THE last week of high school for your sophomore year had been nothing but a blur. You knew it had happened, since you got your report card and it showed that you had passed all of your finals with high scores. But you don't really remember taking any of the tests or even walking through the hallways as you headed to each class. Of course you don't really remember anything from that week, except Ignis' last words to you before he left.

"Promise me that you'll wait for me."

Those last words were the only thing that you thought about since the night he dropped you off. Everything after that didn't seem to matter to you anymore. Sure you continued with your sparring and fighting lessons with Noctis and Gladio. Hell, you had even gone to the shooting range with Prompto a couple times. But none of it seemed to snap you out of your down right depressed mood.

Even the adults had tried to snap you out of it. Korn had given you more assignments, big shocker there. Not! Tracy had you help her out with a huge shredding project at the office. Super boring and only made you think of Ignis even more. Even your dad had you help him out with doing the oil changes and tuneups on both cars. Which had all been fun, even though you had been messy for a bit.

But even after all of that. None of it had been enough. Your heart hurt too much to care about any of it. Because all you wanted was for the next three months to go by quickly so that you could see Ignis again. Which meant that you had to stay so busy that you didn't have time to think about anything.

And you did this by totally engulfed yourself at work. Because at least a busy cafe could always take your mind off of everything else. Well, at least for a few hours anyway.  And it seemed to work fairly well. Or at least it did until school was finished for the summer.

But now it was Monday morning once again, and you were heading to the college for the first day of your summer classes. The sun was just starting to crest over the city wall and the last few dew drops were disappearing from the windshield. You had been looking forward to this ever since you had been excepted into the program. You just hoped that it wouldn't be too much for you to handle. After all, even Ignis had had a bit of a struggle towards the end of his degree.

On your way over, you had given Jason a call, as promised. And he said that he would meet you at the admissions office. At first you had considered just going in by yourself and figuring it all out on your own. But you decided that it would be nice to have someone else to talk to for once.

Besides, he had been very insistent and you really didn't want to disappoint him. To you there was nothing worse than disappointing a rich kid. They tended to take it pretty bad. You knew that all to well from being friends with Prince Noctis.

But as you pulled into the parking lot, you didn't see Jason's car. You slightly sighed as you pulled into a spot to wait. Finding yourself sitting alone in the parking lot, hadn't even occurred to you. And it certainly wasn't something that you were excited for. Because all it did was give you time to think.

And not that thinking is a bad thing. Unless of course all of your thoughts are about missing a particular person with a smooth accented voice and beautiful dark emerald green eyes. Because all that did, was make you sigh deeply as you once again pulled up the last text message from Ignis before he got off the train in Cartanica. Which after sitting there in a quiet car for a few moments after you parked, was exactly what you did.

You took a deep breath as you pulled out your phone and started flipping through your messages until you came to his name. The last words he sent seemed to glow on the screen as you looked at them. Your heart sank as you pulled your legs up to you chest as you could picture him texted each word as he sat there on the train as he waited to debark. You bit your bottom lip as you tried to keep it from trembling again as you read the message for what must have been the hundredth time.

I only have a moment since I'm getting ready to get off. But I just wanted to tell you that I love you and that I already miss you greatly. I know that doesn't really cover how much I want you here with me. But I do take comfort in knowing that everyone will be there to support you in any way they can in my absence.

And know that even though I'm on the other side of the water from you. I love you with all my heart and soul. And I will always be here for you. Even if I can't hold you in my arms at the moment. Know that you can always close your eyes and I will be there, ready to wrap my arms around you once again.

And until I see you again, I'll be thinking about you, love. And I will be dreaming of the day when I can hold you once again. And I hope that you will do the same.

You closed your eyes and hugged your phone to your heart. The tears threatened to fall again as you tightened up your grip on your legs to fight back the tears. This truly was the closest thing to holding him that you had at the moment. Even though you felt your heart starting to crack again as you curled up tightly on the seat.

