|| Arabella ||

"Theo, get that thing away from me!" I hollered, pointing my knife at the earthworm on the portable folding table.

"Be brave, Annabelle. You can do it!" Theo cheered, laughing.

"No, I can't! Move it! If no one removes it, I'm not making the barbeque!" I cried out.

Coral came and swatted the earthworm with a newspaper. "Easy."

"I don't understand how you're so scared of cockroaches, but you don't even bat an eye at slugs," Wyatt commented amusedly.

"Cockroaches are cockroaches. They are gross." Coral rolled her eyes.

"Ah, yes, slugs are very hygienic," Wyatt replied sarcastically.

I hugged Coral and said gratefully, "This is why I always wanted to date you."

"My goodness, my girlfriend is lesbian," Theo exclaimed.

"Yes, breaking news: girlfriend changes sexuality because boyfriend is a jerk." I stuck out my tongue at him, pulling apart from Coral, while he laughed.

"Ara, get the barbeque started. I'm starving," Wyatt whined, and I gave him an okay.

Right now, Wyatt, Coral, Theo, and I were near the coastal area of San Diego, camping. We drove here by car this morning.

It has been six months since Theo and I started dating. Wyatt has already graduated from high school, and he was going to go away for university next week. So it was kind of like his farewell get-together. I was going to miss him a lot.

Coral and Wyatt decided to stay in a long-distance relationship for their university life since Coral wasn't going to sacrifice her dream of studying at the University of California while Wyatt was going to Stanford University. I knew their relationship was going to go through a lot because Coral might have some insecurities, but I had faith in Wyatt. He was going to give her the assurance and security she needed.

And of course, I had trust in Coral too. She wasn't going to let go of him. Not after she claimed him as her boyfriend and future husband three months ago. Wyatt literally had no way out of it. He was stuck with her forever. Good thing was, he loved her and wanted to be stuck with her.

As for me and Theo, we hadn't talked about our future yet or where our relationship was headed. I was scared to talk about it, to be honest, so I was putting it off as much as I could. But no doubt, we loved each other. Hence, I kept assuring myself everything would be alright.

"Need some help?" Theo asked, wrapping his arms around me from behind, as I was cutting the capsicums.

I frowned and pointed the knife at his chin. "No, go play with your earthworms."

He grabbed the knife and set it down. "C'mon, I'm sorry," he mumbled, kissing my cheek. "You just looked too cute, threatening the earthworm with your knife."

I sighed and leaned my head back on his shoulder. "I'm going to die of a heart attack to look cute for you."

He chuckled. "Well, then I'm going to have a heart attack from your cuteness."

"Before that, biology is going to have a heart attack due to our non-scientific cringiness," I deadpanned.

"Good. I hate biology," he said and trailed his lips over my jawline to my ear. I shivered, tilting my head to the side to give him more access.

Just as he started to kiss my neck, Wyatt yelled, "Would you guys please continue this after you get me something to eat?"

"There's a bag of potato chips in the car. Eat that." Theo glared at Wyatt.

"Coral finished that already," Wyatt complained.

"You're going to be a university student. Why don't you get better at cooking for God's sake?" Theo retorted.

"There's a reason why I'll be staying at the dorm," Wyatt replied.

I chuckled and straightened myself up, jabbing Theo with my elbow to get him off before he could argue more. "Stop distracting me and set up the barbeque machine."

Theo hissed at Wyatt and started setting up the machine with Wyatt. After a while, Coral joined me in the preparation.

Soon enough, our barbeque was ready.

While we were eating, sitting around the bonfire, we asked each other random questions.

It was going well until Wyatt asked me, "Where do you see yourself in the next ten years?"

"Working as the head chef in a famous restaurant," I simply replied.

"And?" he urged.

"And what?"

"Like, what about your marital status and stuff?" he clarified.

"I—" I stopped speaking, glancing at Theo, then lowered my gaze. "I don't know. We haven't talked about it yet."

"Oh, okay." Wyatt didn't pry anymore.

It wasn't that I didn't want to talk about it, but I was really scared. What if Theo and my university choices vary and our paths go separate ways?

I was interested in a culinary institute in New York, but I wasn't sure about Theo. He had only mentioned offhandedly that he wanted to go to the same university as Wyatt, but that was before we were dating.

However, if I was given the choice between my university and Theo, I would pick Theo in a heartbeat.

There were many reasons for that. For starters, I wasn't a long-distance relationship person. Not because I was insecure or anything like that. I loved him way too much to be away from him. I can't imagine living a single day without him. In fact, I hadn't since the day we got together.

