AFTER WE MADE IT | HESSA

Chapter 12

Tessa's POV

"You will have to move to Chicago with me" he says and my mouth falls open.

What? Out of all the things, this was the last thing I expected him to say.

Here I was thinking that we were talking through our problems, seems like he has different plans! What happened to talking? When Ken asked us about it, he said "we will talk about it later", but where is the talking part? He seriously can't expect me to pack my bags and move to Chicago with him. He wouldn't do that either.

"What?" I raise my eyebrows at him

"You heard me" he says while crossing    his arms.

"Yes, I heard you! But you can't seriously expect me to pack my bags and move to Chicago with you!" I exclaim

"Why not? Remember Seattle? I was ready to move there with you" he says. What is he even talking about?

"So... that was what.. 2 years ago. How is this related to that?" I question

"Ofcourse it is! Why do I have to be the only one moving wherever the hell you want to?"

"Wherever the hell I want to? Hardin, that was different! Seattle was the city I dreamed living in since I was a kid. New York isn't that, it's the city where I have been living for the past two years, it has become my home now. You can't just decide that I move to a different city. What happened to us talking about it first?" I am furious at him, everything was going so perfect. Why does he have to ruin it?

"We are talking, aren't we?" he shrug his shoulder while leaning back against the headboard.

"No, we are fighting! You just made a decision for me, without us talking through it first." I frown.

"So, you want me to move to New York?" he ask

"No, that's not what I am trying to say. I don't expect that from you. I just wished we talked about it first, instead you jumping on to conclusions" I sigh

He doesn't say anything. He just stares at me blankly "Are you not going to say anything?"

"I will, but first come here" he opens his arms for me like he always does, but I don't walk into them. I need to stand my ground, he just fought with me for no reason.

"No" I refuse

"Tessa, come here. I was joking"

"You were joking?" I glare at him

"Yes now please, come here" he pouts and I find myself walking towards the bed. I have no self control when it comes to him, atleast I tried to reject him, but it isn't about that. I scoot towards the headboard but he grabs my right elbow and pulls me towards him. I am mad at him, but for some stupid reason I need to be close to him. I need his touch. I straddle his lap and wait for him to speak, but he doesn't, instead he just stares at me, his eyes filled with humour.
"Speak" I command

"Woah! Look at you, getting all bossy!"he says and a mischievous smile creeps across his face. "You started it, what did you mean when you said you were joking? " I ask.

"I meant you don't have to move to Chicago. I just said that to get you mad" I look at him with confusion

"Why? That's not funny!" I swat his arms

"It is though. You look cute when you get mad, and I have missed that" he tries to kiss me but I pull away. I am glad that he was trying to mess with me, I don't want us to go to the same old road where we parted our ways.

"So since you were joking does that mean you are moving to New York?" I ask, my voice full of hope

"No! None of us have to move anywhere."

"Then?"

"Like you said, we both have different lives now. You don't have to move to Chicago and I won't move to New York. We just got back together after a long ass break Tessa, we don't have to make life changing decisions right in this moment. We have got time, all we need to focus on is, us." he says while cupping my face. I am still confused, is he suggesting that we do long distance?

"Then we do long distance?" I ask

"Yeah, we will have to, until we figure something out." he smiles at me. I don't know whether I should be happy about the fact that he has become so understanding or upset at the idea of us doing long distance. I don't want to do long distance, but at the same time I cannot help but agree with what he said. He is right, we don't have to rush into making a decision that we will regret later. But at the same time we were never good at doing long distance in our past, will it even work out for us, this time?

"Hey" he grabs my hands and plants a kiss on the back of my palm, causing  butterflies in my stomach.

"What are you drilling your mind about, tell me?"

"It's nothing, it's just weird. I am happy but at the same time I feel sad, I know what you are saying is right but..."

"But what?"

"What if long distance doesn't work for us, it has never in the past?" I ask him while fidgeting with my fingers

"Tessa" he tilts my chin to look at him "I was always scared of losing you, hell I still am and that is exactly what that led to half of the shit I did before. My insecurity for not having a future with you, led me to lose you in the present, I don't want that to happen again. If we conclude on some decision now, there is a high chance that one of us will regret about it later. Don't worry about long distance not working, we never had civil conversations like this before but we are having them now, right? he chuckles and kisses my forhead. He is right, we aren't the same as we were 2 years ago, we could atleast try to make long distance work until we figure something out. I am not ready to give up on New York and it won't be fair on my part to ask him to give up of Chicago.

"I love you" I don't have anything else to say, except that I love him. We have found our ways through all the hurdles before, we will do it again, only this time with much more maturity and strength.

"So long distance, then?" he ask

"Unfortunately, yes" I pout

"Don't do that. Believe me if I can, I will pack you in a suitcase and take you to Chicago with me and never let you go again" he buries his face in my neck, his long hair tickle around the crook of my neck making me laugh.

"I am not letting you go, Tessa, not this time" his hand grip around my waist tighter than before.