"I don't know about you two, but I've been looking forward to this all week!" Harper smiled as he stopped his pickup next to the pumps.

  Ellie teased, "Really? I didn't think there was anything special about getting gas at Crawford's."

  The handsome jock rolled his eyes as he opened his door, "You know what I mean. It's like a tradition or something, right? We always stop here to load up on junk food before hanging out at my pce. And this time we've got all weekend!"

  The cute tomboy just smirked, then she opened her door and the two of us climbed out. Harper moved in between us and wrapped his arms around so he was giving both Ellie and I a hug, except his hand accidentally hit my fore-arm and I flinched.

  "Ah crap, sorry Bke!" he apologized as he let go just as quickly. "I hope that didn't hurt too much?"

  I shook my head, "It's fine. It doesn't really hurt, it's just kind of sensitive."

  That pink scar on my arm was about as healed as it was going to get, but it was still tender. I knew that would eventually fade, but until then I was still being kind of careful with it.

  Ellie's scar was doing better. Hers was a jagged pink line about three centimetres long and three millimetres thick, just above her left eyebrow. According to her it was still tender too, but a lot less likely to get bumped or hit than the rge blemish on my arm.

  Instead of hugs Harper just held our hands as the three of us finally went inside the little store, but we split up again once we were in the door. I headed for the refrigerated drinks dispy at the back, my girlfriend made a bee-line for the snacks, and Harper went up to the counter to pre-pay for his gas.

  Mr. Crawford gave the three of us a disapproving frown, but he stayed quiet as he took my boyfriend's twenty dolrs. Then while Harper went back out to the pump Ellie and I loaded up on junk food and soda and stuff. We hauled it all up to the counter, then we both chipped in to pay for it after my ex-boss rang it all up.

  Back out at the pickup me and Ellie climbed into the passenger side, and Harper slipped in behind the wheel after he'd finished with the gas. Soon enough we were on our way again, to spend the next couple days at his farm.

  "This is gonna be great," my boyfriend grinned. "I've missed hanging out with you girls!"

  I reminded him, "It's been less than a week since our st date night."

  Harper shrugged, "Yeah but that was only a couple hours. Dinner and a movie in Owen Sound, then some cuddling. This'll be our first full night together since we got back from up north. And we have the pce to ourselves until Sunday! Like I said, it's going to be perfect!"

  "You mean it's our first chance to sleep together since the hotel in Iqaluit," I teased.

  He blushed, "That too. But seriously, I'm just excited that we'll be able to hang out all weekend."

  "Yeah we get it," Ellie chimed in. She was smiling too as she admitted, "I've been looking forward to this as well."

  "Me too," I added with a smile of my own.

  It was the st Friday of July, and even though this wasn't a holiday or anything the three of us all managed to get Saturday and Sunday off. We'd been pnning it as soon as Harper found out his parents would be going out of town for a few days, and we knew he'd have the house to himself all weekend long.

  So as soon as I got off work today I hurried home and got changed, then quickly stuffed my backpack with everything I'd need for a couple days away. Ellie did the same, and our boyfriend picked us up when his shift at the hardware store ended.

  As much as I was looking forward to a fun weekend with my boyfriend and girlfriend, I was also hoping for a chance to talk to them both about how they were handling things after our ordeal up north. A whole week and a half had passed since Mrs. Vandalen told me that Ellie was having nightmares, and so far I hadn't found a way to talk with my girlfriend about it. Not without just straight-up asking, and that'd probably mean admitting her mother already told me.

  I didn't know how Harper was handling things, but his good mood left me thinking he was doing just fine.

  In fact he seemed even more excited when we pulled up in front of his parents pce a few minutes ter. His dad's pickup was gone, apparently Mr. and Mrs. Hudson already left this morning on their trip. Meanwhile the wide grin on my boyfriend's face almost made it seem like he was up to something. Like he was unusually happy, even considering the prospect of a full weekend alone with Ellie and I.

  Our girlfriend obviously noticed it too. As the three of us headed for the side door to the house she gave him a funny look and asked, "Ok what gives? You're almost acting giddy, Harper. What's the big deal?"

