonna bring you some back."

I laugh. "Pretty sure you can't bring alcohol on a flight, sweetie."

"Oh." She pouts, but the smile makes its way back onto her face. And my face, too. Her mood is infectious. "I know there was another thing, too. Um ... oh yeah. I tried the carrot cake for the first time and oh man is it amazing. I'm gonna bring you some of that, too, babe. And also ... also ... also ... you should meet my host family! And see the lights!"

After that, she holds the phone up to a kind-faced, black-haired woman with a beaded glasses strap and curly hair.

And then I nearly get motion sickness, from how often she whirs around to show me something new, and that she dropped her phone twice.

"Okay, love, I gotta go to bed," I finally say. "Y'all're like around four hours ahead of me, yes?"

She nods.

"It's like two in the morning." I stifle a yawn.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Yes, get some sleep! Love you!"

"Love you too," I yawn, hanging up and tying my hair up. I fall asleep in my own bed that night.