text: “Jacyn come on, this isn’t funny!” I screamed into the empty void around me. I was standing in the middle of my dorm room when it happened. My boyfriend suddenly disappeared before my eyes. It was almost as if he never existed. I balled my hands into fists, getting angrier by the second. “Jacyn I swear, if you don’t come back in the next--“ He appeared again, cutting me off. “Relax babe. I’m here.” He placed his warm hands against my cheeks. My eyes shot up to his green ones. “I don’t like it when you do that. I feel like... sometimes you won’t come back to me.” I relaxed my hands and wrapped them around his waist, pulling his body into a hug. “I will always come back. You won’t lose me. My traveling is based on emotion, meaning, I’ll always come back to you because,” Jacyn paused, “I love you.” That was the first time he said it. I pulled back and stared deeply into his eyes. “I love you too.” The phrase made me smile. Jacyn placed a quick kiss to my lips and grabbed my hand suddenly. He started toward the door, reaching for the knob. “Wait. I have a class in thirty minutes, I need to prepare,” I blurted as he pulled me along. “Allie, you really need to loosen up. I’m just taking you to grab something to eat,” he looked back at me with a mischievous smirk displayed on his lips, “it’ll be quick.” I sighed, hiding my smile. I intertwined my fingers with his and caught up to him. We left the dorm building pretty quickly and headed toward one of the many restaurants on campus. I looked around at the other students wandering the campus as we walked. One of the reasons why I wanted to come to this university was because of the diversity in the area. There were several different types of people and I felt at home with them. They were all very friendly and welcoming during my freshman year and I really appreciated that. I’m currently in my sophomore year, majoring in information technology. I’ve always loved working with computers when I was young so I chose to major in it. And that was where I met Jacyn; the tall, blond, handsome devil that he was. It was almost like love at first sight, except that he really made me mad when we first met, or at least, tried to meet. I would always stare at him during class and sometimes I would catch him doing the same. I tried to stop him after several lectures and talk to him but he’d always disappear once he left the room. I never had the chance to talk to him until I accidentally ran into him outside of class, it was sort of an embarrassing situation. I was at one of those sorority parties, one of my friends invited me to go along, and he was there. Obviously I’m not the type to drink but that was a difficult situation. Basically what went down was, I was just slightly tipsy and struck up a conversation with him, but it didn’t go as planned. Anyway, after that, a couple days later he stopped me after class and we started talking. Sooner than later, I figured him out and I knew that he was hiding something from me -- that he had powers, that he could travel through space at will. He’d come clean and tell me everything that happened to him. He told me he was born with the powers, that his parents didn’t understand him but accepted him either way. And now that he made it to college, he was free to do what he wished. I mean, he could teleport anywhere he wanted at any time. Crazy right? “A BLT sandwich for the lady and,” Jacyn looked at me, expecting some kind of further acknowledgment, “yeah, just make that two BLT sandwiches.” He gave the cashier a dazzling smile and she quickly set up the order. I walked about the restaurant and found a place to eat while he paid for the food. Jacyn came over with a tray that held two sandwiches, a bag of BBQ chips and two soft drinks. “So, I’ve been wondering,” I spoke in between mouthfuls. “Is there a way for me to travel with you?” Once my eyes met with his, he was caught off guard. “Huh... I actually never thought about that.” He swallowed his bite and scratched his head, ruffling his ashy-blond hair. There was a silence that fell between us as we ate, I decided to drop the subject. I only had about ten more minutes before my next class started. Once I was finished with my sandwich I stood up and threw the wrappings in the trash. Jacyn did the same and we walked out of the restaurant and onto the grounds of the campus. We locked hands as we walked beside each other. I decided to go back to my dorm building and grab my things. On our way there, I felt a sudden loss of touch in my hand. I whipped my head around, observing my surroundings. Jacyn was gone. Again. In exactly one minute, he reappeared back in front of me holding two chocolate ice cream cones. “Where--“ I started to protest. “Just enjoy it,” Jacyn chuckled and began to lick his ice cream. “See, that’s what I’m talking about,” I huffed. “But, I’m glad you got me an ice cream, thanks.” Jacyn hugged me closer once we got to the dorm