"I think she does?" Kennedy ventured; Constance had been less and less willing to divulge any information whatsoever on that front lately, and she didn't get why. "But I don't know. Sitting in lecture halls and doing term papers so does not rank anywhere on my list of interesting things to do, and I just..."

Her shoulder slumped. "I don't want to think about going anywhere."

And there was that thing they hadn't been talking about again. It kept popping up from time to time. Like a game of slow-motion demonic Whack-a-Mole.

Kennedy would have refused to let her apologize, anyway.

"For you to end up wherever I do?" she asked, sounding almost like a kid again in her uncertainty; she cast a quick glance over at the brochures in all their full-color, glossy, gold-leafed, opulence and wished she hadn't just given herself the reminder of how it was a long shot at best. "Yeah. It could totally happen, right? We can make it work. We always make it work."

That didn't sound half as confident as most of her declarations did.

"This is dumb," she finally decided. "Depressing ourselves like this and letting the food get cold."

"You don't," blurted Kennedy, abandoning her burger to reach out and pull Tara into a hug.

And maybe she was hanging onto this part of her life this stubbornly so she didn't have to face up to the reality that she really would have to find something else to do with herself in the long run, but that didn't mean she couldn't want this, too, did it?

"You never do," she insisted. "Don't even talk like that, okay?"

"Maybe I want you around even then," Kennedy insisted, and she'd thought she was over it but once the words were out of her mouth they sounded a little scary... and she hated to admit it, but Tara was right. She'd never been the type to put everything on hold for a girl before, and if it came down to a choice between that and doing what she needed to do?

"When it comes down to that, we'll see where we are, okay?" she tried, her own voice a little thick. "God, I don't have to go anywhere yet. We've at least got until then..."

Three years and maybe a reality or two to the side.

"Yeah," Kennedy echoed. She used to measure their relationship in weeks, because months seemed like a long time and that was scary; when had she started measuring it in months because weeks seemed too short? "I mean, it's not like we're gonna go home and never see each other again or anything, plus I can totally come back and visit, and..."

She trailed off with a strained laugh; one of the reasons she loved Tara was that earnest optimism of hers. "And right now we have books and burgers, and I was thinking we could do a movie in my room tonight or something, and we should enjoy all of that. 'cause... now."

Kennedy turned her head to brush a light kiss against Tara's cheek.

"I think we can even pull off a mindless movie with cute animals. And chocolate, and snuggles.. Call it a date and we're good, yeah?"

"A girl's gotta have hobbies," Kennedy pretended to defend herself. "I spoil because I love. Is that so wrong?"

Kennedy grinned. "Score. So it's totally not pushing my luck to try and convince you to stay the night, either?"

Kennedy was so not counting down on a daily basis yet.

"It's only polite to ask," she countered, teasing.