But I knew for a fact that Theo wouldn't let me give up on a good university for his sake.

Therefore, I was scared that if we discussed our future and came to different conclusions, he would want us to stay in a long-distance relationship, and I didn't want that. I didn't even want to think about it. But as the senior year approached closer, the pressure of the future kept looming heavier each day.

After finishing our meal, I decided to take a walk near the seashore.

I was walking barefoot on the white sand where the sea waves hit my feet every often, gazing at the full moon and sky filled with stars, lost in my thoughts.

I didn't even realize someone was approaching me until my pinky finger was interlocked with another. I smiled without even looking at him.

"What's on your mind?" Theo asked.

"Nothing much."

"I was just asking for the sake of courtesy. I know what's got you all bothered," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, and I looked at him as he stopped walking. His turquoise eyes were sparkling blue due to the reflection of the moon. "Do you want to talk about it?" he said with a gentle smile.

I pursed my lips and nodded reluctantly.

He gave me a warm smile and walked further into the shore to sit down with me.

I rested my head on his shoulder as he intertwined our fingers. We were both quiet for a long moment, just listening to the waves crash onto the shore.

I sighed and started speaking, "What are your plans after high school?"

Theo hummed and said, "It depends."

"Depends on what?" I asked.

"Depends on which university you want to go to," he said, and I remained quiet, letting him continue. "I heard Coral saying something about this culinary institute in New York for you, so I've been researching good universities for me there."

"Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I don't have any grand goals to get into any particular university, so changing it is no problem. To be honest, I'm fine as long as the university offers a good mathematics course."

"You aren't lying about it, are you?"

He chuckled lightly. "You think you wouldn't detect that?"

I chuckled as well. His words made all my worries wash away with the sea waves. Because somehow I managed to gain this ability to always be able to tell whenever he was lying about serious stuff. Though I still fell for his stupid traps.

"What are your plans for us?" I asked after a moment.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"I still need you to say it."

He smiled fondly and said, "Ara, do you remember bugging me about being a virgin when you first moved in with us?"

A grin formed on my face. "Well, if you want to say that you're not one anymore, well, I'm not either—"

He rolled his eyes and cut me short, "Yes, not the point I was going to make. Remember that you asked why I was that? You suggested this thing called 'the one'. I think for me, it's you."

I snuggled closer to him while rubbing my cheek on his shoulder. "I think so too."

"You know, I just get this strong feeling that you're the one. Honestly, I want you to be the one. Because there's no one else I can imagine myself with. You're the only girl I ever want to love and take care of."

I couldn't help but feel flattered by his words. He literally has treated me like a princess for the last half a year, minus the pranks, but even those had lessened, rather we prank Wyatt and Coral together. To know that, I was the only girl he ever wanted to do so much for, it just hit differently.

Theo continued, "So if you want any promotion from being my girlfriend in the future, then I'll give you that without hesitation. Because I love you enough to want to spend my entire life with you."

"Me too. I always want to be with you. It doesn't matter where. You... you are where I belong. No matter how much things change, I don't want our love to change," I expressed in a quiet voice, trying to pour my sincerity towards him.

He kissed my forehead and murmured, "It will change though."

"Huh?"

He grinned and said, "Our love increases every day, doesn't it?"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "You can be so cheesy sometimes."

"I know you love it," he teased.

I joined him in grinning.

We both stayed under the moonlight alone for a while longer until Wyatt and Coral came and joined us. We chatted for a few minutes until Coral started to sing some songs with her guitar.

As I sat in between Theo's legs with his arms draped around me like a security blanket, listening to Coral's off-key singing and Wyatt clapping to it like she's the best singer in the world, an idea popped in my head.

"Guys, let's make a promise," I said abruptly.

"What promise?" Wyatt asked.

"Let's come back here every year," I proposed.

"Of course, that goes without saying," Coral stated in an obvious tone, annoyed that I interrupted her star performance.

I smiled widely and tilted my head up at Theo who returned that smile, as if silently agreeing that he didn't want these bonds to change either.

Theo kissed the top of my head and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Only a year ago, I wouldn't have imagined this fate for myself.

I never thought that I would fall in love with a guy who got gum in my hair. I never thought that I would tangle with this jerk so badly that there would be no getting out of it. I never thought that these would be the hands I would never want to let go of. He would be the only one whom I would never give up on.

Even ten years from now, in his arms was where I wanted to be. Because that's where I belonged. I was glad that I got tangled with my roommate.

— The End —