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Lisa felt an arm flop across her face. It was 1:30 AM, and she regretted setting her alarm so loud, considering she knew it would be by her ear. James stirred, mumbling and vaguely gesturing towards the alarm clock.
"Babe, turn it off..."
He rested his tired arm on her stomach. Lisa looked at her tired boyfriend, knowing he wanted to sleep longer. However, it had been his genius idea to get up so early, so he had to pay the price. She jostled him, numerous times, but no response. After verbally attempting to wake him for three minutes, she opted for her last resort, her green eyes sparkling with mischief in the dark. Lisa sighed, turning to her boyfriend and tucking her knees to her chest. They frequently roughhoused, so this shouldn't hurt. She kicked him off the bed and James screamed like a little girl. While that made Lisa grin, James wasn't giving so much as a giggle.
"Care to explain what that was for?" He glared.
She grinned. "You wouldn't get up!"
James responded with a gesture of profanity, his black nail-polished middle finger standing strong. She giggled more and he mocked her with a slow laugh of his own. After finding his way to his feet, James found the light switch, and Lisa found a pile of clothes in her face. She now understood the meaning of betrayal. While she was still recovering from the impact, James had already started getting dressed, his neon blue hair mussed from sleep.
"I know I'm still groggy, but I truly don't see the point in being up at-" she checked her phone, "-two AM for what?"
"Practice." he shrugged.
Lisa groaned, not even out of bed and already done with her dearest love. James looked at his girlfriend fondly.
"I'll buy you coffee on the way to the auditorium, deal?" He held out his hand.
"Deal." Lisa took his hand, pulling herself up and holding on a little longer than necessary, looking into his blue eyes. Everything was just so perfect, and they wouldn't change it for the world. She finally let go and tied her fiery hair up, she hated it in her face. A few bad jokes from James later, they were in the car on the way to the auditorium, script, sheet music, instrument, and all.
Despite not being strangers and practically owning a set of keys to the old opera house, the intruder alarm still freaked out. The couple of early adults instinctively covered their ears.
"I thought you said the alarm was off!!!" She shouted over the noise, barely audible to James.
"Actually, I said the alarm shouldn't be on. Not that it wouldn't." He replied, smiling cheekily. Lisa scoffed and looked away. He approached her and set a hand on her shoulder. "It's no big deal." He said, warmly smiling. Oh, how she loved that smile. James took the liberty of inputting the security code so the alarm would shut up. Lisa smiled and looked at her knight fondly, with a grateful smile.
"Thanks."
"Yeah."
She was going to the lounge to get caffeine from the fridge but stopped at the table.
“Something wrong?” James inquired, considering Lisa wouldn’t stop her mission for something small. It’s almost like she didn’t hear him, she just picked a white packet up off of the table. After glancing over the front, she ripped the letter open. Her face went pale.
"Babe?” James said, “Is everything oka-"
"Oh my god. Oh my god."
"What's going on?!"
"I did it! California," she gasped. "California College of Music!!!" She screamed the last word. James gasped as she practically threw herself at him. The room was spinning, but that could've just been them.
"That's great!" He set her down.
“There’s something addressed to you too!” She said, handing him an envelope.
Reading the label, his face held a lot of emotions, but Lisa could determine a few. His face went from curious to elated to distraught in mere seconds. He looked utterly crushed. "New York... New York Performing Arts Academy."
"That's amazing, Love!" Only then did Lisa realize. New York and California, opposite ends of the country. They embraced again.
“Are we going to have to… I mean, what will we…” James fumbled over his words, couldn’t get a coherent thought out. “Lis…”
“We’ll figure it out, I know we will. Together.” Lisa held his hand. “Want to go practice? Y’know, like we came to do?” She tried, putting some attitude into her voice.
“I don’t know… We need to…” He stared at the letters in shock.
“Mmm yes you do.” Lisa gently pulled James’ arm, leading him out of the lounge and towards the backstage entrance. James took their supplies and followed, waking from his stupor. They’ll deal with it later. For now, they had a soundtrack to practice before their costume fittings with Devyn.