[GL] Someone Once Told Me the Grass is Much er on the Other Side-Chapter 146: Senior Year Arc: One

Aurora arrived at the airport early, long before the arrival board even flickered with Jasona’s flight information. She did not mind. The terminal had always felt like a place of beginnings to her, a place where people stepped into futures they had dreamed about from thousands of miles away.

It felt fitting to stand there waiting for Jasona, who had been gone for what felt like an entire era rather than a whole school year.

She kept checking the time even though it moved forward at the same slow, deliberate rhythm it always had. Her fingertips tapped her thigh. People brushed past her with luggage wheels clicking over the shining tiles.

Announcements rolled overhead, some clear and others muffled by echo. Aurora barely heard any of it. Her focus stayed pinned on the glass doors, the ones that would soon slide open and return Jasona to her.

She tried imagining what Jasona would look like after the year abroad. Jasona had left with an enormous smile, excited to play for a basketball club in Fermany.

Every call they shared afterward had been filled with stories, energy, small victories, and tired laughs that came from long practice days. Aurora had listened to every one of them with pride, though she had also felt that soft tug of longing, the kind that settled in the ribs.

She pressed a hand over her chest and breathed out slowly. Today that feeling would finally have somewhere to go.

A new announcement sounded. A flood of people walked into the terminal. Aurora rose from her seat as faces and figures streamed forward. She scanned each one with a rising thrum in her pulse.

Then she saw her!

Jasona stepped through the glass doors with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a rolling suitcase trailing behind her.

Her eyes swept the waiting area, searching, and the moment they found Aurora the entire world seemed to soften.

Aurora moved first.

She crossed the space between them without thinking and Jasona dropped her suitcase handle mid step, meeting her halfway. Their embrace landed with warmth and certainty, like a door closing against a storm. Aurora wrapped her arms around Jasona’s shoulders and felt the familiar strength of her return the gesture.

Jasona held her close, face tucked near Aurora’s temple, breathing in the presence she had missed for months.

"You made it," Aurora whispered, her throat thick.

"Always," Jasona murmured. "Could not stay away a second longer."

Aurora laughed under her breath and pulled back enough to see her face. It was the same Jasona she loved, though travel had added a new spark to her gaze. She looked energized, confident, older in a way that came from experience and new challenges.

Aurora cupped her cheeks. "You look incredible," she said.

Jasona gave her a grin that lit her entire expression. "And you look like the reason I wanted to come home."

Aurora felt warmth bloom across her face. "Come on. Let’s get your things."

Jasona scooped up her suitcase, and they started walking toward the exit. Aurora stayed close at her side, bumping her shoulder playfully whenever their arms brushed. It felt surreal to have her there again, solid and warm and laughing in real time instead of through a screen.

By the time they stepped outside, the afternoon sun had softened into a late day glow. Aurora led them to her car, took Jasona’s suitcase, and stored it in the trunk while Jasona climbed into the passenger seat.

Once she joined her inside, Jasona reached for her hand and intertwined their fingers. Aurora squeezed gently.

"Tell me everything," she said as she started the car.

Jasona began to recount her final week in Fermany. She talked about the last training sessions, the coach who had spoken to her about potential future invitations, the teammates she had grown close to, and the meals she wished she could bring home with her.

Aurora listened, smiling, laughing, and asking questions, but beneath the stories there was something else. A quiet excitement. A sense of change forming beneath their words.

Aurora had felt that same sense since she woke that morning.

As they drove toward their apartment, Jasona eventually fell quiet, watching Aurora with a soft, thoughtful expression.

"You sound different," Aurora said, glancing over.

"Do I?" Jasona asked.

"More certain," Aurora replied. "More sure of yourself."

Jasona looked out the window with a slight smile. "I learned a lot this this year. About what I want. About what matters most to me."

Aurora’s heart fluttered, but she kept her eyes on the road.

When they reached the apartment complex, Aurora parked and stepped out to grab Jasona’s suitcase. Jasona walked beside her as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. Aurora unlocked the door to the place they shared. Their home.

Once inside, Jasona dropped her backpack on the couch and let out a long, relieved breath.

"I missed this," she said. "I missed everything."

Aurora leaned against the doorframe, watching her take in the familiar space. "Welcome home."

Jasona turned toward her with affection bright in her eyes. She walked over and wrapped her arms around Aurora again, holding her with a tenderness that made Aurora melt against her.

"Can we sit?" Jasona asked softly.

Aurora nodded. They moved to the couch, Jasona’s luggage left by the entrance for later. They sat close, their knees touching, legs brushing, shoulders resting together. Aurora tucked her hair behind her ear, waiting.

Jasona took Aurora’s hand again but in a different way now, more intentional, more grounded.

"So," Jasona began, "this year. Our last one before we head into whatever is next."

Aurora smiled. "I know. Can you believe it? Senior year already."

"It feels unreal," Jasona said. "But also exciting." Her thumb brushed slowly over Aurora’s fingers. "I kept thinking about it while I was away. All the things we want to do. All the plans we made."

Aurora felt her pulse pick up. She had been thinking the exact same thing for weeks.

Jasona continued, "We have talked about our future so many times, in pieces. Here and there. At night. On the phone. During finals week. Before trips. During just about everything." She laughed softly. "I realized something this year. Something important."

Aurora turned to face her more fully. "What did you realize?"

Jasona’s expression grew tender. The kind of tenderness that made Aurora’s breath catch for a moment.

"That everything I want, I want with you," Jasona said quietly. "Every plan, every dream, every step into the next part of our life. I want all of it with you."

Aurora’s chest tightened in the best way possible. Her eyes burned.

"I want that too," she said.

Jasona exhaled slowly as if relieved, though Aurora had no idea why she ever would have been uncertain.

"And," Jasona added, "I also realized something else. Something I have known but never said out loud."

Aurora waited.

Jasona’s hand tightened gently around hers. "I want us to get married someday."

Aurora froze. Her mouth parted, breath stopping for a moment.

Jasona hurried to continue, not out of fear, but out of an eagerness that tumbled out all at once. "Not right away. Not tomorrow. Not this year. But I want that future. I want to wake up knowing we are building a life side by side. I want to look back decades from now and know we created something real. Something lasting."

Aurora felt the words land in her heart one by one, each one bright and filled with hope. She swallowed thickly and pressed a hand over her mouth before her emotions could spill out in a way that might embarrass her.

Jasona reached up and touched Aurora’s cheek softly. "I never want to pressure you. This is not a proposal. It is just me telling you what I already know about my own heart."

Aurora lowered her hand and caught Jasona’s fingers against her skin. "You are not pressuring me," she whispered. "You are saying the exact thing I have been thinking for months."

Jasona blinked in surprise. "You have?"

Aurora nodded. "I kept imagining us together after school. In a place that is ours. With jobs that feel right. With a life that we choose every day. And I kept thinking that if marriage was a part of that, then it would feel like the natural next step. Not something scary. Something wonderful."

Jasona leaned in closer, her forehead brushing Aurora’s. "I love you," she murmured.

Aurora closed her eyes, soaking in the warmth of it. "I love you too."

After a while Jasona leaned back against the couch cushions and pulled Aurora with her, letting her rest against her chest. Aurora curled in comfortably. Jasona wrapped an arm around her middle and whispered, "I really am home."

Aurora smiled against her. "You always will be."

They stayed like that as the sun lowered and the room shifted into evening light. Neither moved. Neither needed to. The world outside went on as it always did, loud and busy and full of motion, but inside their apartment everything felt peaceful.