I felt a lump in my throat that morning as I got ready for school.

I still had Grace's and Bree's initials on my arm's hard cast and it was heavy to lug around – good thing I had the sling.

The only bad thing was that it made my injury all the more noticeable.

~x~

"Brace ourselves," Anxiety said as the emotions watched the screen, Riley's bus pulling up at the high school.

"For what?" Joy asked, oblivious and everyone pointed to the screen as all of Riley's friends spotted her and were quickly coming over.

"For unwanted attention," Anxiety uttered weakly and Embarrassment was already slamming down buttons, unable to control himself.

~x~

"Riley?!" Val yelled to me, coming over quickly and tapping my cast with her knuckles, "I knew you got hurt the last game, BUT I didn't think you broke something?!"

"Heh heh," I laughed nervously, and gave an awkward smile, "Yep, I sure did!"

Though as I was saying this, my cheeks were turning red, as the other girls quickly surrounded me to know what had happened.

"Well..." I said.

~x~

"They want to know the whole story!" Disgust yelled, shocked that everyone was watching their Riley with eager curious eyes.

"I got this," Joy said quickly and rotated a dial.

~x~

"I just got distracted, and before I knew it I had slammed into the wall."

"Ooo," The other girls said, squinting in the pain they must've imagined I had been in.

But I didn't care much for their reactions, no, my eyes were searching everywhere for him.

Bradley.

The boy I loved... who said he loved me... but had he changed his mind? Or was it always a lie on his part?

The school bell knelled and every one of us waved goodbye as we headed for our class.

And just as I pushed open my door, I saw HIM there, sitting at the desk beside my usual one.

~x~

Love's eyes were looking straight at the screen, no blinking, just completely possessed by the picture of Bradley in Riley's stare.

~x~

I gulped nervously, sitting down beside Bradley, but I squinted in pain when my cast hit off the corner of my desk, and Bradley pulled a quick worried expression, as he whispered fast to me.

"Did I cause that?"

~x~

"Ha ha!" Anger only faked laughed and added with irony in his voice, "DUH!"

~x~

"What?" I replied instantly, breaking into a nervous smile and quickly shaking my head, "No, no! I'm always hurting myself,"

"But I must've distracted you..." Bradley continued, his finger scrunching up a ball of paper anxiously as he said, "After I had said those words..."

~x~

"Those words?!" Anxiety yelled, pulling her threads of hair down with her hands in shock that he had said this, "You mean, 'I love you'?!"

~x~

"You mean...?" I whispered to him now as the teacher had arrived in and was heading for the desk at the top of the room, "'I love you?'"

"Yeah..." He whispered back and I swallowed heavily as I asked him, tears nearly welling in my eyes.

"Do you..?"

His own eyes shined, and he waved me closer, so I leant forward. He picked up a marker and wrote something on my cast.

I was going to pull away, but I didn't. I was so eager to know what he had written.

Once he was done, he let go of my white hard cast and I pulled it to me, gazing at the spot he had signed.

My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped open a little bit as I read the letters-

R.A & B.P

4EVER

I slowly looked back up at him and he smiled warmly at me in return.

"Bradley, I-"

"SHH!" The teacher then yelled at the class, trying to get everyone to settle down and shut up.

We both sat up straight at our desks that instant, and the teacher began the class.

~x~

"He wrote our initials together!" Envy sighed in delirium and the rest of the emotions felt like they were on a high.

Love only smiled softly up both sides of his cheeks, as Riley thought over this action and kept replaying the memory like a clip in her brain.

~x~

When lunch came I tried to look for Bradley. Just as I stepped foot outside to the school grounds, feeling hopeless now in my search – I suddenly found him sitting by himself on a wooden bench and I approached him nervously.

"Bradley..?" I asked and he turned his eyes up, looking at me in silence.

"Hey, Riley..."

~x~

"Something is wrong..." Love then said, peering closer at Bradley on the screen and trying to figure out what the matter was with the young teenage boy.

~x~

"Is something wrong..?"

Bradley sighed heavily, closing his eyes and nodding his head.

"Yeah..."

"What..?"

He patted the spot beside him for me to sit down as well, and I did so, but I was very apprehensive.

"I'm going back to Australia..."

