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As I thuh the envelopes, I set aside those ite until I reached the envelope froan shaking slightly as I opened the top of it, anxious to see the contents UC Berkley was my number one choice by far because it had a research cooperative with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a direct link to the CERN facility in Geneva, which was thein the college years before Scarlett, I had always put a major emphasis on my studies I was blessed that a lot of it just caot" h school years that I wanted to do so oal had always been to work at CERN

As I unfolded the single piece of paper, I held an to quickly scan over the text of the letter It wasn’t until I reached the words "We are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your application…" that I actually rehbors had been home, they would’ve heard my roar of excite off; everything was falling into place I just had to tell Scarlett

The rest of the afternoon I could barely contain my enthusiasood news as soon as I had gotten to the lab, and he was not only extre of my inability to focus He let ht to Scarlett and Max’s apartood news

I was a little surprised to not see her car in her parking spot when I arrived, but didn’t think tooopen the door and invited me in

"Hey man, how are you? Come on in," he said as he walked over to sit back down on the couch

"I couldn’t be better actually, thanks for asking," I replied, still bea "Where’s Scar?"

"Not sure I haven’t seen her since I’ve been ho

I found it odd that she wasn’t ho The night before she had toldthe rest of the afternoon I assu at the library or coffee shop, but since it was nearly dark outside I figured she’d be back soon I grabbed a beer froet hoet a little worried about where she was I texted her and didn’t get a reply, so I really began to panic I got up to go throwover to the library to check for her car; however, when I was in the kitchen, I heard the front door open and then her voice

"Hey Max! I’ht me how to play Call of Duty today, and I can’t wait to kick your pretty little assface"

My heart shattered all over the tile floor, and the overwhel excitement that I had felt about my acceptance letter was replaced by complete devastation

SCARLETT

As I hurried into the apart temperature outside, I was thrilled to see Max ho abilities However after my announcement of just that, Max’s horror-stricken face followed by the sound of someone in the kitchen toldfrom my face as Ash appeared from around the corner I couldn't tell if his expression was er, but either way I didn't blame him It definitely wasn't hoanted hi fast before I lost him

"Ash, babe, it's not what it seetowards him

"Oh, now it's 'babe,' huh? Convenient," he said with a snarl, backing away

"I… I didn't mean…"

"And it never is what it seems when it involves him, is it Scarlett? In Miaet the sa in his voice before "At some point Scarlett, it really IS what it seems!"

Thankfully, Max silently slipped out of the room in the middle of Ash's rant Not that he wasn't able to hear it all from there anyhow, but at least we had perceived privacy