Chapter Thirty Eight: Into the Fire by Thirteen Senses

Jack and Rose were walking home from the gym one night. "I can't believe we hear back in one day," said Rose.

"From Barnard and Pratt?" Jack asked.

Rose nodded. "What if I don't get in?"

"Are you kidding?" Jack asked with a scoff. "You're getting in."

"You'll feel really silly saying that when Barnard sends me an email saying, 'sorry, Rose, you're not good enough'," said Rose.

"Okay, how about this," said Jack. "We distract you from the fact that you're hearing back from Barnard, and we pick up some dinner, and we go back home and start making decisions about our trip."

Rose smiled and nodded. "That sounds great."

They went to get dinner and went back to the apartment. "So, where should we fly into?" Jack asked. "London?"

"We could circle through London," said Rose. "Fly in and fly out."

"Okay," said Jack. "So school ends in May, but then we want to move into the apartment."

"Do you think a week is enough?" Rose asked. "I would say like, three days. But we shouldn't be stressed."

"Agreed," said Jack. "I think a week should be fine. So we'll leave the twenty ninth?"

"Good," said Rose. "And then we can fly into London, stay with Janet for… four days."

"Then from there we can go to France, Italy-" Jack began.

"It's too bad it's summer, because we could ski," said Rose.

"I don't know how," said Jack.

"It's not hard," said Rose. "It looks really impressive when you do it, but it's not hard."

"Did you do it a lot?" Jack asked.

"Winter breaks," said Rose. "I used to drive up to Vermont with my dad."

"Is it scary when you look down the mountain?" Jack asked.

"Well, no," said Rose. "But I'm also the girl that lets guys throw her twenty feet into the air, so I'm not really sure how reliable I am."

Jack laughed. "Where's your computer?"

"On the desk," said Rose. "Why?"

"I'm looking at air tickets," said Jack. He quickly bought the tickets.

"Why are you being secretive?" Rose asked with a giggle. She snatched the computer away from him. "You bought first class tickets with your own card?"

"Happy honeymoon," said Jack. He kissed her.

Rose laughed. "Is this our honeymoon?" She asked. "I think you actually have to get married for that."

"Who's going to stop us from calling it that?" Jack asked.

"I guess you're right," said Rose. "How could you afford that?"

"I've been working a lot for two years," said Jack. "I've been saving a little bit every paycheck."

"That's very responsible," said Rose with a smile. They booked hotels and started looking at activities. They didn't even notice that it was two in the morning.

Rose was sitting on her bed, looking at her phone, and Jack put his head down on her lap, looking up at her. "Hi."

She put down her phone and ran her hands through his hair. "Hi." She looked down at him, trying not to grab him and kiss him all over. She never knew this type of love existed, and she definitely never thought she'd be lucky enough to find it. "I love you."

Jack look her hand and kissed it. "I love you too."

They finally went to sleep. Jack's arms were secured around Rose's waist, as they always were, and he was asleep. But Rose couldn't sleep. She was too worried about getting into Barnard. "I can feel you tossing and turning," Jack whispered. Rose turned around to face him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared," said Rose.

"About what? Barnard?" Jack asked.

Rose nodded.

"You deserve to get in. But there's nothing we can do about it now. Just… try to relax." He planted a loving kiss on her bottom lip before closing his eyes again.

"How are you so calm about this?" Rose asked, and Jack shrugged. "It's because you already think you didn't get in."

"I don't know," said Jack. "I'm a good artist for the small group home, or for our little school. But the Pratt Institute? I just don't know."

Rose into his eyes. "You will," she said. "But… we'll find out tomorrow."

They finally both slept. Jack woke up before her and decided to go pick up breakfast for her. He got dressed and left the room.

He picked up coffees, fruit salads, and avocado toast that he knew Rose liked. He went back to the room as she was waking up. "Hey, where'd you go?"

"Hey," he said, and he kissed her. "Would you rather have breakfast in bed or go to the park?"

"Breakfast in bed," said Rose. "It's cold outside."

"Okay," said Jack, and he started taking out the food.

"What's for breakfast?" Rose asked.

"Avocado toast, berries, coffee," said Jack.

"From Bluestone?" Rose asked.

Jack smiled and nodded. "I know that's your favorite."

"Yes, it is," said Rose.

Jack brought over Rose's coffee and avocado toast. He sat on the bed, facing her. "Did you end up sleeping last night?"

"A little," said Rose. "I have the worst cramps ever."

"So here's a question," said Jack. "How bad are cramps really?"

"They're the worst," said Rose. "I just want to cry and stay in bed and literally die."

"And these are facts?" Jack asked.

"Straight up facts," said Rose. "It's this underlying pain that just… digs at you the whole time. God, it's the worst."

"I'm sorry," said Jack. "Doesn't Advil help?"

"Yeah," said Rose. "But you can't take it on an empty stomach, so in the middle of the night it's really bad."

"Sorry," said Jack. "What time do you hear from Barnard?"

"Four o'clock," said Rose. "So four and a half hours to go…"

"I know," said Jack. "I hear from Pratt at the same time."

"I have no idea how I'm going to open that email," said Rose.

Jack smiled. "You'll be fine. We both will be."

"I know we'll be fine, but I just want this so badly, and you want this so badly," said Rose. "I just… I wish we could skip over these four hours and just know.

•••

Sure enough, it was four o'clock. Rose was looking on her computer, and Jack was on his phone. "I'm nervous," said Rose.

"Me too," said Jack. "But we'll be fine."

"I hope you're right," said Rose. Her phone alarm went off. "Four!"

They both quickly refreshed their emails and saw an email from Barnard and Pratt. Jack and Rose opened the emails and read them, looking at each other nervously.