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Samira glanced around the cramped living room, eyes scanning the surfaces that hours earlier had been covered in clothing and toiletries; shoes in plastic bags so as not to scuff up her blouses and extras of her favorite notebooks. Absentmindedly reviewing the packing list she’d drawn up in a panic that morning, she took a shaky breath and folded the piece of paper back into the trash. It’s not like you’re going to Antarctica, she thought to herself, if you forget your toothpaste or socks, you can buy more when you get to Minneapolis.
Checking the time on her phone, she moved to pad down the hallway to find him when Jack suddenly appeared, dragging with him a duffle bag and a suitcase that she’d never seen before. “What are those? I’ve got my stuff all ready to go out here.”
“Did you expect me to just wear the same musty pair of boxers and jeans for the next 8 weeks?” Jack had that faint smile on his face she’d seen a million times; halfway between a smirk and a grin, normally reserved for moments when he corrected a headstrong MS4 or resident who missed something entirely obvious.
Brows knit, Samira took a step closer to him, pursing her lips. “I’m confused. Why would you need 8 weeks of stuff? Where are you going Jack?” Rolling his eyes, Jack closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her waist, dropping his forehead against hers.
“Samira. Did you think I was joking when I said I’d follow you anywhere? I got a small Airbnb near yours. Figured that was the most responsible thing to do in case you didn’t want me up in your grill every day.”
Realization dawning on her, Samira pulled back, gently rubbing the backs of her hands against Jack’s neck. “I—I thought you were just trying to placate me. You said it when I was in the middle of panicking about this TLA and I thought it was just a thought. Not that you’d actually follow me,” she whispered, mind rolling back the tape of that night. This thing they were in, not quite a relationship, at least within the definition she’d always had, but too serious and too monogamous to be called a hookup or fling, was relatively new.
Yes, they’d known each other and worked together for 6 years, but things hadn’t shifted until one rainy night 7 months ago when Samira, buzzed off of 2 Negronis chugged on an empty stomach, basically jumped Jack as they sprinted to his car after a post-shift get together. Since that moment, it was as if they molded into one timeline; a space where they started most days together and ended every night in unison. It was grocery runs where they argued over who would push the cart, dinners while binging their favorite TV shows, sleepily folding the laundry they’d abandoned on the bed hours earlier so they could fall into it wrapped in each others heat.
“Placate you? Samira, honey, when have I ever not followed through with what I say? Of course I’m coming with you. I put in for the leave of absence the day you sent them your signed agreement. Did you really think I could bear two months of not being able to hear your loud ass chewing?” Jack grinned, dodging the light smack Samira lodged at his arm. “Look…I know we’ve been dancing around what this,” he motioned between them, “is, and I know that you said from day one that you wanted to take things slowly and not assign a title or label or whatever, but the reality of the situation is that you’re my girlfriend and I love you more than anything. You don’t need to say it back or overthink it or anything, but where you go, I’m always going to follow and wait for you to have me in whatever capacity you want to.”
Letting out a shaky breath she didn’t even know she was holding, Samira blinked back tears as she pulled Jack down into a kiss, her heart exploding in a way she could never have dreamed of a year ago. “I don’t know what to say other than I love you too and I want you in all capacities, always,” Samira sniffed. Jack beamed, pecking her repeatedly and thanking a God he’d long abandoned for the presence of the woman pressed into his chest. “Let’s get the car packed up. You’ve got a date with the Mayo Clinic we don’t want you to miss.”