You could feel your whole body start to shake as the pain was starting to take over again. You hated being away from him like this. It was like being tortured in the worse way. Being so close, yet so far away. Then out of habit, you reached up and started to rub your double heart pendant around your neck.

Running your fingers across the smooth white gold had been the one thing that had soothed you before when you couldn't be near him. You had spent many hours in Altissia doing just that as a means to try and comfort yourself. And each time would slowly bring you back around. Well that and a notebook to read that the two of you used to write to each other.

Each stroke seemed to slowly calm you back down as you thought about him. You had your eyes closed as you could once again see his loving smile as he held you outside your house before he left. A faint hint of a smile crossed your face as you remembered him running his hands through your hair as you watched him looking at you. You could still recall the tension in him as his jaw was clenched as he fought back his emotions.

You could almost feel his hand reach up and cup your chin as he raised your chin up to his. Your breath caught once as you could feel his fingers running gently across your skin as he tiled your head up towards his. Your mouth slightly fell open as you started to anticipate his lips once again on yours. You could practically feel his warm breath against your cheek as you slowly tilted your head back.

Suddenly there was a knock on your window. You jumped and almost dropped your phone as you quickly looked out the window. But when you saw Jason's bright smile and freshly teased blond hair looking at you, you couldn't help but to give him a relieved smile back. Which made him narrow his eyes as he opened up your door.

"You seem to be a bit distracted today." He quietly said as he held out his hand to you.

"I'm sorry." You replied as you took his hand and climbed out of the car wearing a knee high tan skirt and light blue blouse. "I didn't hear you pull up."

"That's alright. I like to see you frazzled." He said as he closed your door.

Then he brought your hand up to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss on top as he gave you a flirty smile.  You raised up one eyebrow as you tried to hide the fact that your heart was now beating in your throat. He then gave you a slightly confused look as he dropped your hand and stood back up to his full height. You took in his tight black jeans, white muscle shirt and unbuttoned light blue dress shirt that loosely hung over his firm frame.

You could see the disappointment in his eyes as if he was expecting you to be swoon from his charm. Little did he know, that you had learned long ago how to smoothly turn away guys like him. Even if they were too charming for their own good.

"Do you always greet your friend's girlfriends like this?" You asked as you tilted your head as you reached out grab the car to support your slightly buckling knees.

"No." He smiled back as he eyed you up and down. "Only the super hot ones."

"Down, Jay." You heard a familiar baritone voice say as a stern looking brunette with dark brown eyes and broad shoulders came walking up to the two of you. "I don't think that Ignis would appreciate you hitting on his girl like that."

You slightly smiled as you recognized Brady as he walked over to the two of you. He looked like a standard college student in his black jeans, white t-shirt and a dark blue blazer. At first he didn't take his eyes off of Jason as he came walking around Jason's sports car. But when he reached you, he give you a slight smile before be looked back at Jason again. You couldn't help but to smile back at him. He certainly could tame Jason like a well trained retainer.

"And how am I supposed to resist a beauty like her?" Jason asked as he gave you a wink before he looked back at Brady. "And besides, how else is she suppose to blend in with us."

"Wait?" You asked as you gave Jason a confused look. "Blend in? Who said anything about me needing to blend in?"

"That was actually Ignis' idea."  Brady said as he shoved one hand into his pants pocket. "He really didn't want you walking around here alone and unprotected.  Which is where we come in.  He had asked us to keep you safe while you're here on campus. Not that you really need it, based on your past performance here. But still. A promise is a promise."

You dropped your head as you slightly smiled. That's my Iggy. Always looking out for me. Even when he's not here.

"Now then. Shall we head to class?" Jason asked as he held out his elbow in a gentlemanly gesture.

You couldn't help but to smile back at him before you wrapped a hand around his upper arm. "Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUR first class was College English, which much to your delight, Jason and Brady both had as well.  Following that, you had College Algebra, where Jason and Brady and Statistics.  It made you feel a bit better that you knew someone in one of your classes so far. But then as you turned to head into your Algebra class, you felt a bit nervous as you paused just outside the door.

