Her eyebrows furrowed, but she didn't answer me.

"Where to?" I inquired.

Sierra's jaw fell open as if she were in shock. Why, I wasn't sure. I stared back, locking eyes with her. We were in some sort of weird, silent standoff, neither of us saying a word.

A throat cleared, and I broke my gaze from Sierra to see her father watching us, a stern, albeit apologetic look on his face.

"We'll let you two talk," he said before leading her mom out of the living room.

When my eyes fell back on Sierra, she had tears running down her cheeks. I crossed the room in two quick strides and stopped directly in front of her. Lifting my hands, I cupped her soft cheeks and used my thumbs to wipe the moisture away.

"Baby, why are you crying?"

She started blubbering and shaking her head, speaking rapidly. It was hard to make out, but I got the gist of it. Still, I wanted to be sure.

"Your dad's company is transferring him?"

She nodded.

"Your grandma's health has taken a turn for the worse?"

Another nod.

"And you don't want to leave me, but you don't want to leave your family, either?"

This time, a sigh accompanied her small nod. She tore her eyes away from me, seemingly ashamed. "This should be an easy decision, Jeremy. A no-freaking brainer. But the truth is I'm torn," she said, sounding defeated.

I didn’t really know why. It wasn’t like I was going to let her go alone. I could’ve been freaking out, running around, making plans and changes for my future, but the truth was, as long as she was in that future, I would take whatever came my way. I just needed to make that clear.

I lifted her chin and leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. When I pulled back, her lashes fluttered until she was looking up at me.

"Hey," I whispered. "Who says you have to choose?"

Her eyes widened as she shook her head. "You have plans, Jeremy. You've already been accepted to Alabama. Long distance would've sucked, but it was different when we were only going to be a few hours apart. Now, if I decide to go with them, we’ll be twelve hours away and we’ll never see each other!” She sobbed into my shirt.

It dawned on me that I still hadn’t told her about my plans to switch to UWF. Sex had apparently fucked with my memory.

I shrugged. "I didn't have plans, Sierra. We did. And plans change. You adapt. Hell, look at McAllister. He was set to play baseball for the Tide, but then he decided he’d rather spend his life serving his country. It happens all the time. I’ll adapt.”

Her face fell. "God, don't even bring up Jace around Lexi. She had a freaking fit as soon as she heard the news."

I winced, knowing how big of a crush she had on the guy. "Yeah, I saw her take off down towards the gazebo looking pretty upset. From having to leave Jace?”

She nodded and let out a heavy sigh. "I should probably go see if she's okay." She rose up on her tiptoes, and her lips brushed mine. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay."

As she started to walk away, I grabbed her hand and yanked her hard, causing her to crush into my chest.

"Sierra, you have me. You always have. You always will. I don't care if we're in Florida, Georgia, or freaking Norway. Where you go, I go, and that will never change."

"Jeremy—" she began, but I held a finger to her lips, silencing her.

"I love you, Sierra. We'll figure it out. Together."

She smiled softly and nodded. "I love, you, too. I don’t know what I’d do without you."

The grin on my face couldn’t have been wider if I’d stretched my skin. I was that sure about what I was doing.

“Then it’s a good thing you’ll never have to find out.” I gave her a reassuring smile as she slipped out the front door. Instead of following her, however, I didn't move from my spot in the living room. After a few minutes of going over my game plan, I knew what I had to do.

I had plans to make. And my first stop? Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. As I made my way towards the kitchen, I prayed like hell that they'd agree.

If they didn’t, I’d figure something else out.

When my parents sat Lexi and me down and told us that we were moving, I barely had time to react before she let out a sob and ran from the room. To say I was shell-shocked would've been an understatement. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was feeling until Jeremy walked in, and in true Jeremy fashion, he made a joke, trying to elicit even the faintest smile.

Only, this time, he couldn't. And, as soon as I saw his face, I knew how I felt.

Heartbroken.

It's not that I wasn't ready to be an independent eighteen-year-old college freshman. I was. At the same time, I understood why Dad had accepted the job transfer. Grandma Nancy had recently suffered a stroke, and he wanted to be near her, especially with not knowing how much longer she had. I was torn. I wanted to be with my family. I wasn't financially ready to strike out on my own, and I couldn't imagine paying living expenses while trying to pass my college classes. I also couldn’t expect my parents to pay for me to live in the dorms when I could easily live with them.

But how could I leave Jeremy? He was my best friend. He was the love of my life. He was my other half, my whole heart, my everything. How could I walk away from the greatest man I'd ever known?

Most people would scoff, saying that we’re too young, too inexperienced, too naïve to be so in love, but I knew my heart. It’s been Jeremy’s for longer than I can remember.

They say when you know, you know. I don’t exactly know who they are, but they’re right. And I knew. I just didn’t know what I was going to do about my future.

I felt like I was being pulled in two completely different directions, and I had no idea which side would win out.

At least, I didn't until Jeremy made me realize I didn't have to choose—just another reason to love him even more. It still made me wonder, however. Could I really have both? His reassuring kiss made me believe it, and even though we had a lot of talking to do, his kiss put me at ease. We'd figure it out. I wouldn't lose him. I never would, and with my whole heart, I believed it.

But my sister was a different story, even if she was tight-lipped about her feelings. Ever since Jace had surprised us all by shipping off for the Army right after graduation, she'd been in a funk. Jeremy suspected that something had gone down between them before he’d left, but if it had, she hadn't said a word.

I walked down to the gazebo, where Jeremy had said he'd seen her go. Sure enough, she was there when I approached. She was hunched over, her face buried in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking as sobs racked through her. My heart shattered for her.

I knew she'd had a thing for Jace for all of high school, but he'd put her in the friend zone and never let her out. She’d watched from the sidelines for far too long as he’d dated Mallory, who’d hated the close friendship Jace and Lexi shared. She’d pined for him much in the way I had for Jeremy before we’d gotten together. But, unlike my boyfriend, Jace hadn’t seen Lexi that way. Or, at least, that's what he'd claimed.

Pretty much everyone at Navarre High School knew they had a thing for each other except for those two. It didn’t make any sense, and I’d always thought they’d get together, but graduation had come and gone, just like Jace. And now that we were moving, Lexi didn’t know when she’d ever see him again. If she ever would. I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes, so I wanted to do whatever I could to comfort my baby sister.