  "I'm not giddy!" he protested. Then as he unlocked the door he admitted, "Ok I'm excited. I have some news, and I've been looking forward to telling you two for the st couple days. It's big enough I wanted to do it in person, that's why I haven't said anything on voice chat or in texts."

  As soon as we were inside we stuffed the bottles of soda into the fridge, and for now the bags of chips and pretzels were abandoned on the kitchen table. Then the three of us headed into the living-room to get comfortable.

  "So what's the news? We're here now, spit it out! Don't leave us in suspense," Ellie stated as the three of us sat down together on the sofa.

  I was in the middle like usual, with Harper on my left and Ellie to my right. And we were all sitting close enough that it was more like cuddling rather than just chilling out together. Which meant I could feel some tension in my boyfriend, like whatever this news was he was maybe a bit nervous about sharing it.

  Sure enough he grimaced as he confessed, "As much as I want to tell you, I'm also a little anxious about it? Like, I hope you two are going to be ok with it. Since it sort of involves you? Not directly but..."

  "Just tell us already!" I insisted as I gently prodded him in the side with my elbow.

  "Ok ok!" he sighed. It still took him another second or two before he finally spilled it, "When college starts in September, I'm going to be at the Barrie campus with you two! I got a spot in residence, so we can all keep hanging out and everything through the school year!"

  I stared at him in surprise for a second, then pulled him into a hug. "Harper that's great! I know we all figured we'd make it work doing the long distance thing, but it'll be so cool having you there on campus with us!"

  "Yeah that's awesome!" Ellie grinned. She got up and moved closer so she could hug him as well. Then after she sat back down next to me she asked, "How'd you do it? I thought you picked the other campus because it was close to home. So you could stay here, so you wouldn't have to pay for residence and everything?"

  Harper was all smiles by that point, since he knew we were both happy and excited about his announcement. He expined, "So I actually made the decision back before we all went up north. I had another look at the costs and everything? Between the money I'd be spending on gas and the time I'd be wasting driving to and from college every day I realized it wasn't really that much cheaper, compared to just staying in the on-campus dorms. So I emailed the college admin folks and asked if I could change my registration to the Barrie campus, assuming I could get into the residence there."

  "They wrote back that changing locations wasn't a problem," he continued, "But unfortunately they said residence was fully booked. They put me on a waiting list though, and a couple days ago I got the news. There was a canceltion, and I got in! Now the three of us won't have to be split up for college next month."

  All that left me with a big smile on my face, "That's so perfect!"

  "It's too bad we can't all share a room or something though," I added as my smile faded. "Me and Ellie already put in a request to be roomed together."

  The cute tomboy adjusted her gsses as she pointed out, "I doubt they'd put guys and girls in the same room. They probably have some kind of segregation going on, like guys and girls on different floors or something."

  "Oh right," I pouted. "And now that I'm thinking about it, the residence rooms are all two-bedroom units anyways. So we couldn't get a third person in ours regardless."

  The on-campus residence looked like an eight-story hotel building, but the rooms were set up like little apartments. Emphasis on 'little'. Each unit had two small but fully furnished bedrooms, with a bed and a desk and a chair. In addition to the bedrooms the units had one bathroom, and a kitchenette with a small table and two chairs. They also included a fridge, a microwave, and a coffee pod machine. The units were too small for an oven or stove, but there was a shared full-size kitchen avaible on the main floor.

  Due to the small size the residence units really weren't set up for entertaining guests, which made sense. We were supposed to be there to learn, not hang out or party it up with friends.

  On the other hand there were common lounges on each floor, where we could hang out with other students. They were set up with comfy seating, like like sofas and chairs and some tables. The lounges also had a big TV and some recreational stuff, so they were sort of like a rge family room where students could rex and chill with friends.

  Apparently there'd be some regur organized activities too, like movie nights or games nights, where everyone on the floor could get together for some fun.

  Harper took my mind off that as he tried to cheer me up, "We can always meet up in the residence lounges, Bke. And we'll be able to keep doing our weekly date nights together. Depending on the rules I might be able to come chill in your room, or maybe you can visit me in mine."