But as you glanced back at them as they stood just outside of the room on the opposite side of the hallway. Their encouraging smiles seemed to be contagious as a huge smile broke out over your face. They were taking this promise very serious. Which made you happy for the first time since Ignis had pulled away from your house. Perhaps even a bit excited for the first time in a long time.

Perhaps college could quite possible be as much fun as you had always hoped it would be. Even more so than before, since you knew that you would be around two very charming guys who even Ignis trusted enough to protect you. You couldn't help but to smile as Jason nodded towards your classroom as a silent gesture for you to get to class. You couldn't help but to grin broadly back at him as you slightly nodded in return before you walked into the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No. I'm telling you. The class is rigged." Jason said to Brady as they were arguing over the statistics class that they had just left.

"I can assure you that's not the case." Brady said in return as he put some ketchup on his burger wrapper as the three of you ate in the food court area for lunch. "Your just upset that the teacher is a dude this time around."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" You asked as you dipped a fry in ketchup before eating it.

"A lot." Brady said as he looked back over at you as he sat the ketchup bottle back down on the table. "Jay has this habit of flirting with all of the female professors so that they will go easy on him."

"Does that really work?" You asked in surprise as you ate another fry.

"Sometimes." Brady replied dryly as he ate a fry.

"Sometimes?!" Jason asked in shock before he quickly recovered. "I will have you know that it works every time."

"Yeeeeaaah not really." Brady said as he grabbed his burger with both hands. "They usually see right through your act the minute that you flip your hair at them."

"They do not." Jason replied with a hurt look as he flipped his hair away from his face.

You slightly laughed as you ate another fry. These two were so much like Gladio and Noctis, that it was almost comical. Minus the super flirty part of course. But you did noticed that there even seemed to be a bit of Ignis' influence in the mix as Brady seemed to easily rein in Jason. The whole scene was uplifting to watch. And it made you wonder if they hung out together all the time like the guys did.

"You know, that if you spent half as much time studying as you did flirting, you could easily be at the top of the class." Brady said right before he took a bite of his burger.

"By why would I want to do that?" Jason said as he dipped a fry in ketchup before he looked over at you and gave you a flirty wink. "It's not as much fun as getting a private tutor."

You rolled your eyes at him as you took a drink of soda and glanced around the area. That was when you realized that several people were watching you intently. Well, maybe not just you. Jason was hamming it up pretty heavily with his flirting. Which was making you nervous as several girls were giving you dagger eyes as they smoldered over their food. They seemed to be quite envious that you were eating with Jason and Brady, and not them.

You quickly decided to change the topic. "So where are your girlfriends? I would love to meet them."

"We don't have any." Jason said in a blunt tone as he grabbed his burger and took a bite.

"Your kidding?" You asked as you grabbed your own burger. "Neither of you have a girlfriend?"

"Not at the moment." Jason said after he swallowed.  "Why? Are you volunteering?"

"No!  I was just wondering is all." You said quickly before you took a bite.

"We don't really have a lot of down time. Not with swim practice and all." Brady said before he took a bite.

Swim practice? You froze as you gave them both a surprised look. "Your swimmers?"

"Yeah." Jason said with his dazzling smile. "Well, mainly divers. But we still have to race to be on the team."

"You dive?" You asked them with a stunned look.

"Yeah." Brady said as he grabbed a fry. "In fact it's because of diving that we first met Ignis. His high school coach had actually worked it out with our coach, for him to come over here to our pool and try his wits at platform diving.  I think our coach mentioned something about Ignis' coach being an alumni or something,"

Holy shit! "Are you serious?" You asked in astonishment.

"Of course." Jason said with a serious look. "We may joke around about a lot of things. But diving is something that we take very seriously."

"You must be pretty good to make the college team then." You said as you continued to eat.

