No Place Like You : A Short Story

13.

Been gone for months. Nigga that's depression. My bad, y'all 😬

Ladies, how y'all feel? Brothas, y'all alright?  I missed y'all!!

You know how I do, I shall be editing this more in the future cause typos be comin' for me. 🙄

"Thank you. I really gotta go." Bria spoke politely to the two women who'd stopped her in the airport.

She had an international flight to catch and she was going to miss it if one more person stopped her to socialize about Florian or the season finale of the show she wrote for. Clearly, she'd outdone herself and people couldn't get enough. She mentally patted herself on the back as she scurried through the airport.

The past two months had been full of excitement which Bria was borderline overwhelmed with but she wasn't going to complain about having too much on her plate when her goal was to eat. Between "Odd Little Things" wrapping, and being renewed for a final season, her own film "Adena" finally beginning production, and managing her own personal shit, this trip couldn't come fast enough. She was going to Germany to be with Florian for his 29th birthday. He wasn't big on celebrating his birthday but this year was important. He wanted Bria  there with him, not just to spend this new year of life with him but to meet his family– blood and otherwise. He felt it was time, especially since he met hers just a couple months prior. Bria didn't hesitate with her response when he asked if she could come. She was grateful to be making money now because this was the moment she realized long distance relationships were expensive as hell.

Eight weeks away from Florian wasn't unbearable but it also wasn't ideal, not with everything Bria had going on. She liked being close to him and when she was stressed, he kept her grounded; helped her balance things out when she was ready to topple over. Not that Bria couldn't do it on her own, it was just so much easier with Florian. She honestly believed if they'd left Detroit the same day like her intuition told her to, she wouldn't have left the outing with her college friends to stop at her aunt's house in the middle of the night and she wouldn't have attacked Sage the way she did.

However, she did attack her and she had no regrets. She could've done without the disappointment from her family-- with the exception of Tariq, who sided with her but Bria didn't see herself apologizing any time soon. As far as she was concerned, Sage had it coming for a long time and her leaking photos Bria and Florian was the last straw. She acknowledged that venting about the leaked photos to her friends most definitely pushed her but hey, therapy could only do so much and Bria wasn't quite at that point of spiritual maturity.

She was more than happy to get away and before she even boarded the plane she knew the list of alcoholic beverages she would be ordering to push her into much needed sleep on her nine hour flight.

She settled into her first class seat, graciously accepting all the amenities provided, put her headphones in and sipped her first drink on the flight whilst reading a book. She wasn't working at all for the next week. It was all about fun, love, and relaxation. It was clear she needed rest because Bria dozed off two hours into her flight and didn't wake up until the fly attendant announced their arrival to Munich International Airport.

Florian was right there to greet her at her arrival gate and the moment she felt his embrace, her stress disappeared.

••••

"I'm glad you're here with me, baby." Florian leaned into Bria to whisper.

"Me too." She blushed. "I wasn't gon' miss this. You like your gift?" Bria grinned, resting her chin on his broad shoulder.