Overwhelmed

home once more

The day has finally come. Time to go.

"Are you sure you can't stay just a little longer?" George asks, handing Nick another suitcase to load into the car. 

"I'm sorry, George," I whisper, tears already gathering in my eyes.

"No, no no!" Clay cries, wrapping his arms around me. "We're not getting all sad and teary right now. You guys are acting like this is the last time we'll ever meet up."

"It could be for all we know!" Nick adds, earning a glare from both Clay and George. 

"You're not being helpful, idiot," Clay says.

"But he's right! We don't know what the future holds! Maybe our plane will crash! Maybe George will have a heart attack tonight! MAYBE we'll all wake up in separate universes tomorrow!" I testify.

"Those would all suck... but the probability of them happening is fairly slim, weirdo," Clay giggles and I roll my eyes into his chest. "Come on, we need to be to the airport in less than an hour and it's 45 minutes away." George really wants to come with us, but his mom had already scheduled a lunch with him and the rest of his family, so he has to stay behind.

"I'll miss you, y/n," he whispers as we hug goodbye.

"I'll miss you too, George." I can sense Clay's discomfort, so I let go. "Okay... are we ready to go?"

"Not really," Nick says, looking longingly toward George's house. "But we'd better leave anyway. We're already gonna be late at this point."

After another ten minutes of goodbyes, hugging, and some tears from me, we're finally on the road. Nick drives us so that Clay can get some sleep. In the back seat I find myself growing tired as well and begin to drift off.

"Hey, are you alright?" Nick's voice jolts me out of my half-conscious state.

'Huh? Oh, yeah I'm good. Why?"

"Clay said you were a little uneasy about going back home... I just wanted to check in."

"Right... yeah I'm doing okay. I'm just gonna miss George I think."

"Me too..." We sit in silence for a moment. "Are you and Clay okay now?" He asks after a while, keeping his eyes trained on the road

"Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think so... Why? Did he say something to you?" Suddenly I feel a bit insecure and worry that I may have missed something Clay mentioned. Maybe he's been hinting at something? Perhaps we're moving too fast for his preferences. 

"No, no. Sorry I didn't mean to make you nervous. Just making sure." Nick reassures me, smiling into the mirror.

"Right, of course. In that case, we're good." 

"Okay, perfect." An awkward silence takes over the car and stays until we arrive at the airport and check in our rental car. Clay, still groggy from waking up, drags his feet after us. It doesn't take long to check in, so we'll have to just sit near the boarding area for an hour before actually getting on the plane. Nick leaves to find a snack after a while and I'm left alone with Clay sleepily leaning on my shoulder. 

"Hey Clay," I whisper and when he doesn't respond, I nudge his head gently. Barely moving, he groans a response under his breath. "I'm bored, talk to me."

"No, you didn't ask nicely," He states, starting to sit up and adjust his eyes to the light. I smile and look over at him, staring until he finally looks back at me.

"Can you pretty please with a cherry on top talk to me because I'm sad and lonely? Pleeeeaaaasssseeee?" I finish with the best puppy eyes I can muster and receive only an eye roll in response. I fake a sniff and turn away from him on the bench, making sure to be dramatic about it. Very quickly, he pulls me onto his lap and wraps his arms around my back, holding me close.

"Can't we just commiserate in silence? You must be tired too..." He whispers into my ear, already beginning to twirl his fingers in my hair. Before I can even respond, my eyes grow heavy and I find myself falling into a peaceful sleep on his chest. 

I wake up to the sound of Nick and Clay arguing in a whisper, but am still laying in Clay's arms. "She can sleep on the plane dumbass, we need to board." Nick whispers ferociously.

"But look at that face!" Clay responds, shifting to look at my now-open eyes. "Aw, you woke up, I'm sorry." I giggle gently, starting to stretch out my back which was curved at an unfortunate angle. 

"Yeah, I'm not sorry. It's time to get on the plane and I'd rather not miss our flight." Nick says, motioning to the dwindling line of people entering a loading hallway. Despite Nick's worries, the flight attendant assures us that we have plenty of time to get into our seat. Nick tries to explain to her that he couldn't wake me up, but Clay drags him away before he can. 

"Alright, I'll take the middle since I'm so kind," Clay groans before Nick or I even say anything. This time, Nick takes the window seat and I sit near the isle. As soon as the flight attendant finishes telling us about the safety measures we need to follow, all three of us settle in to sleep the entire way. 

~time skip~

Unfortunately, Nick says goodbye to us from the airport because his connecting flight is scheduled only an hour after we get there. As Clay and I ride home in silence, I begin to grow excited to be in my own house again. "Do you want me to help you unpack before I go home?" Clay asks as we pull into my driveway.

"It's alright, I'm sure you're dying to get back to your apartment as well." He hesitates for a moment as I unload bags by my front door. "I promise I'll be okay Clay. Besides, I'm gonna go to bed as soon as my bags are unpacked."

"Okay... If you promise. I'll see you tomorrow after practice?" I nod, watching him turn the key in the ignition to start his car once again. "I'll miss you."

"Less than 24 hours, we can make it."

"Speak for yourself, moo. The maximum time I can survive without you is four hours-" He pauses, allowing an eye roll from me. "-and that's on a good day."

"Whatever dork, leave me be. I'll see you tomorrow." Still laughing, he backs out of my driveway and leaves for the night. I'd never admit it to him - because it would boost his ever growing ego -  but I hate to be away from him for this long too. We were together constantly at George's house, so it feels strange to be on my own. But I doubt he'll stay away for too long. Soon, we'll be staying at each others houses every other night and spending each open second together... as it should be. We're gonna be fine.

In fact, we're going to be amazing. I have faith that no matter what my future holds, Clay will be there for me and I'll be there for him. God knows I've been through hell already, so what else could possibly tear us apart? Now, I'm sure this isn't the end of our story, but there isn't much else to tell. Clay and I? We've gotten as close to a happily every after as is possible in a world like our own and we're going to hold onto it forever. Til death do us apart I guess.

The End ~ thank you for reading :)