"Well I hope so. Otherwise all of the ribbons and trophies in my room back home would belong to someone else." Jason said with his dazzling smile. "You wouldn't happen to be interested in diving? Would you?"

"Well...actually...I...." You stumbled to say when suddenly you heard someone come walking up behind you.

"So I see that you have already meet the new kid on campus." Came a semi-chipper, semi-edgy, yet familiar voice from behind you.

You turned around and came face to face with the same short blonde with blue eyes that had been giving Ignis her flirty eyes when you had first visited the admissions office. Except she didn't seem anywhere near as pleasant at the moment. Which made you think that that had just been a front she had put on for Ignis and for her job. Either way, she didn't seem too pleased to see you with Jason and Brady.

"Angel," Jason said with a cold tone as he sat back with a flat expression. "To what do we owe the visit?"

It appeared as if he was just as displeased with her interruption. And Brady seemed to share his sediments as he crossed his arms as he also sat back in his chair. You could feel the change in the atmosphere as if Shiva had just blown an iced breeze at the food court. Which made you nervously look around at each of them in turn.

Wow. Talk about a chilly greeting. You thought as you slightly hunched over as if trying to hide from the cold stare from her.

"I was just grabbing some lunch when I spotted you." She said back to him with a smirk before she looked at you with a straight mouth. "But I can see that you already have company."

Then she turned and looked at you. "Hey.  Aren't you Ignis' girlfriend?"

"Yes." You slowly replied as you gave her a curious look as you tried to see what she was getting at.

"Then why are you hanging out with these jerks?" She asked in a sudden harsh tone as she glared at Jason.

"Why don't you go park your broomstick somewhere else." Jason said in a flat tone. "We would prefer to have a bitch free lunch."

You tried to keep your eyes from flying open and the slight giggle that was trying to escape.  But it was proving to be quite difficult as you watched her face go from being shocked, to being totally pissed off as she stalked away. Jason glared at her back as she walked away. Brady just shook his head as he sat up.

You couldn't help but to think that perhaps they were 'ex's', just based on how they were acting. Which of course didn't make you feel any better. Especially since she looked like she was super popular as a fairly large group of girls immediately came walking up to her after she left the table before they walked out with her.

"You could have been a bit nicer to her you know." Brady said as he sat up and resumed to eat his food.

"Why should I?" Jason harshly asked as he watched her walk away before resuming to eat his food. "She's the one who's always stirring up shit."

"Do you think that that might be because she likes you?" You asked as you grabbed a fry.

They both quickly turned and looked at you in surprise.

"What?" You asked as you looked at him. "I'm just pointing out the obvious. Nobody acts like that unless they like someone. Or they have already broken up with them and want to get back with them."

Brady smiled at you as he ate a fry. "She's as good as Ignis. You could be in trouble man."

"Shut up." Jason said as he looked down at his food.

Although as he took a bite from his burger, you could see red on the tips of his ears. Which made you slightly smile.

Perhaps he isn't as smooth as he tries to portray. You thought as you took a bite of your burger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the afternoon went as usual since you were done with your classes for the day. The only thing you had left was to go to the cafe and work until closing time. For your college classes for the summer term, you only had two classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. And those were College Algebra and College English. They were in the morning and were for a hour and a half each.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you had two more that were also for an hour and a half. But one was in the morning, Introduction to Computer Technology, and other one, Essentials in Induction, was in the afternoon. The afternoon class was some silly freshman class that was more or less required for all new college students. Which of course meant you. The assignments were suppose to be really simple and were meant to get you use to the college's curriculum.

The rest of your day time activities on campus would involve you studying and completed your classwork as well as the assignments from Korn. Korn had given you specific assignments that could only be done on campus. Which meant that each of them would require you to spend a few hours in the campus library, so that you could research the different topics before writing each paper.

Your nightlife only consisted of studying and working at the cafe. Much to Brian's delight. Especially since you could work full days on the three busiest days of the week. Which was great for you as well. Being busy was the best way to make time pass by quickly. At least you hoped it would pass quickly.

