She was the girl who was afraid of love. Terrified of it. It isn't permanent, she believed, it leaves you and it leaves you broken.
He was the boy who desperately needed it. Love--the only thing that could've rooted him to this world.
Ophelia and...
“someone will remember us, I say, even in another time.”
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It wasn't a goodbye.
That's what I told myself when I pulled away from Alastair's arms. That's what I told myself when I left Maria's party. That's what I kept telling myself when I laid down on my bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, until I fell asleep.
And that's all there was going through my head when Luce dropped me to the airport.
"I'll miss you, Lia." Luce murmured before pulling me into a very tight hug. "Why do you have to live so far away?"
"Why do you have to live so far away?" I asked her instead, which came out more like a muffled mess of words since she was still hugging me, way too tightly for me to even breathe. "Luce. I can't...breathe."
She laughed and pulled away. Her eyes, I noticed, seemed sad.
"Send me a text when your plane departs, okay?" She asked. I nodded. "And Lia?"
I raised my brows questioningly.
"Take care of yourself." She smiled, squeezing my shoulder. "For me, yeah?"
I gave her a smile back, which might have wavered a bit before I hugged her again.
"Goodbye, Luce," I whispered.
When Luce left and I had settled in the waiting area, waiting for my flight, I called Alastair. A little part inside me hoped that he'd answer. But he didn't. It went straight to his voicemail. So I left him a text.
Me: hey. i'm leaving in a little while. hoping i don't end up beside a bitchy baby this time. call me if you see this. and if you don't then well, i'll try calling you again.
I looked down at the text and sighed.
Me: i love you, Alas.
I spent the next half an hour on my phone, surfing through random apps, sending texts back and forth with Luce. I even received a few texts from Nora and apparently she knew that I'd be arriving back in New York somewhere near tonight--thanks to Mum of course. Nora seemed adamant to come and pick me up from the airport, even when I insisted that she shouldn't.
Seeing her face right when I landed in my hometown was the last thing I wanted. But it was either that or go back home (alone) from one of the New York cabs. And that was something I despised more than having that first awkward face-to-face conversation with Nora after years.
Mum would've come to pick me up from the airport herself since Dad would be busy late at work, but Mason had one of his school's taekwondo competitions, and he was so hyped up--like every time--to even care that I was arriving back. Not that I was mad at him. I missed my little brother enough to not be mad at him at the moment.
