After you finish reading, read the underlined part at the bottom of the page IT'S IMPORTANT
I'm bulk posting this while driving stopped behind a bus for you guys lol
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He was sniffling the entire way home but kept his face turned away from me.
Eventually I reached over and grabbed his hand and just held it the entire way back, only pulling away to put on the defrost when ice started forming on the windows.
I pull into the University parking lot and park in my usual spot, shutting off the engine.
The sound of his sniffles fills the car.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out, grabbing our bags from the back seat.
I decide against going to his dorm because it's clear across campus, it's below ten degrees, and my dorm is closer.
Plus he's upset and I'm not making him walk that far.
I open the passenger door and he gets out of the car, reaching out to take the bags from me.
I pull my dorm keys from the pocket of my sweatshirt and walk towards Bean Hall, the building my dorm is in.
It's winter break so hardly anybody is here.
When I press my card against the lock and the light flashes green, I pull the door open and step aside.
I'm not shocked when there isn't a single person in sight seeing how it's two forty five in the morning and everyone is on break.
I lead him to the elevators and hist the button.
The doors open because the elevator was on the first floor.
I get on with him and hit the floor number.
"Here," I hand him my key. "Go to the dorm, okay? I'm just going to run to the bathroom."
He nods.
The doors open on my floor and I step off, taking my bag from his hand.
"Are you going to be long?" he mumbles.
"No, just a few minutes." I offer him a soft smile.
"Alright."
He carries his bag down the hall and I go into the girls bathroom.
I lean against the sink and sigh slowly, and then my eyes well with tears and I press them into the palms of my eyes because I can't walk in there looking like I was crying.
I need to be strong for him.
I splash cold water on my face and dry off with my shirt, and then I remove my shirt outside of the stall.
Any girls that are here have their roommates change in front of them all the time.
I take my pants off and dig through my bag in my bra and underwear.
I find a gray long sleeve pajama shirt and a pair of red and black plaid pajama pants.
I do a quick sweep of the bathroom before I take off my bra and pull on my shirt. I pull on my pajama pants, brush my teeth, and shove everything back into my bag.
I grab my phone off the counter and carry my stuff to my dorm, knocking on the door.
A moment later the door is opened and I slip inside, tossing my duffel bag in the corner.
Liam took his shirt off and now he's only wearing sweatpants.
I plug my phone charger back in it's usual spot and glance at him as he climbs into my bed and gets under the covers.
My bed at my parents house is a queen, but the one here is a twin XL.
I pick up his jeans and t-shirt off the floor and put them in the hamper, along with his socks, and then I climb up into bed with him.
The moment I'm fulling on the mattress, he sits up.
"I'm sorry," he sniffles.
His whole face is red and puffy.
"For what?" I whisper.
"For almost killing you. For making you come out to Oregon. You wanted to stay in Hawaii, and now I have no choice but to go back."
My heart lurches.
"What do you mean?" I crawl closer to him.
A few more tears fall from his eyes and he wipes them away.
"My uh, my step Dad told me if I don't stay with my birth father, they won't cosign my student loans again."
"What?" I ask.
"And, uh, as you know, you can't get a student loan without a cosigner because we've only been building credit for a year and there's not enough credit, so, yeah, next semester is my last. I have to drop out."
And then he lays down and rolls onto his side, burying his face in my pillow.
"So there goes the big wedding." He mumbles. "And the house. And the kids. And the fucking golden retriever."
His whole body starts shaking and it takes me a moment to realize he's sobbing.
"No Liam, no, I refuse to believe that."
"Refuse to b-believe what, Savannah?" he sits up, hysterical. "That Andrew is f-fully capable of that evil? Do you not believe me e-either? My birth father said I was lying! He said I was just trying to g-get attention! He said that Andrew didn't actually hit me, or put me up against the wall!"
He buries his head in his hands.
I move closer to him, slip right into his lap, and wrap my arms around him.
He drops my head on my shoulder and continues to sob and I can't help the tears sliding down my face.
"I believe you," I sniffle.
He pulls his head back to look at me.
"Why are you crying?" he mumbles.
He reaches up to wipe my tears just as I reach up to wipe his.
"Because seeing you like this is...it's the most painful thing I've ever endured."
He drops his head back onto my shoulder again.
"Look at me." I whisper. He shakes his head. "Liam, baby, look at me." I whisper.
He lifts his head up.
I put my hands on his cheeks.
"I refuse to believe that this is it. You deserve a college education just as much as I do, or Sofie does, or, or anybody does. There has to be a way to get you a cosigner. I would sign myself but I don't have enough credit either, so there has to be another way. You're not dropping out. I will find another solution, because we're not going back to Hawaii. We can spend the holidays here this year, and then this summer, we're buying a house."
"B-buying a house?" he cries. "Are you crazy? I can't even afford to fix my truck right now! I don't have the money to buy a house!"
"We have months to save. We both work full time already, okay? If we convince Sofie and Mason to come with us we could do it. Splitting the mortgage down the middle, the water, electric, internet, cable, we would pay around seven hundred a month, maybe a little bit more. We each work forty hours a week, I make eleven fifty an hour and you make twelve, so after taxes I get around thirteen hundred dollars a month, and you get roughly fifteen hundred. Sofie works full time and so does Mason. We'll have to be careful but if we're all splitting everything down the middle, we could do it Liam. We don't have to go back there."
And then he smiles.
"You seriously think we could? What if we only get approved for a small mortgage and we can't find anything?"
"Then we get an apartment." I say. "Or a townhouse, or a condo, or rent a house. We will make it work, Liam. We don't have to go back to Hawaii."
"What about school?" he whispers. "If I can't stay in college, I'm going to have a crappy job forever."
"We can find you a cosigner."
"How?" he sighs.
His tears aren't falling anymore, and I see hope in his eyes.
He looks like he's holding his breath for my response, desperate for a shred of hope.
"I can ask my Mom."
"What? No Savannah, that's-"
"They told you that you're family," I murmur.
"But they're cosigned for you-"
"My Dad is cosigned for me." I shake my head. "But my Mom isn't cosigned for anybody. My parents aren't married."
"Do you think she would?" he whispers.
"I think she would." I nod.
"We need to call her and ask tomorrow," he says. "If she won't...I mean, if she won't, I'm done for."
"If she won't, we will find somebody that will."
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If his mom doesn't cosign I'm killing her off js
But I already know what happens so...
Also this is a four book series (I decided last night in bed while going through memes on Instagram)
This book will be ending like, really soon. Like, chapter after next soon.
Don't worry, the third one will be up soon after the second one finishes, and it'll be just as tear worthy as the last :)
~Sam
~Sam