Ancilla: SOUNDBITE EDITION. (SERIALIZED, MATURE SECTIONS MARKED)

Binah (PART 2, has 1831 words)

"Have you started your college hunt yet?" he asks me out of the blue.

I blink at him. "What? But I'm already back in college."

"You'll be twenty-four in just a little over a year from now. That means you'll qualify as financially independent, and you'll be able to apply for financial aid without a parental co-signer. I looked into the details after you told me how that worked, because things have changed a little since I was in college. I do remember it took me the better part of a year to look for graduate schools, though, and longer than that when I was searching for places where I could get my bachelor's degree. I know you've only been attending classes at the university here for a few months, now, but have you thought about where you want to apply the credits you're earning here?"

"No. I haven't thought that far. I could just stay here, couldn't I? That might be easiest."

"You could. You could go full-time and then apply to be part of the honors college; if you are a part of it, it would look good on your record when you send off your grad school applications. You would have more opportunities at a different university, though. A wider selection of classes in the humanities, since the university here is geared more toward practical degrees than degrees in the liberal arts, which I'm sure you've noticed; you'd have better professors in a private college, also better name recognition, both of which improve your chances of being accepted into a good graduate school. I don't think you'd need to worry about cost - there are scholarships everywhere, as well as grants for people who show obvious financial need. And it wasn't so long ago that you were telling me how much you were looking forward to searching for a new college where you could get a fresh start."

"But why can't I just stay here with you?"

"You like the idea of living with me indefinitely, now?" He smiles. "I would have thought I'd be impossible to live with."

"This comes as a surprise? I love you. I am yours. Yes."

"Oh, eromene! That you want to be a part of my future, and not just my present, is a delight. We should talk about this, though, because I am not sure that what you envision for a future with me meets my vision of a future that contains you. Were you... were you asking about making things more formal, more permanent?"

His face is either glowing or blushing. I'm not sure which. Meanwhile, I'm not sure whether seeing his hopes bloom delights me or makes me uncomfortable.

"Maybe. I don't know. I hadn't thought about it. I just know I want to be with you."

"Ah. Of course."

Great. Now we're both confused. Also, I might have just broken his heart. And maybe broken my heart, but I'll determine that latter bit when I'm not confused.

"I don't want to go away. My first girlfriend and I didn't work out because it was long distance and it hurt too much to never be able to see each other."

He sighs. "Did it occur to you that, unlike your first girlfriend, I have a car, and I can visit you on weekends if you're only an hour or two away?"

"Uh." That actually hadn't occurred to me.

"If you want to stay near me, an Ivy League university is out of the question. However, I can think of at least ten colleges and universities that are only about an hour away, at most," he says, "some of them quite prestigious. It wouldn't hurt to start ordering admissions brochures and looking through them now, to get a better idea of what might be a good fit for you. Also, perhaps now would be a good time to think about whether you want to live off-campus if you go off to college somewhere a little way away from here, or if you want to live in a dorm. If you don't mind my visiting your dorm, I won't mind. Although I think it would be better to bring you back here for our dates, all things considered... At any rate, it's in the future. There's plenty of time. But it doesn't hurt to do a little research in advance."