Miles Away | Nick Mara

Nineteen

We arrived at our next destination. After settling into our separate hotel rooms, we all gathered in Brandon and Edwin's room, collapsing onto the bed and floor. I lay next to Nick on the bed, my head resting on his chest as we laughed and joked around. Austin and Zion decided have a wrestling match on Brandon's bed; whoever touched the ground first loses. I couldn't help but smile as they struggled to push each other off. Eventually, Zion whipped Austin's back with his long legs, and Austin fell to the floor with a shriek.

"Suck it." Zion laughed in Austin's face.

Soon enough, we were all sprawled on the floor. We'd decided to sleep altogether with the blankets and pillows and duvet spread out across the eight of us. Me, Tiffany and Charlotte slept of one side while the boys slept on the other.

It was around 3:00 AM when I heard feet shuffling along the floor. I opened my eyes slowly to see Nick crawling through the boys' feet, heading out the door. Out of curiosity, I stood up a few minutes later and traced his steps. I slowly opened the door. Nick was sitting on the opposite side of the wall, looking at his phone. His eyes opened wide in surprise when I stepped out.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

He quickly put his phone away and shrugged. "Just thinking about some stuff."

We sat in silence, looking at the floor. I couldn't think of anything to say, and was just about to head back inside when Nick spoke.

"I still have the voicemail."

I turned back to face him. "What voicemail?"

He unlocked his phone and started to play a recording. My voice echoed through the phone, and as soon as the first sentence played, I instantly remembered what it was.

"Hey, it's me, Aubri. I have some things I wanna say before it's too late. I'm so sorry this didn't work. I thought it was working fine, but I guess it wasn't. I tried to be the best that I could for you, and I want you to know that I always will. I don't care what you say. I will always love you. Bye, Nick."

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away with the sleeve of his hoodie. I couldn't think of anything to say.

"It wasn't you."

I looked up to meet his eyes as he spoke.

"It's such a cliche thing to say, but I swear, on everything I love, it wasn't you. Stuff was happening and I was under so much pressure, and I didn't want you to see the vulnerable side of me. I was scared, so called it off. I swear, Aubri, I've been living miles away from you for 371 days, but I'm still in love with you."

"I'm scared." I whispered, my voice shaking. "I can't go through that again. You don't know how much it hurt me."

"I do," he said. "I went through it too."

I shook my head, a tear rolling down my right cheek.

"But," he sat up and leaned forward, sitting inches away from me. "I swear to you, I won't put you through that again."

I breathed in. "Promise me."

"I promise."

"Okay."

And we kissed.