Her gift for James was back at the house. 

She had written a short story where the two of them were in outer space, fighting aliens and saving the day together. They collected shooting stars and had planets named after them, thanks to their adventures and accomplishments. The notion was so thrilling that what was originally meant to be three to four pages, ended up being seventeen pages long but she was very happy with it and had bound it in a white leather book which also had a doodle of them both in cool costumes overlooking the cosmos. 

When the girl opened the box, she took out the silver item and looked at it closely, noticing the inscription after he pointed it out.

"It's not lame!" She blurted out and found her face suddenly flushed with the color of a dozen ruby roses.

"I love it. Thank you!" Sasha smiled and leaned in and kissed him.

Pulling back, she put the trinket on and observed it, her gaze soft and inviting. "I have something for you too, but it's not with me...if I knew we were exchanging gifts now..." She trailed off, knowing the timing itself didn't matter as much as the consideration. "This whole trip has been such a treat and it's all thanks to you and your family...I know I was hesitant to go but I'm glad I'm here now." She said and grabbed hold of his hand, the bracelet lightly brushing against his own flesh. "Come on, let's get back. I can't wait to give you my present." She declared and then nudged him with her head as she often did, thinking herself to be like a cat.

"I got you a first edition dictionary cause I know you'd make full use of it." She teased.

When they did return, she gave him the small leather book with their typed up trek around the galaxy and he seemed very interested in reading it. The rest of the trip went just as smoothly, much to everyone's delight. Sasha and James returned to school and things carried on without much incident. Sasha continued to work and date James and when summer came, they had plenty of time to spend together, having BBQs, going to the shops and joking around, and even hopping off to the local pool every weekend. 

The next two years were a blur of cute movie nights and make out sessions around school. There were times when the pair called a time out but those were only caused by petty things and never lasted longer than a month. James and Sasha were both happy to push through the last bit of education before they went on to university. Due to their differing interests, both of them knew it was unlikely that they'd get accepted to the same university but Sasha hadn't yet broken the news to James that she was applying to schools in other countries. She applied to one in Germnay, another in Japan and three in America. James was trying to stay local but Sasha had big dreams of big travel.

In her mind, she no reason not to educate herself but to also see other parts of the world.

When the end of high school neared and she finally picked John Hopkins University over New York University, she knew she needed to break the news to James, knowing this would put a severe dent in their budding romance which had since flourished from their first summer leading up to high school, into a wild bouquet of wild flowers over the last four years together. It was a choice that kept the writer up many nights. She loved James, he had been her first in everything. 

And yet, she had faith that they'd both be able to break up and somehow find their way back to each other.

Since their first Valentines together, she had written six more short stories which had also been bound in various colors of hard cover leather books which continued to tell fantastic plot of science fiction and fantasy with of course, romance. She gave him one last book before she broke the news to him. "I was accepted into John Hopkins University...it's in Maryland." She came out and said. "I didn't want to worry you until I got the news and I did and I accepted." She swallowed.

"I also think we should...break up." Those words were never easy to come out and say but she knew this break up would be for the best, it would hurt for a while but she knew it would be better than prolonging the unavoidable. "I'm sorry. I just don't want us to struggle with the distance and be jealous and worried and miss out on the real college experience." She told him. "I haven't stopped loving you, I probably never will." Your first love would always be special, she figured.

"I just...I don't want us to hold back and regret not trying new things."

It was a shame he hadn't tried to be more ambitious with his applications but Sasha was excited for herself and she hoped James could in turn, be excited for his own future as well. For the rest of the summer, they spent as much time as they could together. Unfortunately, there were more squabbles between them as the season drew to a close, as both were pretty touchy about the break up and blaming one another's selfishness as a big reason why they were parting ways.

The last time Sasha saw James though, they had managed to stop yelling or crying and give one another a big hug.

Growing up was hard but growing apart was even worse.

Sasha didn't want that to happen though.

"I love you, I'll email you every day, promise you'll do the same!" She kissed him on the cheek and stepped back to get in the car with her parents and sibling who were going to see her off to the airport. "Bye!" She waved to him and his family before they took off. For the next couple of months, they stayed in touch but kept things very superficial. They talked about classes and the goings on around them but never mentioned new friends or romantic interests or crazy parties.

By the time Sasha had graduated with her B.S, she had just turned 24 and was going back to London to continue her education and get a M.F.A. She got accepted to Oxford and was thrilled to be back home. Her parents had stayed in the same house and she was happy that she'd be a quick ride away from them. Family dinners were something she truly missed when she was across the pond but now that she was back for good and had just landed an editing job as well as tutoring one, she felt like her life was really shaping into something spectacular.

The first few days were spent moving into a small Kennington flat which would give her space from the campus but she'd be close enough to bike or drive and London would only be an hour or so drive when she wanted to visit her parents or mates. Getting out of the big city and moving to someplace like Baltimore had been a gamble but now she had been able to accept both a city and someplace less hectic. She had caught up with mates from high school but had been most looking forward to catching up with James.

During college, she had three serious boyfriends and no real one night flings.

She just wasn't that kind of lady.

Most of those she met, found her accent cute but she personally enjoyed the American accents just as well.

But now she was home and single and interested to see how James was. After their first year away, they lost touch and only barely heard how the other was doing through one another's parental units. Sasha knew that would happen but the fact still saddened her and she was hoping a reunion would set things back the way they were, best friends.

Of course she did miss the 'lover' aspect but they had grown up so much, that she wasn't under any impression that they could get back together, not in the sense of before. Still, Sasha managed to dress up for the meet up. Her long blond hair was down and she had on a simple black dress and silver heels. She had suggested a pub in Hammersmith which wasn't usually crowded with tourists or drunk college kids who were trying to win a pub game to impress their mates.

In the back of her head, she remembered the new game she had bought and had been spending a lot of time playing. The traveling was wearing her out so she was happy to have such an outlet to play and use her creative side to her advantage. Secretly, she still played whatever Pokemon game that came out but she was also diving a bit deeper into the video game spectrum, now that her school load and work load could be easier managed, she had high hopes for her hobbies such as video games.

The woman locked her flat and hopped in the cab she had called for and she was driven out of the quaint scenic town and into London's outskits. She paid for the ride and got out and headed into the pub. The lights weren't too dim and with football season over, the tvs now just showed the news and weather. As it was the end of summer, more rain was expected to begin falling and for a moment, she was transported back in time to when James had hit her with a football.

Snapping out of her daze, she sat at a booth and ordered herself a Guinness and some chips while she waited.