Make It Last

Books by
Bethany Lopez

Stories about Melissa
- series

Ta Ta for Now
.

xoxoxo

Ciao

TTYL

Friends & Lovers
Trilogy

Make it Last

Copyright 201
2

Published

ISBN:
978-1480243200

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please
don’t
participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Cover
Design by
Stephanie Mooney

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Visit the author’s
website: www.bethanylopez.blogspot
.com

Thanks to Raine Thomas.

You have been an amazing source of knowledge and support. I am happy to call you my fri
end.

Prologue

             
Briana look
ed up at him, tears
form
ing
in her eyes. Colin felt his resolve begin to crumble, but reminded himself why he’d come to this decision
. He was about to leave for
college and Bre
e was
begin
ning
her senior year
of high school. It
made sense to end it now, rather than try to have a long distance relat
ionship. Colin thought about the
pro and con list
he’d made, and it made sense to break up now, and
looking int
o Briana’s beautiful brown eyes he began to question his decision.

             
Colin shook his head to attempt to clear the doubt from his mind,
he knew he had to try and make a clean break
now
.

             
“Look, Bree, I just
can’t be tied down right now,” h
e explained, not quite meeting her eyes,
he was
sure that if he did, she’d see his uncertainty. “I’m leaving tomorrow. Going out together was cool while we were in high school, but we’re about to be on different paths. I’m going to need to focus on football and keeping my grades up.”

             
She
turned her head and bit her lip, the way she did when she was trying to sort things out in her head. Finally she looked back at him, her face full of confusion.

             
“Is this because I wouldn’t h
ave sex with you?” Tears streamed
down her face then, and he felt like a complete ass. He should have known she would go there. He’d been trying to have sex with her for the past few months. They’d been dating for a long time, and h
e was a teenage guy after all. B
ut he understood her reasons for wanting to wait. Especially now.

             
“Of course not.
I just don’t think a long distance relationship will work. A clean break
now would be best, you know?” h
e replied, looking at something just over her head.

             
“Colin,
the least you could do is look at me w
hen you’re being a total douche,
” she
said tightly.

             
He
looked down at her a
nd his face softened
. How could he not love her? She always called him on his shit.

             
Colin tr
ying
to block the thoughts from his mind and stiffened his resolve. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Bree.”

             
“Are you being serious right now?”
s
he
asked
. “We’ve been dating for over a year. You said that you loved me. Now, all of a sudden, you want to break up? This is coming out of nowhere, Colin.”

             
Everything she was said true. They had planned to continue dating
and
see
ing
each other on breaks and holidays, but after thinking about it, making lists, and talking to his fri
ends and family, Colin
realized that it would be best for both of them to go their separate ways now. He just needed to make her believe that he believed that.

             
He
let out a long sigh, as if
she
was the one being unreasonable
.
“Bree, I’m about to be thousands of miles away. Don’t you want to be free to enjoy your senior year? I won’t be able to come back and go to dances and stuff with you, ya know.” He shrugged he shoulders in an effort to appear unaffected by his words.

             
“We always knew you’d be leaving. I don’t know why you’re acting like this is a new development. We
’ve
talked about having
a long distance relationship. W
hat’s changed?” Colin tried not to smile at her words. He should have known that she wouldn’t give up without a fight. His s
tomach
turn
ed. H
e felt nauseous at the thought of what he was going to say next.

             
“Fine, Bree, you’re right. I want to be free to see other people while I’m at college.” He tried to sound exasperated, and saw her face fall as he continued to speak. “I’m going to be playing football and looking at joining a fraternity. I don’t want to end up cheating or doing something stupid. It just makes more sense to end it now. It’ll be better in the long run, you’ll see.” He put his hand out as if to pat her shoulder, but she backed away.

             
“You don’t get to
touch me anymore, Colin,” s
he
stated, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

             
He hated the thought of hurting her and tried t
o think of something to
say
that would soften the blow
. “Bree, don’t
be upset. I’ll always love you. T
his is just the way it has to be.”

             
She
sniffed and
continued wiping her cheeks
. S
he stood up as tall as her five-
foot
,
four
-inch
frame
allo
w
ed and looked him
in the eyes.
“You’ll regret this
,
Colin. One day you’ll come back looking f
or a second chance, but it’s never
going to happen. I’m not going to forget this day.”

             
He felt a lump
form in his throat at her words.

             
Wavering about his decision, he
reached his hand out to touch her again, then stopped himself.

             
“You're right,” he said softly. “I wouldn't deserve a second chance.”

             
He looked at her one last time, memorizing her delicate features. Her
long hair
flowed around her shoulders, just the way he liked it.
His thoughts were tinged with regret, but he knew
that breaking it off now was the only way to make sure they didn’t end up hurting each other even more in the long run.
Dropping his hand to his side, he
walked away and left her behind.

Four Years Later…

Chapter One

             
Briana hated Wednesday nights. Twenty-five cent win
gs meant that not only was the Bar & G
rill packed all evening, but that the fryers were absolutely disgusting. Although she loved go
od wings as much as the next person
, it was her job to clean the fryers, so she dreaded her shift anytime she was scheduled for a Wednesday night.

             
She watched as Kara locked up behind the last customer,
and then
went beh
ind the bar to turn up the music
.

             
Other than the cleaning, Briana loved closing time. That’s when the
employees got together to chit-
chat abo
ut their customers
, mad
e plans for what they were going to do after shift, and finally had the chance to enjoy their night.

             
The night manager, Pam, was pretty cool. She stayed in the back, counting the money and making sure everything balanced out,
and then
put it in the envelope to make the drop at the bank on her way home.

             
As long as they didn’t leave until everything was spotless, she didn’t give them a hard time about hanging out.

             
Briana joined Kara and Pete, one of the bar backs, over by the bar once she set the fryer to drain.

             
“What a
night,” Pete started, putting
shot
s
in front of B
riana and Kara as they settled o
nto the stools.

             
“You can say that again,” Kara replied, a big grin on her face. “I made two hundred in tips tonight. Gotta love twenty-five cent wings
.
”

             
Kara worked the front of the house, not the
back, so her view of Wednesday
was a lot different than Briana’s. As a waitress, Kara got
to
turn on her charm and flirt with the customers, one of her favorite pastimes, thus reaping the rewards of a busy Wednesday night.