The second year that Niall was away didn't seem as hard as the first. We had both fallen into a rhythm of communicating that seemed to suit us both. In the spring, it would be four years since I had graduated from high school. I was working full time at the caves, running educational tours and workshops about the uncovering of history in the way of fossils and other archaeological finds. That was the first time, four years after I graduated from high school, that I really felt a pull to attend college. I still wanted to study archaeology but I didn't necessarily want to research and discover as much as I wanted to teach. So, with a new application to Western Kentucky University, I was accepted and planned to start college in the fall of 2013. If Niall attended grad school, I would graduate at the same time he did with his Master's Degree. We might have to be apart for two more years but for the first time in my adult life, I was motivated to do something on my own, for myself, apart from Niall.

As spring approached, I was dying to spend the summer with Niall again. Even though we had made an effort to keep in touch and see each other regularly, I was craving the day-in, day-out time I'd had with him for years.

However, when he called me at the end of April, I knew something was wrong when I heard his voice. "Hey, Meg." His tone was gravelly and unnatural.

"Hi, Niall. Why do I feel like you called to break up with me?" I joked, wanting to squelch the thick sense of foreboding.

"Never," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice. "But I have some kind of bad news. I mean, it's great news, actually, but it's not great for us."

"What?" I asked, feeling nauseous already.

"I got an internship for the summer....In San Francisco."

"I...uh...wow. I mean, congratulations, Niall," I said while trying to squeeze the chunks of my heart back into one solid piece.

"I'm sorry, Meg. I know you wanted us to spend the summer together. I was thinking, maybe you could come out here for the summer and we can rent an apartment together."

That sounded like the perfect solution, to be honest and I almost jumped at it. "I don't know, Niall. I really have to work as much as I can this summer to keep saving up for college. I know I won't be able to work as much when I start this fall.

"You can find a job here," he said.

"Waiting tables?" I asked, doubtful. "I make a decent amount doing educational tours here. And the cost of living is high out there. I probably wouldn't save any money."

Niall didn't give me the answer I wanted. What I wanted was for him to say, "No, please, Meg, I  need you. I'll make it work and I'll cover everything because you mean the world to me and I just want to be with you for the summer." What he really said was, "Okay, I understand. I'll probably be working long hours, too. But I'll miss you."

"Yeah, I'll miss you, too."

I didn't start crying til after we hung up. I didn't want him to feel guilty. I wanted him to do what was going to be the best for his career. It just sucked, that's all. We had to face four more years of this and who knew if there would be more summer internships? Knowing Niall, there would be, because he was so damn ambitious.

I sent him a text shortly after our conversation: We were supposed to dig up our time capsule this summer.

He replied: Heh, right! I bet I'll be able to make it home for a weekend at some point. Definitely have to do that. <3 U

But he didn't make it home in the summer. I went with his parents to visit him in July. We didn't get much alone time - he had a one bedroom apartment and his parents slept on a pull-out couch in the tiny living room. We had sex exactly one time and that was after we both promised each other to be as quiet as humanly possible.

I started at WKU in the fall and I truly enjoyed being back in the classroom. I supposed that I had matured and now I found learning to have more of a purpose than simply a way to get out of high school. The classes were interesting, as were the people.

On the very first day of my math lecture, a very cute guy sat next to me and introduced himself.  "Hey, I'm Cole."

"I'm Maeghan," I said with a smile. "Freshman?" 

"Yes, but I'm 21. I took few years off before starting college," he said with a slightly embarrassed shrug.

"Well, you chose the right girl to talk to. I graduated in 2009 and I'm a freshman, too. Going to college right after high school is so last century."

Cole laughed a nice laugh, and I was glad to have made a friend. We ended up having two classes together, so we spent some time between classes studying and getting coffee. I found out that he had lived in New York City with his mom, who owned a successful cosmetics company, but that he had opted to move to Kentucky to live with his dad while he attended WKU. He actually lived fairly close to me.

"I worked for my mom's company and made some pretty good money," he told me. "If had stayed, she was going to make me a vice president."

"Are you crazy?" I shouted, laughing.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But seriously, cosmetics? I don't know the first thing about make up, except everything I've memorized about my mom's products. I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the stuff."

"Oh, come on," I teased. "You mean, you've never tried on a little lip gloss when no one was looking? A bit of blush here and there?"

"Um, no!" He laughed. "Not even once. See, my dad owns a radio station here in Bowling Green and I want to go into broadcasting, so here I am. School of Journalism and Broadcasting."

"Seriously? Which radio station does he own?"

"WKBB," he said casually.

"No way," I gushed. "Is he a DJ?"

"Nah, but I'd like to do that," Cole admitted. "Think I've got the voice for it?"

"Yeah," I grinned. "You do."

Niall finally made it home for Thanksgiving. He arrived late Tuesday night and let himself into my apartment. I was already in bed, but I was waiting for him. He came into the room and slid straight under the covers next to me. "How's me girl?" He asked, pulling me tightly against him.

"A hundred times better now that you're here," I said and kissed him deeply. "You're overdressed."

His deep, raucous laughter filled my bedroom and he soon remedied the situation. We shared every bit of ourselves throughout the night and slept in the following day before making our way to my parents' house to help with the Thanksgiving preparations.

