Disclaimer: As you all know, these characters aren't mine. They belong to Dick Wolf and NBC.

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Day 9: A Love Story Told In Three Moments

Universe: Possibly Of Honor Societies and Extracurricular Activities

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1. Death Cab for Cutie – "Passenger Seat"

I roll the window down/And then begin to breathe in

The darkest country road/And the strong scent of evergreen

From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

Then looking upwards/I strain my eyes and try

To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites

From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

"Do they collide?"/I ask and you smile.

With my feet on the dash/The world doesn't matter.

She's taking the long way home, following back roads until they turn to gravel, and keeping her hand intertwined with yours in the middle of the bench seat. The stars glitter in the dark sky, and you have never been more in love with her than you are in this moment.

You roll your window down and breathe in as the smell of pine trees fills the truck, and you know that things are going to change with college starting in just a couple weeks, but this moment is feels perfect, like Christmas morning when you were five and you woke up to find your very best friend still fast asleep next to you and a mountain of presents surrounding the tree.

Your prop your feet up on the dashboard and tighten your grip on her hand and nothing else in the world matters.

And you are so in love.

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2. Taylor Swift – "This Love"

Clear blue water, high tide came and brought you in

And I could go on and on, on and on, and I will

Skies grew darker, currents swept you out again

And you were just gone and gone, gone and gone

In silent screams, in wildest dreams/I never dreamed of this

This love is good, this love is bad/This love is alive back from the dead

These hands had to let it go free/And this love came back to me

She left you on a Wednesday, just hours before the biggest football game of your entire college career, citing that the two of you were at different stages in your life – you wanted a wife and she wanted a career, and you couldn't understand why you both couldn't have what you wanted.

You still went on to win the game and make a lot of money, but none of it mattered because the one thing you always wanted was gone.

And you still don't understand why you both couldn't have what you wanted all those years ago, but as she walks toward you now, you think of that quote "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was, and always will be yours." and you think that, maybe, it was all worth it.

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3. One Direction – "18"

I got a heart/And I got a soul/Believe me I will use them both

We made a start/Be it a false one, I know/Baby, I don't want to feel alone

So kiss me where I lay down/My hands pressed to your cheeks

A long way from the playground

I have loved you since we were 18

Long before we both thought the same thing

To be loved and to be in love

All I could do is say that these arms were made for holding you

I wanna love like you made me feel when we were 18

You remember being eighteen and taking the long way home, the smell of pine filling her truck. You remember thinking you could never love her more than you did at that moment.

But now you're both pushing thirty and you're married with a baby on the way and bills to pay and a mortgage to keep up with, but you still wake up every morning and watch the way the sun spills over her, highlighting the gold in her hair and the freckles adorning her cheeks, and you still love her like you did at eighteen.

And you think that maybe this is what everyone is talking about when they talk about paradise.

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