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I don’t want to push her, but I need to know. “How long do you need?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sixteen anymore, Zach. I never expected any of this.” She motions between us. “My head is spinning out, and being brutally honest, I need to make sure I can handle living in your world. It would be going from zero to a hundred miles an hour. I’d need to find a place. I’d need to find a job. I’d need to leave my mom. I’d need to leave everything I’ve ever known and be thrust into the limelight. Last night was just a taste of what it can be like.”

She leans across and kisses me on the lips tenderly. My hands fly to cup her cheeks as I rest my forehead against hers.

Just one more minute, Luna.

Breaking our kiss, she reaches for the door handle and slowly pulls it open, and I fly out of my side and toward the back to grab her suitcase and help her into departures.

“You’re going to miss practice completely if you don’t get going.”

I don’t answer but instead pull her into me, holding her small frame against mine. When will I get to do this again? The possibility of never makes me want to hurl.

“Bye, Zach.”

I watch as she turns to leave, panic creeping up my spine. “Luna!”

She stops and turns. “Yeah?”

“Whatever happens. Even if we’re not in the same state. I just want you to know that you’ll always be mine. What we have from three thousand miles apart is so much more than I’ve ever felt for anyone else.”

LUNA

It’s late by the time I pull up into my driveway and kill the engine.

My home has always been my sanctuary, the place I’ve retreated to when things have gotten tough. But right now, staring at the darkened windows, it couldn’t feel any less inviting. It feels lonely and bleak.

Come on, Luna; don’t cry again. You knew this was going to happen. You knew you’d have to come home. You need to be at home to work through everything.

Wiping under my eyes furiously, I pick up my phone to text Zach and tell him I made it back safely. It’s then I realize I left it in airplane mode. Shit. My mind has been all over the place, and it’s been like this for hours.

As soon as I switch off airplane mode, text after text starts coming through, but mainly from Zach, Kate, and Felicity—all of them asking me to call them ASAP.

Clicking on the latest message from Zach, I open it up fully.

Zach

Okay, now I’m going out of my mind. Please call me, Luna.

I begin typing out a response when a call from Felicity comes through.

“Hey. Sorry I forgot to take my phone off airplane mode.”

“Babe, I just wanted to check in and make sure you’re doing okay.”

Okay, now I’m confused. She sounds frantic. “Yeah, I’m okay. Well, sort of, I guess. Everything really sucks.”

“You are? I figured you’d be freaking out.”

“I knew it was coming. I’d have to come home. School starts back tomorrow.”

She sighs on the other end. “You haven’t seen them, have you?”

I physically feel the blood drain from my face. “Seen what?”

“Babe, there are photos from last night all over social media.”

“From the gala?”