"Seriously, Lily, he's only been gone three days. Cheer up. You've got what, five and a half more weeks of this? It isn't going to fly with me."

"Forty seven days," I corrected softly, turning to look at Delaney as I stared at a picture of he and I, sitting at the dining room table after she had made lunch. "And I know ... I just -"

"Miss him, I know," Delaney said, voice quiet and knowing as she sat down across from me, reaching over and placing her hand on top of mine. "Lily, listen: this is what's best for the two of you right now. He loves you, he's told you that, right?"

"Not directly," I said softly as she raised an eyebrow, "just how he loves everything about me and blah, blah, blah ..." I trailed off, eyes widening, "he doesn't love me."

"That's ridiculous," Delaney argued, "he does. Maybe he's just not wanting to say it because it'll make it more difficult. Lily, telling someone that they love you and then saying you want six weeks away from them is a pretty difficult task to withhold. Maybe he's trying to keep things as simple as they can be until they just ... stop being that way."

"Stop being what way, exactly?" I looked up from the picture, finger still idly tracing the edges. "Difficult?"

Delaney reached forward, taking the photo from my hands and putting it in her view as she studied it. "Maybe he's afraid of love. Maybe the thought of actually loving someone the way he loves you scares the hell out of him. Maybe he wants the two of you get time away from each other to see if what he feels is real."

"He won't ever know," I mumbled, pushing the chair out and stepping down off of the stool. "Maybe he is just in love with the idea of actually having someone who puts up with his crazy life."

"Or maybe he does know. Maybe he's in love with the woman who just so happens to be able to put up with his crazy life. He had problems in the past with women, right?" She looked at me as I nodded, and I saw the gears in her head turning. "Then maybe he's just afraid that you'll turn out to be one of them. Or maybe he knows you're the real deal. That you won't play him like they did." She got up, running her hands up and down my arms as I sighed, shaking my head. "Just, don't give up hope, Lily. I know you've always been the one in the shadows of us, but this is your time. This is all about you, okay? You'll be the one crazily in love with an amazing man while your sisters either struggle to make ends meet, wonder when their husband is going to come home or if your fiance will leave you for another woman. You'll have him completely and we'll all be jealous of you this time. Hell, I'm already jealous." She kissed my cheek, her cell phone ringing from her back pocket. "I have to take that. Luce said she was gonna call."

I nodded, watching her walk away before walking back to the table and picking up the photo. It was a photo of the two of us sitting on the couch, his arm around me as I leaned into him. His head was on top of mine, half-asleep and giving a lazy smile as I gave my 'get the camera out of my face' smile. If I remembered correctly, Rob had taken it.

Rob. The reason for all of this occuring.

I didn't like Rob.

As I climbed the stairs to Delaney's guest room, I heard her talking animatedly with our sister. She didn't have a man and she was happy. I didn't have a man and I was miserable. How did that work out? Probably because she was more aware of herself than I ever would be, but it still sucked that my heart was always worn on my sleeve while hers was locked and protected beneath bones of steel.

I heard the faint ringing of my cell phone, the ringtone one that JC had set for himself when he called. It obviously meant one thing: he was calling.

Duh.

My heart jumped clear into my throat as I walked quickly into the guest room, shutting the door and diving on the bed and grabbing my cell phone before it stopped. "Hey."

"I miss you."

My stomach dropped at those three words more than it ever dropped at 'I love you' At that moment, they meant more than anything else would. "You do?"

"I do," he said without hesitation. "I know we agreed to have six weeks away but I already feel like we've been apart long enough. I just, I just needed to hear your voice."

"What's wrong?" I asked as he sighed deeply on the other end. "I know it's more than this."

"It's just been a long day and not being able to just turn my head and catch your eyes made it even longer and less worthwhile. I thought that when we did this, I'd be able to gather a sense of myself and a sense of what we are. I thought that I'd be able to suck it up and be a man and love you the way I want to ... but maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I already know all of this; maybe you should just come back. We'll continue on like we have and I won't question it -"

"No," I said softly, my face twisting in disbelief. My heart had said that, not my mind. Wow. "We need this. As much as we need each other, we need this. Six weeks really isn't that long if you think about it ..."

"It's an eternity, Lily," he said softly. "I just want to be able to kiss you and feel better at night when I know you're right there. How did you do it, huh? How?"

"How did I do what, Jace?" I sat up, hugging a pillow to my chest as I leaned against the headboard. "Last these first few days? I have no idea."

"No. How did you get me to fall in love with you?"

"How did I -" I stopped, the words settling. "How did I get you to fall in love with me?"

"That is what I asked, my love."

My stomach twisted and I suddenly felt nauseated. "I don't know, because I was wondering the same thing about you."

He laughed and suddenly my body loosened up again. "Are you speaking to Rob again?"

He laughed slightly. "Kind of have to. And slick way to change the subject."

"Jace, we really shouldn't be -"

"I know," his voice lowered, suddenly saddened. "I just needed to hear your voice. I've been looking at all our pictures that I have on my laptop on my downtime."

I smiled slightly, free hand still holding onto the photo that I had. "Yeah, I have a picture or two that I've been looking at."

He snickered slightly. "I better go. Otherwise you will be seeing me quicker than in six weeks."

"Okay."

"Lily?"

I bit my lip, fighting back tears at the goodbye that would be inevitable for the next five and a half weeks. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

It took all that I had to keep the sob at bay as I bit harder into my lip, close to drawing blood and nodding to myself. "I love you, too."

"I just wanted you to know that because I know you're questioning a lot of things. I don't want you to question that, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll see you soon."

"Mmmhmm," I closed my eyes tightly, hanging up the phone and putting it into my lap as I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes, keeping the tears from falling. I could do this, I could -

My phone beeped, alerting me of a text message. JC.

I can't do this.

I opened up the text message, seeing that it was a picture one and smiled. It was him from today, I guessed, jutting out his lip and holding a piece of paper to the side of his face. On the paper, it read: 'Distance is the test of our love, so if we survive it, we are going to be forever.'

I smiled through my tears. He did love me. I saw that the message was longer, so I scrolled down and a sudden sob escaped my mouth as the words blurred in my vision.

I never knew what love was until I met you. Then, when distance pulled us apart, I found out what true love is. I miss you, I love you and I need you more than you will ever know. Love happens once in a lifetime, Lily - you are my once in a lifetime.

I can do this.