building. By that time we’ve both finished our ice creams and I quickly grabbed my things, checking the surroundings of the room in hopes that I wouldn’t forget anything. I noticed Jacyn checking his watch. He looked at me with pure eyes. “Listen babe, I’ve gotta go. I’ll meet you later for dinner and a movie? We can watch it in your dorm since you’re the only one living here,” he proposed, his words felt rushed. Concern washed over my face. “Yeah definitely, I’ll see you later tonight,” I said, clearing my throat of any worries I had. “Good,” was all he said before he kissed my forehead and disappeared right in front of me. ☆☆☆ After the remaining classes I had that day, I headed back to my dorm to get ready for our date. I wore an elegant, blue dress that ended around my knees. I put on makeup to compliment the look and flattened my dress to make it look neat. I sat down on the bed and waited for Jacyn to arrive. In a few short moments, Jacyn appeared in the dorm room. He wore a casual tuxedo, nothing too fancy -- there’s no need to draw any unwanted attention. His blond hair was slicked back with a little grease, complimenting him well. Almost a little too well... I stood up swiftly and wrapped my arms around his neck, crushing his body against mine. He let out a surprised groan and my lips touched his. Our mouths danced around each other for a moment before I pulled away with a questioning look. “So?” I paused before continuing, catching his jade-green eyes. “Where are we going?” “I’m taking you to...” Jacyn trailed his words for a dramatic effect. “Fiola. It’s a high-class Italian restaurant in the city, and I know your parents are Italian and I know you love Italian food, so that’s where we’re going.” Hearing the thoughtfulness behind his words almost made my heart ache. He knew so many things about me, I mean it has been a year so I guess that’s understandable, but I was still concerned about him. I never really got the full extent of his powers, he never really opened up to me about it. I was always the one to pry, I was just curious. “Okay,” I bubbled and grabbed his hand as he led me out of the dorm building and into the darkness of the night. There were lights that lined the sidewalks, illuminating our path through the campus grounds. Once we arrived at Jacyn’s car, a freaking Mercedes by the way, still don’t understand how he could afford that... I hopped in and he drove north toward the city. The whole car ride was full of karaoke singing, dancing, and goofing around. We also talked too, about future plans, upcoming events, things like that. It took about an hour to get to the restaurant from the campus. Jacyn had already made reservations so we were seated pretty quickly. A waiter made their way over to the table and took our order. I ordered a dish of their famous chicken parmesan and Jacyn ordered the classic spaghetti and meatballs. Once the waiter was gone, I remembered what happened back at the dorms -- I had a few questions to ask. “Back in the dorm room after lunch, you were hurried to leave,” I saw his eyes shot up to mine, “I was wondering where you went...” Jacyn sighed and placed a hand against his forehead, rubbing his temples. “I didn’t want to bring it up...” His serious tone alerted me. I sat up straighter in the chair and leaned forward to listen better. “I’m sorta... on the run,” he scrunched his face, expecting a bad reaction from me. I leaned back in my chair slowly and ran my fingers through my hair, processing the information. “Okay... from who?” “Scientists, basically. They found out about me and want to make me their test subject,” he spoke through his teeth. I could tell he was struggling as he told me about them. He told me about how they got to his parents but didn’t do anything too serious. Jacyn’s parents slipped and it accidentally came out that he had teleportation powers. He couldn’t resent his parents for an accident, but he knew that he needed to keep himself safe -- and that meant he couldn’t meet his parents for a while. “I’m so sorry, Jacyn.” I reached my hand out to hold his, and just as my fingertips grazed his skin, a gunshot was heard from the far wall of the room. In a flash, Jacyn was gone, disappeared into thin air, the shot would’ve pierced through him if he hadn’t teleported. He reappeared again, grabbed my hand and stumbled through the screaming chaos that surrounded us. We ran out of the restaurant, barely touching our food -- I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. He lead me far away from the restaurant and into an alleyway, squishing his body flat against the wall. I did the same as footsteps were heard, advancing fast on our location. The screams from the restaurant echoed in the streets, people were running out of the building and scattering across the area. Jacyn turned to me, helplessness in his eyes. He hugged me tight and whispered, “I hope this works.” And suddenly, we jumped through space.