My heart stopped beating the moment he said this, before it began to thud hard and I only said.

"Huh..?"

"Just for six months... and it's a real problem..."

"Uh huh...?" I uttered weakly as my heart started to break inside.

"Because, I love you..."

~x~

The whole control room was blasting with loud signals, the emotions freaking out, and even Love, for once, didn't know what to do.

~x~

"You really do..?" I asked him weakly and he nodded his head.

I couldn't help myself at that moment as I threw my arms around him in a hug, tears welling again in my eyes.

"But..." He said, squeezing me back softly before moving away a little so he could see my face, "I don't want this to end."

"Neither do I," I told him, breaking into a trembling smile and he cupped my cheek, pulling me slowly to him and we shared a kiss.

~x~

Love was shining so brightly now from the inside of Riley's head, that the whole room was nearly bathed in his glow.

~x~

"So... I was hoping..." Bradley began once our lips parted and he looked me in the eyes, "That we could do... long distance..?"

"Long distance..?" I uttered back, still feeling his saliva on my lips, "You think that would work?"

"There's only one way to find out."

~x~

"Do it."

Everyone paused when Love said this, as he stared at the screen and stared at Bradley.

"But can they really go the distance?" Anxiety asked and everyone frowned at her for saying this... but it was still on Riley's mind. That very question.

~x~

"You really think we can?"

"Six months can go by really fast," Bradley said and I smiled, having to trust in him... in me... in us.

"Only six months?"

"I'll be back before you even know it."

I gulped again heavily, looking at him... his calm handsome face, that twinkle in his eyes.

I had to believe, I had to trust. I looked at him and just nodded my head, my heart filling with warmth as I proclaimed.

"Okay..." I grinned at him as we leant our foreheads together and I said, "Let's do this."

XXXX

One week later he was gone, and I felt so very empty inside. But we promised we would email and text every day... and that we did.

But his physical presence is what I missed the most. Having a hand to hold, a body to hug and lips to kiss... it was all not there... but when I saw his face on video chat, I still felt my heart beat for him...

But like I said... it just wasn't the same. Until Christmas came and I got up from the living room to answer the door that knocking was coming from.

The moment I saw him there, I broke into a huge smile as I asked the young man there, myself in disbelief.

"Bradley..?"

He nodded and fell into my arms as he hugged me close.

"Yep,"

"But I thought you weren't coming back for another month?"

"My parents let me come early."

My eyes were full of tears, happy and joyful tears.

He came inside, and met my parents, like he had done before and my dad winked at him, as if the three of them knew something I didn't.

"What... what is it?"

Mum and Dad smiled at each other, as they glanced between them and then at Bradley.

"He's staying here for the next three weeks of the holidays," Mum said to me, and my heart sped up in shock, but also quick delight.

"You are..?" I asked Bradley then and he nodded in reply.

"I am."

The two of us smiled warmly at each other before the rest of the day went by... and honestly, it had been the best Christmas ever.

~x~

Love watched the whole moment with such a happy satisfied smile on his face as he finally proclaimed, "Mission complete. My job is done."

Everyone looked over at him confused as Joy asked, nearly lost for words, "What do you mean? Riley still needs you!"

"Yes, but," He continued, smirking a little bit at Joy's own naivety, "Where one job ends, a new one begins."

"And what is that new one?" Disgust asked, concerned.

Love only grinned at her, saying in such simple determination.

"Marriage."

Everyone laughed, till they saw he was serious and Joy joked nervously.

"Maybe that should be put in the back of the mind for now."

Love rolled his eyes at Joy's reply.

~x~

For some reason, at the end of the day as I lay in bed – Bradley in our spare room next door to me, a thought came and I grinned as it passed through my head.

Mrs Riley Bradley Perry...

~x~

"Oh no..." Joy squeaked and Love only grinned at this thought as it sounded off loudly in the control room.

"Oh yes," Love only said, chuckling at this... this lovely thought, "Mrs Riley Bradley Perry..."

The whole room was quiet and he only smiled wider and wider, "What a perfect end for tonight."

~x~

I fell asleep with a smile on my face and a dance in my heart.

Today was perfect... and maybe, tomorrow would be even better.

Because I had him here... and I bet we could go the distance.

I just knew in my heart.

The End.