They welcomed him warmly, not having seen him in far too long. "Oh, Niall, you look so grown up," my mother said to him, squeezing him tightly.

"Mom, you're embarrassing him," I giggled.

"Nah, it's fine," Niall chuckled. "I think I've grown an inch or so since high school."

Niall's parents were already there, too, but of course they had seen him the night before when they picked him up from the airport. Still, he was smothered in hugs and kisses as we were put to work, cutting up apples and rolling out pie crusts.

Later in the afternoon, the doorbell rang and none of us really knew who to expect. My mom went to the door and came back, saying, "Maggie Mae, there's someone here to see you." To my great surprise, Cole followed her into the kitchen.

"Cole! What are you doing here?" I was actually very surprised to see him because he had never even been to my house. Since he lived close, we had carpooled to the university, but he'd never actually been in my house.

I washed my hands and gave him a casual hug. It was only then that I noticed he had a bouquet of flowers. It was kind of a fall-themed arrangement, not roses or anything but still. "What brings you by?" I asked as Niall looked on with intense curiosity.

"I just thought I'd say Happy Thanksgiving and give you these." He handed me the floral arrangement and of course, I thanked him.

Then I introduced him to everyone. When I got to Niall, I made sure to say, "This is my boyfriend, Niall," just to make sure Niall didn't feel weird. Niall placed his hand possessively on my shoulder. The look on Cole's face was one of surprise and confusion. And hurt.

What the hell was going on?

He said a quick and awkward good-bye and left.

Then Niall dragged me down to my apartment to talk. As soon as the door was closed, he asked, "Who the hell was that?"

"Um, I just introduced you. That was Cole, a friend of mine from college."

"He looked like more than a friend," Niall snapped.

"Based on what? The fact that I French kissed him when he walked in the door?" I responded sarcastically.

"Based on the fact that he brought you flowers and you hugged him!" Niall shouted.

"I hug Tony Maccarone, too, when I see him but that doesn't mean anything. What is going on with you?"

Niall threw his hands in the air and said, "Oh my god, how can you be so naive? That Cole guy is into you. How come I've never heard about him?"

"Niall, we're friends," I said. "I've made lots of friends in college. I haven't talked to you about all of them."

"You've told me about Cathy and Emma. Cole seems a little closer to you than those girls. I didn't see them bringing flowers to you."

"Niall, what the hell are you talking about?" I cried. I was so confused.

"You didn't tell me about a guy who's clearly crushing on you, and you two have obviously have spent some time together. On top of that, he certainly didn't know a thing about me."

"You're overreacting," I said. My head was hurting.

"I saw the look of surprise on his face, Meg. He was coming by to see if he could nudge your relationship to the next level. There was no way in hell he was expecting to meet me, your boyfriend!"

"No, Niall, you're blowing this all out of proportion. Cole is my friend and I know I talked about you. Everyone knows I have a boyfriend."

"Apparently not him!" Niall yelled.

"Oh my god, would you calm down," I said. "There is nothing going on between us."

"I know that," he huffed. "I trust you, Meg. But you led him on. And you didn't say anything to me."

"Because I didn't think it would be a big deal," I sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"You need to be more careful," he said.

"Cole would never hurt me," i said.

"That's not what I mean," he groaned. "You're just being ignorant. You need to pay attention to stuff like this. You're sending the wrong signals."

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid," I huffed. "I never once thought that we were anything more than friends."

"Ugh, just don't be so naive," he grumbled.

"No offense, Niall, but it kind of sucks that you think you can just come home after being gone the whole stupid year and then start telling me how to live my life. I've been doing just fine without you here, by the way."

"Don't be like that," he said. "You know why I couldn't come home."

"You could have come home. You just chose not to," I argued.

"Instead of taking a prestigious internship," he said in a snippy voice. "Yeah, I should have just come back to work at the Mammoth Cave gift shop."

"Fuck you," I spat. "I have a good job. One that I'm proud of."

"God, I'm sorry Meg, you know what I meant. I wasn't trying to insult your job. I'm just saying I had a great opportunity and I took it."

"You also passed up the opportunity to come home for the Fourth of July even though it was a long weekend."

"You and my folks came to visit two weeks later!"

"You passed up our birthday and we never got to dig up our Time Capsule."

"Meg, forget about the stupid time capsule!" He growled. "This is my career we're talking about and you don't seem to care about that."

"I care about your career and you know it. It just feels like you don't really care about my life or my career."

"You don't have a career."

I left the room and slammed my bedroom door, locking it behind me. I was so angry with Niall, I couldn't even see straight. What had happened to my sweet, funny and sensitive boyfriend? I really didn't mean to lead Cole on or deceive Niall.

Thanksgiving was tense. Niall and I technically made up with lots of I'm sorry's and kisses and hugs. But it still felt like things were just uneasy between us. We tried to spend some quality time together Sunday afternoon before his flight left, but I felt like our foundation was cracked. I wasn't sure how long it would take to fix the foundation, but as Niall's plane took off, I couldn't help but fear that it was damaged beyond repair.

* * * * *

Uh oh... :'(