All of your meticulous planning was about to come to fruition.

The coordinating with her parents and begging your own for some leniency with your actual homecoming wasn't an issue, no. Tashi had always been worth all of that. It was the lying, telling her you wouldn't be coming home for the holidays, making up some grand story about how your family would be taking a trip abroad to see some distant cousins all break.

You told yourself it would be fine once she saw you on her doorstep, the stupid dollar store bow stuck to your top that you finally decided to wear at the last minute gleaming in the light. Her mom's idea.

There was no denying you missed her, but there was also no denying that she missed you more. You'd both had to do what was best for yourselves when submitting your college admissions, but that didn't mean ultimately deciding to attend different universities didn't sting. Especially when you'd said your final goodbyes at the airport, breaking apart out of necessity as the last call for her flight rang out through the terminal.

Competing jam-packed schedules kept video calls brief and rare, and her family hadn't stayed in town for fall break. So now, you would be seeing her again for the first time in months. Long distance hadn't been easy. Not that maintaining a relationship with Tashi Duncan was either. But you knew it would all be worth it.

And nothing could confirm that more than the look Tashi currently had painted on her face, eyes wide and the front door held in place by her hand. God. She was perfect. Perfectly yours.