Janicka let herself into Roman's home. She walked into the living room and found him on the couch with a bag of frozen peas between his legs. Despite having had the procedure done and was now in somewhat pain, he was smiling. She on the other hand looked defeated.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. I knew there was a chance he wouldn't give you time off work," he patted the spot next to him. "Come here. I need a gentle hug."

She walked over to him, sat down, and hugged him as gently as she could.

"We still gotta use protection for three months until we get the all clear there's no swimmers left," he said.

She nodded but didn't say anything. His own happiness slowly faded.

"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I wanted to buy you a nice cake from the bakery down the street but my money wasn't good enough," she started crying.

It angered him to hear that. She wanted to spend her hard earned money on something as stupid as a cake for him, but the snobs working there hadn't allowed her to buy anything because she came from the other side of the river.

"I'm never gonna be good enough for your world," she said.
"I don't care. You're good enough for me," he said.

He placed the bag of frozen peas on the coffee table in front of him. He placed both hands on her cheeks and forced her to look at him.

"Fuck my world and fuck your world," he said. "Let's move to another town where no one knows us, and where people don't give a fuck about your money and status. Let's create our own fucking world."

Tears kept running over his fingers. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shake her head no.

"We can't," she said.
"Janicka, please," he said.
"We can't!" She raised her voice.
"Yes, we can!" He raised his voice too. "Let's just get the fuck up and leave. Nothing's stopping us. No one can force us to stay."

She started sobbing even louder. After everything they had gone through, he wasn't about to give up now. He wasn't going to lose her like this.

"Look at me!" He said firmly.

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Do you know what I got for my 18th birthday?" He asked.
"No," she answered.
"A bank account. My parents' weird way of claiming to love me. Here you go, son. We never cared to actually talk to you but here's a big, fat bank account so you never have to go without anything other than our love," he said.

He gritted his teeth in anger. He didn't care about the money. All he had ever wanted growing up was their love, and they had none to give.

"I got more than enough so that neither of us ever have to work a day in our lives. We can leave and start over wherever we want," he said.
"But my mom," she said.
"Your mother is forcing you to work your ass off to pay her bills. She'll never let you leave. No matter what happens, she'll never let you live your own life. You're gonna be stuck there forever. You know that. Don't deny it," he said.
"I'm not," she said.
"So let's just pack our shit and leave. We can get in my car and drive until we find a place we wanna live," he said.
"That's insane," she said.
"Love sometimes makes you do insane shit," he said.

They looked at each other for a couple of seconds. A little smile started to come through her tears.

"I'm scared," she said.
"Me too," he said.

She grabbed the bag of peas and placed it back on his crotch. She moved her eyes back up to meet his.

"If we're gonna do this, we need to at least talk things through and come up with a plan," she said. "I'm not sleeping in your car for weeks or even months."
"What's wrong with my car?" He asked.
"Nothing," she let out a little laugh. "But I prefer my back not being in pain everyday. I need a bed."

Her eyes dropped to his crotch for a second and then moved back up to his.

"We need a bed," she smirked. "If we're ever getting out of this town, we're gonna fuck each other's brains out so damn loudly that the entire neighborhood can hear us, and no one will think that we shouldn't be together.