Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 1890

Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

*     *     *

"Not fair!" Y/N groaned. "Why is your aim so good?"

"I've been playing this game for years, it just takes practice."

"I've been playing just as long as you have!"

"Well, not everyone can be good at Mario Kart."

Y/N shook her head and used her elbow to knock my arm to the side. It threw me off for a moment, but I was able to quickly get back on track and maintain my lead, much to her dismay.

"Excuse me, but that's a violation of rule number five: no using physical contact to distract or throw off other players. I'm going to need you to use a forfeit during the next round."

"That's a violation of rule number five," Y/N mocked me, suddenly leaning to the left as her character rounded a tight corner.

"Hey, watch it," I laughed, shifting my own body so that I was still able to see the screen. As much as I liked having Y/N leaned against my chest while we played video games, there were definitely a certain number of disadvantages that came along with it. One of those was how into the game she could get, resulting in her moving all over the place.

"Sorry, thought I was going to fall off the edge."

"You know moving your body doesn't actually affect the character, right?"

"Shh, it makes me feel better."

I went quiet as we neared the end of the race, holding out hope that Y/N wouldn't come up with some last-minute sabotage to take the win from me. She was only a couple points behind me overall, so I needed as many wins as I could get.

It was hard to contain my excitement when I finally did cross the finish line in first place. Since Y/N was still trying to secure her place in second, I gently wrapped my arms all the way around her and pressed a kiss - or maybe two - to her cheek.

"Ty-ler!" she groaned, still keeping her eyes on the screen. "That's a rule violation!"

"That's a rule violation," I repeated, using the same mocking tone she had earlier.

"Hey!"

"Oh, so are rule violations only important when they apply to you?"

Y/N crossed the finish line - taking second place - and then turned to me. "Yes, exactly."

"How is that fair?"

"Because then I get to win," she grinned.

"That plan doesn't seem to be working out, now does it?"

"Hey!" Y/N set her Wii remote down and crossed her arms across her chest. "You're so rude."

"But you love me," I said, giving her my sweetest smile.

Her expression immediately faltered and she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around me. I laughed as I did the same to her, holding her close to my chest.

"I do love you," she mumbled into my shoulder.

"I love you too." I pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. "Now what do you say we take a break and have some ice cream?"

"I like that idea," she said, then leaned back so that she could look at me properly. "And then can we go on a drive? We haven't gone driving just for fun since before you left."

"Of course."

Y/N and I grabbed our respective pints of ice cream from the fridge and then sat down on the couch. She was quick to tangle her legs up with mine, just to make sure we were still cuddling in some form even when we were sitting a couple feet apart.

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?"

A chill ran down my spine, but I brushed it off and met Y/N's eyes. "Sure, what's up?"

"So," she was idly dragging her spoon through her ice cream, "I was folding your tour laundry the other day, and when I was doing your shirts I might have found something."

Hundreds of possibilities began to run through my head, each worse than the last. What did I keep hidden in my t-shirt drawer?

"What did you find?" I asked, somehow managing to keep my voice steady.

"Do you, um, remember writing me a note on the back of an Ohio postcard?"

My eyes went wide as I remembered that morning, hunched over in the back of a tour van scribbling out my love confession on a cheap gas station postcard. I had chickened out about giving it to her then, but it seemed that it had still found its way to her.

"That was still in my t-shirt drawer?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was wrapped up in one of your old shirts that hasn't been touched since 2011 and somehow survived multiple moves."

"That card waited almost as long as I did to tell you how it felt."

"Were you really going to give that to me when you came back?"

"I wanted to. I only took it out the night before I gave you the rest of the postcards because I decided it was too soon and you might not feel the same. Anyway, yeah, you know the rest of the story," I said, smiling down at my ice cream.

"I swear that I learn about a new time that you almost confessed at least once a week," she laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I joined her laughter. "It was scary, alright?"

"I know! I know. But you did it."

"I did."

"Hey, Ty?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for spending time with me tonight. I know work is keeping you busy, but I really enjoy this time with you. It means a lot to me."

