Lollipops

Chapter 35: Two Years Later

Bella's POV:

I quietly slip through the front door of Colton and I's apartment. The apartment is silent. I walk into the living room and what I see makes me smile softly. Colton is flaked out on the couch with a sketchpad on his chest, a pencil loosely gripped in between his fingers, and his black-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He's been exhausted lately with all his assignments and so have I. I walk over and put his stuff on the coffee table before taking his glasses off and covering him with a blanket. Then I kiss his forehead and head to the kitchen to make us something to eat.

I decide to make us some chicken alfredo for supper and while I'm cooking I let my mind wander. Colton and I have been together for almost three years and are in our second year of college. We decided to buy our own apartment after we finished our first year because we wanted to give Becky and Jordan their space and because we wanted our space too. The apartment isn't very big, it only has one bedroom but it's super cozy and we've decorated it so it has a very homey feel. Over the past two years, it hasn't all been perfect. We've both had some problems with sleeping and last year we both got so lost in our work that I didn't notice Colton was barely eating. He ended up passing out during one of his lectures and getting rushed to the hospital. Since then I've been doing all my lectures except my labs at home so I can help him through this and keep an eye on him. Plus I feel like we need to spend some more time together.

Overall though things are going ok. Colton's cancer hasn't come back, thank goodness, I'm finally getting a handle on my sleeping issues and our relationship is stronger than ever.

Supper is just about ready so I quickly set the table and go wake up Colton. "Colt, wake up love. Supper's ready," I whisper, running my fingers through his hair to gently wake him.

He slowly opens his eyes and smiles at me, leaning up to kiss me. "Hey Baby, how was class," he asks groggily?

"It was good. Now come on, your supper is getting cold."

He slowly walks into the kitchen, rubbing the drowsiness from his eyes. "Aww, this is so sweet Baby. Thank you," he says, giving me a hug. "Now go sit down." He gives me a peck on the forehead and gently pushes me towards our small kitchen table.

We sit and have a nice supper together then we decide to put our work away and have a movie night. We picked "The Greatest Showman" because we both love the soundtrack. We settle in with popcorn and lots of chocolate and of course lollipops. Our love for lollipops has not changed. I'm humming along to "A Million Dreams" when Colton grabs my chin and kisses me softly. I sink into it, wrapping my arms around him. He pulls away and we're both panting.

"You know this song reminds me of you," he whispers, pressing kisses down my neck.

I giggle. "Really, why?"

"Because when I got out of surgery you sang me this song because I was upset and you sang me to sleep."

I smile fondly at the memory. "God, I was so worried that day," I muttered.

"I know you were. You tried to hide it but you didn't do a very good job." He buries his face in my neck, still kissing and sucking on it softly.

"I'm just so glad everything turned out ok. I don't know what I would have done if.."

"Baby girl, please don't talk like that," he pleads, turning me around so I'm straddling him with my head buried in her neck. He leans down so his lips are brushing my ear as he talks. "I'm sorry Baby. I'm sorry that I stopped eating and got so lost in my work that it affected my health. I'm especially sorry that I scared you and kept you up at night worrying about me."