Jason and Brady had walked you back to your car and had made you promise to meet them there the next day. Well Jason insisted more than Brady. He said that he just wanted to make sure that he showed you where your other classes were going to be. He mentioned something about one of them being in an older building on the outer edge of campus.

But you had a feeling that he just wanted to see you again. Which you actually didn't mind. So far Jason and Brady were a welcoming distraction from everything else. Plus they were both really nice and seemed to generally care about you. Oh course Noctis didn't share in your view when you talked to him on the phone that night.

"I know that Ignis trusts them and all. But..."

You sighed as you rolled your eyes and head to the side as you laid in bed for the night. "Their not bad guys Noct. In fact you might even like them. Perhaps I should introduce you to them. Then maybe you'll feel better about me hanging out with them."

"I don't know about that."

"It's better than worrying about nothing."

You heard him let out an exasperated sigh. Then he was silent for a moment.

"I'll think about it." He finally replied in a low tone.

"Okay." You replied, feeling relieved.

The last thing that you wanted was to make Noctis worry about you. So him even thinking about meeting them was something.  Which made you smile.  Of course that was short lived with his next question.

"So can I see you tomorrow? You know, after class lets out?"

You dropped your gaze. You knew that you had told him about your schedule at school and how you had to work everyday once you got out of school. But you had a feeling that he was still going to try and meet up with you as much as he could. Which you didn't mind. But his timing usually wasn't the best.

"Noct....."

"Please?"

"I don't..."

"Come on? I haven't seen you since Thursday. And that was during training. So it doesn't count."

"I'll be there in the morning to practice with Gladio if you want to join us?"

"Now that definitely doesn't count."

"Okay. Then perhaps you could stop by the cafe like you use to."

"But I don't want to hang out there. It makes me think of school........ and dirty dishes......lots...and lots of dirty dishes.....sinks piled high with dirty dishes...."

"Oh stop. They wouldn't have gotten that bad if you had kept up with them." You teased back.

You couldn't help but to smile as you recalled him telling you how both him and Iris had covered for you at the cafe last weekend. It had been your dad's punishment, for those two interrupting your last ball with Ignis as much as they did. Which you thought had been a bit drastic. But it had kept them busy and out of your hair while you spent almost the entire weekend alone with Ignis. So in a way, it was worth it. At least to you it was.

"Whatever. But I still don't really want to hang out there. I want it to be just the two of us."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"You.....me......movie.....my room..... tomorrow night."

"Well that doesn't sound very exciting." You said as you could only imagine where this was going.

"Fine. Then how about a movie at your place. Or perhaps we could hit up one of the hot tubs. Yours or mine. I don't care which one. Or would you rather go swimming. Or we could go to the park? I'm sure we can sneak in there at night if we use the tunnels again. Or perhaps...."

"Okay. I get it." You replied as you interrupted him. "You want to hang out. Let me talk to Brian tomorrow. Okay?"

You could hear the smile cracking across his face. "Okay."

"I can't guarantee anything though." You quickly replied.

"I know."

"And it won't be an overnight thing."

"That's fine."

"And it can't be anything illegal."

"And what in the world would we do that would be illegal?"

"With you? I can never tell."

"Now that hurt." You heard him reply in a low tone.

"Now you can't tell me that you haven't thought about skinny dipping in the pond at the park?"

"Well I am now. But I'm pretty sure that Ignis might get slightly pissed at that. Plus I think that's when the snakes come out."

You felt a slight chill running down your back from the thought of accidentally grabbed a snake instead of a branch. "I'll keep that in mind the next time I think about that."

"But you know.....now that you mention it......the citadel pool doors do have locks on the inside........and it is snake free.....well, it won't have one that bites."

"Noct." You reply firmly that he would go there.

"Hey... you were the one to bring it up."

"Because you asked me about something illegal."

"Only because you brought it up."

"Ughhhh." You groaned as you flipped onto your back.

