Death's Contest Entries

Heartfelt Departures - 3 (Valentine Day Special Short Story Contest)

"MORNING!" I greeted Steph at eight the next day as I rubbed my sleepy eyes.

Steph made a disgusted face. "Don't talk, dude. Your breath stinks."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I slept well too, thanks."

A man in uniform walked up to us and informed us that the flight to California was boarding right now and I hastily stood up.

"I'll take that as your queue," Steph said, pushing herself off from the ground.

I nodded, my smile wavering a bit. It didn't occur to me yesterday that I would have to say goodbye to Steph the next day but now when the time was actually here, I admit that I was a bit down. She was a fun person to be around, one that I wouldn't mind getting used to and I wished I had more time to spend with her.

She walked with me to the long line of people and as we waited together for my turn to come, I asked her where she was headed.

"Toronto," she answered, smiling. "I'm going to visit an aunt of mine. But my flight's probably in four hours or so," she said, looking down at her watch.

"First time going there?" I asked her.

She nodded. "And I'm excited as hell," she squealed, making me smile at her.

Almost too soon, it was my turn and I turned to look at her. I opened my mouth to say something but not sure what exactly to say, I closed it. She gave me an understanding smile. "Well, I hope I run into you sometime," she said, smiling. "Let's just hope we're not too busy checking in or boarding our planes that we miss each other."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

"Hey, Mister," the man behind the table barked. "We don got all day, ya know?"

"Patience is a virtue, my dear friend," said Steph, and her remark caused the man to give her a puzzled look. I stifled a smile.

Steph winked at me and walked away, waving. "See you, Tyler."

"Yeah, see you," I said, my voice low, almost to myself. I watched her small figure disappear among the massive crowd of people and a minute later, she was completely gone and I wondered whether I would really see her again.

"Hey, Mister! I ain't gettin' any younger here!"

I groaned.

----

3 hours later...

I dug my iPod out of my duffel bag and got comfortable in my seat, putting the earbuds in. Scanning through my list, I saw that my mother had been using my iPod. Again. I smiled and rolled my eyes. She wouldn't accept a new iPod and yet, used mine sometimes and downloaded her favorite songs. I looked out the window of the airplane and turned on a random song.

Taylor Swift's voice greeted me and again I wasn't surprised. My mother was quite a fan of hers.

"You'll be mine and I'll be yours. I know since yesterday that everything has changed..."

Yesterday...

Steph's laughing face flashed in my mind as I continued to listen to the song. True, it wasn't the most romantic experience but I wouldn't have changed a single second of my time that I spent with her. It felt good. And I've come to learn that people have different views on what they think is romantic and even though, it didn't feel like a romantic meeting, there certainly was something.

"I just wanna know you better now, I just wanna know you better now..."