  "Depending on our schedules we might be able to meet up for lunches," he added. "And I'm sure we can arrange to have breakfast and dinner together too, considering we'll all be living in the same pce."

  "Yeah," I nodded as I leaned against his side. "And it'll be a thousand times better than just seeing your face on a video call."

  Ellie agreed, "Bke's right. Having you there with us will be way better than doing the long-distance retionship thing. "

  Our handsome boyfriend looked past me and smirked at the cute tomboy, "And here I thought you weren't into guys. It almost sounds like maybe you're thinking of joining me and Bke in bi-town?"

  "Whatever," Ellie rolled her eyes.

  I crified, "I've been going with 'pan' for myself, rather than 'bi'."

  Harper smiled, "Close enough. Isn't bi-town located in pan-nd? Or pan-nd's a suburb of bi-town?"

  "Pushing that analogy a little too hard there buddy," my girlfriend teased.

  Then her expression shifted to a thoughtful frown as she asked, "What about your folks? Have you talked to them about it yet? I thought they were expecting you to still be here to help out with the farm stuff?"

  "Yeah I told them the same day I got the news," Harper sighed. "It wasn't a fun conversation, but in the end they said they're ok with it. It was kind of weird, like I basically told them I was changing all my pns just so I could go to the same school as my two girlfriends?"

  He grimaced at that point, "My dad might have made some sexist comments about that. I mean, he was positive and encouraging, in his own redneck way."

  "Do they know one of your girlfriends is trans?" I asked. "I mean, they know it's me and Ellie, right?"

  Harper nodded, "Sure. They were ok with me being bi, they're ok with you being trans. And they're ok with all three of us being together. Granted they're not the most enlightened people in the world, but they're trying. Which is more than I can say for some of the other folks around here."

  Me and Ellie both made faces at that point, because we knew how right he was. I didn't want to think about that sort of thing though. So I changed the subject, back to the exciting fun stuff.

  "So anyways that's really great news Harper," I smiled. "We have to celebrate tonight, right?"

  "Yeah! That's what I was thinking," he grinned.

  Ellie asked, "So what's the pn? Junk food and cuddling while we watch something on TV?"

  I added, "Or do we have some real food for dinner? BBQ maybe?"

  "There's bison burgers in the fridge," our boyfriend replied. "And fresh-baked burger buns on the counter. So how about I go start the BBQ? Then I'm up for whatever. Games, TV, cuddling, or all of the above."

  "Sounds good to me," Ellie smiled.

  I nodded, "Same!"

  While our boyfriend headed outside to start the BBQ my girlfriend and I went into the kitchen. She dumped some chips into a big bowl, while I poured us all some gsses of soda. Then the cute tomboy and I headed outside as well, to keep Harper company by the grill.

  It was another near-perfect summer day, so the three of us ended up staying outside for most of the evening. We snacked on chips and enjoyed our drinks while our hunky jock boyfriend cooked some burgs over the fire, then the three of us enjoyed our dinner in the fresh country air on his folks' patio furniture.

  Even after dinner we stayed out there, munching on chips and sipping our drinks while we hung out and talked about random stuff.

  Harper crified something he briefly mentioned earlier about college, namely that he'd settled on a major already. Instead of waiting until year two before choosing, he'd already decided he wanted to focus on the EMT stuff. Ellie and I were both happy for him, and excited that the three of us would be going to college together in September.

  So we talked more about that, and started making some loose pns for the move. Ellie was positive her parents would insist on driving her, and I had a feeling my mom would want to be there too so she could see the residence and everything. Still, Ellie and I agreed to talk to our folks about it. If the three of us could all go together in Harper's pickup that would be kind of nice. And our parents could always come visit after we were moved in, if they really wanted to see the pce.

  It wasn't until it got dark out when the three of us finally went back inside. We put something on the TV in the living-room, but mostly ignored it since we were all more interested in each other. There was plenty of cuddling and some kissing, before we all decided to turn in for the night.

  My heart-rate picked up as Ellie and I accompanied Harper up the stairs to his bedroom. Both my friends looked excited again too, and I was positive they'd been looking forward to this almost as much as me.

  PurpleCatGirl