"What did you want to do then?"

"I don't know." You quietly replied as you couldn't think of anything in the entire citadel that didn't remind you of Ignis.

"We can do something outside of the citadel you know." Noctis said as if he was reading your mind. "I know that you don't really want any reminders."

Your pursed your lips together as you fought back the lonely feelings that were trying to creep back into you.

"How about this?" He continued in a soft tone. "Let's go to the arcade?"

"The arcade?" You replied with a questioning tone. "Why the arcade?"

"Well, we have only been there a few times. And it will be a great place for us to have some fun and forget everything else for a few hours. What do you say?"

You couldn't help but to slightly laugh at him. He was certainly right about the arcade. The only person you ever associated with it, was him. And you could spend hours there and not even realize it. And besides, it was the one place that you had been that didn't remind you of Ignis. At least not as much as everywhere else did.

"That sounds great."

"Perfect. I'll pick you up from class."

"Now wait a minute?" You asked with a stunned look. "What about my car?"

"Oh? You need a ride there too? Okay. I'll pick you up at your house tomorrow morning and take you over."

"Now wait a minute."

"Better get some sleep, princess. You have to get up early tomorrow." Noctis teased through the phone.

"You should talk." You teased back. "Your the one who volunteered to take me to class in the morning. So that means that you have to get up early as well."

"For you? It's worth it."

You couldn't help your cheeks as they heated up from his words.

"Night princess."

"Night sweet prince."

~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~

"YOU really shouldn't be out without your escort your highness." You heard your dad say the next morning as you came down the stairs and towards the living room.

"I'm not." You heard Noctis say as you walked into the living room. "Tredd and Luche are outside in a royal car, waiting on us."

You couldn't help but you slightly grin at him as he stood there in blue jeans, plain white t-shirt, and a black jacket and ball cap. From behind, most people couldn't tell it was him. But you personally could pick him out of a crowd no matter what he was wearing. Of course that could be due to you knowing him better than anyone. Well, everyone except perhaps Ignis himself.

You then glanced over at your dad and saw him give Noctis a concerned look. "You couldn't get a hold of anyone else?"

"They just happen to be there is all." Noctis said as if he was bored with the conversation. "Besides, I'm just dropping her off. it's not like we're going to stay or anything. I'll have someone else with me this afternoon when I pick her back up."

"And who will that be?"

"Gladio and Prompto. We were planning on hanging out at the arcade and they fit in better then Nyx and Peyna."

"Fair enough." Your dad said as he started to relax. "Just don't let Tredd and Luche near your car."

"Why do you say that?"

"Hey!" You interrupted as you walked up to them. "Are you ready?"

You knew that it was best to defuse that conversation before your dad went on about how shitty the security details had been when Tredd and Luche had been on duty. Your dad had been keeping an eye on both of them for a while now. But especially since Regionals. But you still weren't sure why.

Noctis turned around and gave you his boyish grin as he took in your black jeans and white loose blouse. "For you? Always."

You felt your heart leaped at his response. Did he just......

"Well you two better get going. You don't want to be late for class. And that morning traffic can be tricky this early on the freeways."

"Right." Noctis quickly responded as he headed back to the door before he turned back around and looked at you as you stood frozen in place. "Do you have everything?"

"Yeah." You said as you dropped your gaze as you walked over and grabbed your backpack from the bench by the coats and headed out the door. "Later dad."

******Author Note******

Starting college can be challenging, no matter what your major, college campus, and even your age. But as the times change, so do majors, colleges, and especially campus life. But how we each handle the classes, professors, and especially the workload, all gets down to one thing. Attitude. And not just any attitude. But your attitude towards achieving your goal.

And with the start of college starting out smoothly so far. The excitement of the full college experience starts to fully sink in. But will Noctis' jealousy start to create a wedge between the two of you. And what's up with that guy in your induction class? And why's he looking at you all the time?

Until next time.

Thanks for reading. :)

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