Bread and Butter

Part Two: Let Me Be Your Motivation

"Annalycia!" he yelled as his girlfriend continued to poke at his side,"What's the use of me helping you if you keep on distracting me!"

She laughed and continued to annoy him by jabbing her finger against his arm. "That’s it," he said with a mischievous grin. He closed his textbook and set it down on the coffee table. He lightly lunged at his girlfriend as she made let out a light, shrill scream, making her fall on her backside on the couch. He hovered above her and looked intimately into her eyes. He smiled and gently caressed her cheek. "Now will you stop poking me and let me help you work on your paper?" he asked in a pouted tone.

She smiled and playfully poked his nose. "Alright, fine," she said. She gave him a quick peck on the lips as they sat up again. She cuddled his side as he yet again tried to help her. He picked up her paper and carefully scanned over her writing.

"Okay now,” he said,”I think you’ve done pretty well, over all I’m positive you’ll get an A.”

She smiled and grabbed one of his textbooks. She continued to ask about  hundreds upon hundreds legal terms.

“Now define civil law,” she said.

“Well to quote directly from the book,” he replied,” it is, ‘The legal means by which the rights and remedies of private individuals are enforced and protected. Crime is not an issue for civil litigation, and the responsibility of pursuing a damage remedy in civil law rests with the person harmed.’”

"Correct," she said leaning forward to give him a kiss.

She smiled against his lips and let out a blissful sigh. She began to tousle his hair as she leaned her head against his shoulder and crawled onto his lap. "Do we have to keep studying?" she asked a bit annoyed. They have been studying for about 4 hours, which couldn’t have been pleasant for her. "Brandon, you already know all of this, can't we take a break?" she pouted.

He lightly chuckled and turned his head to look at her. He could already tell she was sick of their little study session. Her eyes were slightly droopy and she seemed to act more giddy. If anything it made her cuter but nonetheless they had to take a break. He let out a sigh and nuzzled the top of her head. "Fine," he said as his lips cracked open a smile, "But only for a little while."

She smiled as she gently kissed his neck. "Thank you," she said. She stood up from her position of his lap and made her way to his kitchen. As she walked away he smiled to himself, knowing that she was possibly the best thing to ever happen to him.

It's been 5 years since that stormy night when she knocked at his door begging for relief through his warm embrace. They were already in their 3rd year of college now and the end of college was approaching fast. They haven't really thought about their relationship after they graduate, knowing that they were both to scared to face the cold reality of stepping into the real world.

Independence, freedom, responsibility, and maintaining a relationship with someone who was possibly hundreds of miles away, they were all things they were heavily weighted on his shoulders. Yet, he would move past all of that, just to be with her. Truth be told, he would do anything to make them work, he worked way too hard to have her, and he wasn't just going to give her up just because of life moving forward.

"Brandon," Annalycia called from the kitchen.

"Yes?" he asked slightly worried.

"Umm, what is this?" she asked emerging from the kitchen with the bits of a Red Vine loosely hanging from her lips. In her hand was the letter of acceptance to Harvard, with a full ride scholarship. He didn't really think much about it, sure it was an impressive achievement but he didn't really think much about it. It was true, he did want to become a lawyer but he didn't want to be any farther away from Annalycia. Sure, he could take being a couple hundred miles and a 3 or 4 hour car ride away from her, but being about 3,000 miles apart and being on the other side of the country seemed like hell. There was no way he could suffer through that.