“These are incredibly detailed for just sketches,” I point out, unable to keep the smile from spreading across my face. “You even calculated the perfect shower height.”
“You're constantly complaining about hitting your head,” she mumbles. “It's annoying.”
I flip through a few more pages, taking in every thoughtful detail. A deck with space for Tara and Alfie to visit. A guest room labeled “for Ethan when he's between apartments.” A garden area with raised beds.
“I've been thinking,” she says, watching my face closely. “About after graduation.”
My heart beats a little faster. We've talked about thefuture in vague terms, both of us applying for jobs in different cities but hoping to end up close enough to make it work. But this feels... specific.
“It's just an idea,” she continues quickly. “But there's this firm in Denver that works on sustainable residential projects, and they reached out after the competition. And I know you've been talking to that engineering start-up in Boulder...”
“Which are less than an hour apart,” I say slowly, beginning to understand.
She nods, a small smile playing at her lips. “Exactly.”
I look back at the drawings, noticing more details I missed at first glance. The way the kitchen is laid out for someone who actually cooks. The climbing wall along one side of the gym. The space that could easily become a nursery someday, though she hasn't labeled it as such.
“This is a home,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “For us.”
“Someday,” she says, and I can hear the vulnerability beneath her casual tone. “Not right away, obviously. We'd need to save up, and it would take time to find the right lot, and?—”
I cut her off with a kiss, my heart so full it feels like it might burst. When I pull back, her eyes are wide and questioning.
“I love it, it’s so creative Delilah.”
She shrugs, but her cheeks are pink. “It's just sketches.”
“It's the future,” I correct gently. “Our future.”
Her expression softens. “Maybe. If you want.”
“I want,” I say immediately. “Of course, I want that. With you.”
The intensity of my own certainty surprises me. A year ago, the idea of planning a future with someone would have sent me running. Now it feels like the most natural thing inthe world—like all those years of keeping people at arm's length were just preparation for finding someone worth letting in completely.
Delilah searches my face, like she's looking for any trace of hesitation. "You're not freaked out? About me planning this far ahead?"
I take her hands in mine, meeting her gaze steadily. “The only thing that freaks me out is how much I want this. How easy it is to see myself building a life with you.”
Her eyes shine with unshed tears. “Even though I'm difficult and stubborn and?—"
“Especially because of those things,” I interrupt, smiling. “They're part of what makes youyou. And I love all of you, Delilah Greer.”
EPILOGUE
“To your last semester at UMS!” Tara raises her glass, the fairy lights strung across the guy’s backyard. I imagine this was her and Alex’s doing, I can’t quite picture Freddie or Alfie or any of the guys putting up pretty fairy lights.
“And to never having to take another final again, aaafter this year,” Ethan adds, earning a laugh from everyone gathered around the makeshift fire pit.
I'm tucked against Troy's side on one of the mismatched outdoor couches they've collected over the years. His arm is draped casually around my shoulders, thumb tracing lazy circles against my sleeve.
The Living Classroom project is on its way to being built now. Construction is set to start right after spring break, and watching our design come to life is going to be surreal. Sometimes, I still catch myself staring at the foundation, the emerging walls, hardly believing that something I imagined is becoming real.
“Speak for yourself,” Alex says, making a face at Ethan. “Some of us have another year, then we might be going to grad school.”
Freddie pulls her closer on their shared chair. “We'll remind you of this moment when you're drowning in research papers in a couple years.”
“I can't believe it's almost over,” Lacey says from her perch on the arm of the couch. After the FIDIC announcement, we all hung out and she got to know everyone. “Remember freshman year, Del? When we didn't know anyone and spent the whole first week eating ramen in our dorm because we were too scared to go to the dining hall?”
