She walked past the mirror in her room and was startled by her appearance. She thought she had wiped it away as she was crying, but much to her surprise her face was still covered with smears of mascara and eyeliner. She knew she was being silly and overdramatic; she knew that he was going to come back to her and that they would make it through, just like they had promised each other. She knew all that but her heart was taking itÕs time believing it. Nick, AshleyÕs boyfriend of almost a year had just left for college and Ashley missed him more than she had imagined she would. She was going to be a junior in high school and was worried that the difficult year that was promised was going to be made even more difficult by having to deal with Nick being gone. Nick and Ashley were not your normal high school couple. They were no two-week fling; they were meant for each other and they knew it. A stranger would have been able to tell that their love was deep and true, just by seeing the way they looked at one another. They had both had other significant others in their past, but nothing quite compared to the feelings they had for one another. Both were scared of the distance that college was going to put between them, but they knew that they would make it through; their feelings for each other were too strong to throw away. Neither one wanted to take a breakÓ or see other peopleÓ. Even if they were going to be miles apart, they wanted the comfort of knowing they still had each other, forever. Usually, Ashley wasnÕt one for being dramatic but today was going to be an exception. She had woken up and the minute she opened her eyes, her mind was flooded with bursts of memories, surging through her body and encompassing her willpower not to cry. Ashley cried, not because she was losing him, but because she was losing the little things. She was losing someone to spend her time with late at night into the early hours of the morning and someone to fall asleep with on the phone. She was losing someone to keep her busy when there was nothing to do. She was going to miss holding his hand in their car rides together and stealing kisses at the stoplights. Every new thought that flooded into her head reminded her of everything sheÕd be missing while he was away. She began to cry harder as she realized that he wasnÕt going to be there to celebrate their one-year anniversary or to sing to her on her birthday. He wasnÕt going to be there on ValentineÕs Day—the first one that Ashley would actually have a Valentine. Ashley watched herself in the mirror as the tears began to form and finally stream down her cheek, leaving a blackened trail from her makeup where the tears had fallen. Suddenly, Ashley was jolted by the sound of her ring-tone blaring. She looked at her caller ID: it was Nick. A big smile spread across her face as she read his name and picked up the phone. Everything was going to be okay.