"No, thank you for being patient while I worked and waiting while I finished some things up. I know it isn't easy, but I appreciate it."

"Your welcome. I really hope things get worked out soon."

I held back a sigh. "Me too."

*     *     *

The night air was surprisingly warm as we drove down the back roads of Columbus, listening to music and talking about whatever came to mind. Y/N had her feet kicked up on the dash, as she always did. One of her hands was loosely holding mine, the other was twirling the strings of her sweatshirt around her forefinger.

"Hey, isn't that the road that goes down to the lake?" Y/N asked, pointing down a little side road.

"I think so. Why, do you want to go for a swim?"

"Not in this weather," she laughed. "I just didn't realize we were so far outside the city."

"We're not that far. Maybe thirty minutes at most."

"Still, I didn't think we had been driving that long."

"Time flies when you're having fun."

"I am having fun," she smiled. "Wait, do you remember when we went out to the lake before you left?"

"Of course I do."

"And you tackled me into the water after telling me that it was warm?"

"Ok, ok, I know I'm terrible at flirting, you don't have to remind me," I laughed, remembering the day. It was a good memory, but it was still tinged with the sadness of leaving for our first tour. I hadn't been lucky enough to be able to bring Y/N along with me then.

"You got better!"

"No, you just learned to accept my dorkish charm."

"I love your dorkish charm."

"I'm glad somebody does."

I pulled Y/N's hand closer to me and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, since it was just about the most that I could do while driving. She squeezed my hand in return and then went back to looking out the window. We were quiet for a little while, letting the quiet music fill the air between us as we enjoyed one another's company.

"I'm going to miss it here when we leave again," she said. "Of all the places we've been, nowhere has made me feel quite like Columbus does."

"Because it's home," I said, glancing over at her. "Think of all the memories that we have here."

"Too many to count, but I'm looking forward to making new memories on tour with you."

Y/N lightly squeezed my hand. My mouth partially curled into a smile, but it quickly faded again. I had still yet to tell her about the additional meetings that had been scheduled for this week. As much as I hated to ruin the peaceful night we were having, I knew that it would be better to tell her sooner rather than later.

"Um, speaking of tour," I started. If you listened close enough, you could hear the way that my voice was shaking.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember how I told you that we didn't get everything done that we needed to last week?"

Y/N went quiet for a little while. I started to tap my thumb nervously against the steering wheel.

"Was I half asleep when you told me?"

"I think so."

"Ok, because that sounds vaguely familiar but I can't really pinpoint it. Anyway, you didn't get everything done that you needed to?"

"Right," I nodded. "So in order to make up for that, they scheduled two additional meetings this week on Tuesday and Thursday."

"Oh."

Explanations were pouring out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. "They shouldn't be as long as the meeting last week because we split up the time better, but I know you were really looking forward to spending time together. I'm going to try and not work at home as much to make up for it, but I really don't know how much I can get out of it. It just seems like all the original plans are falling apart and thankfully Josh is coming, but I'm not sure if we're going to be able to do all the things that we wanted to and-"

"Ty, hey," Y/N reached out and squeezed my shoulder. "Deep breaths. It's all going to be ok. Like you said, Josh is flying in and I know that together you two have enough sway to get what you want. Tour is still a couple weeks away, there's time to iron the details out."

"I guess."

"I'm right here, love."

I took a couple deep breaths as we pulled up to a stop sign. Y/N kept her hand on my shoulder, rubbing rhythmic circles into it. Once we were stopped, I turned to look at her.

"I'm really sorry about this."

"It's ok. This is your job and what you love, it should always come first."

She smiled, but I knew her well enough to tell that it wasn't genuine. Her eyes weren't shining the way that they usually did.

"You should always come first."

"But that's not always an option."

After pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek, Y/N sat back and took hold of my hand again. I pressed my lips together, holding in my thoughts, and pulled out onto the next road. She was right, even if I didn't want to admit it. At the end of the day, the band was still my job, I couldn't just push it aside because I wanted to stay at home and spend time with Y/N instead. Right now, it had to come first.

No matter how guilty it made me feel.