Its been a month, since the last time ive seen Tyler. Tried to make contact with me again, for weeks. But I ignored him for so long that he eventually gave up.
And I hadn't done much since. My parents had caught on, asking me if I needed to see someone. Asking if I were depressed, and I wasn't. Just upset at myself.
°°°°°
I open the front door, a sandwich hanging out of my mouth, a temporary water stain on my sweater.
I grin at the expected smile,
"Hey Rose"
"Hey" she invites herself in.
To make up the time away from drama; I had been hanging out with her more recently.
"I'm almost ready; just let me grab something to drink"
"No problems"
She follows me to the kitchen, her flower scented perfume spreading throughout the room.
I grab an opened water bottle from the fridge, shoving the rest of my sandwich in my mouth, downing the rest of the water and throwing it into the garbage.
I dig through my purse, trying to find my wallet.
"Your parents home?"
"Yeah, they're asleep"
"Late night?" She glances at the clock, noticing it was mid afternoon.
"When they're not working they're getting drunk, so probably" I shrug.
I scribble down on a piece of paper, directing it towards my parents and letting them know where I was going .
"At least they drink together, right?"
"Yeah" i sigh, heading out the door across the street to her house.
I stand outside of her car as she reaches through her front door, grabbing her keys, and leaving without a word to her family.
"This your car?"
"My moms" she unlocks it, getting in.
"She lets you just take it?"
"Pretty much"
The drive to Starbucks was pretty quick within the traffic of a Saturday afternoon. People scurrying around for their next week's shopping.
We get our coffees, sitting down at a tall table; trying to catch up, something that was much needed for the both of us. But she goes right for him
"So how is the whole thing going with Jace being gone?"
"Well," I hadn't told her about Tyler yet.
"Its fine"
"Just fine?"
"I mean, I miss him..."
"And?"
"And I-messed up"
"With that boy you've been hanging out with?"
My eyebrows raises, confused as to how she knew.
"I see him walking out of your house all the time- well I used to"
"I've cut him off"
"You guys slept together..."
I take a drink of my coffee, nodding lightly.
"I messed up- bad, I know"
"I think you should tell him. Whether it's when he's back, or over the phone."
"I can't tell him-"
"Emily, he loves you. He'll understand that you messed up."
"I love him, but I wouldn't understand it if he did it to me."
"Well-"
She sighs as her phone cuts her off, buzzing from her back pocket. She takes it out, taking nothing but a second to answer it.
"Hello?
You can't do it?
I'm with Emily, I told you that
But-
Alright, alright fine.
Yeah No, thats fine.
What time?
Two thirty?
That's I'm a half an hour, the airports a half an hour without traffic
Alright fine.
No it's fine.
Alright,
Love you too."
She looks up at me and sighs,
"My mom's making me pick up my uncle at the airport
"Oh"
"I'm really sorry" she starts to gather her stuff.
"Its fine" I shrug.
"You want to come with me? I could use the company"
"Yeah that sounds good"
"Great. But we gotta go. We'll be late as it is, my uncle gets cranky"
"Alright" I chuckle.
We get into her car, getting stuck in the traffic within minutes on the highway. It takes longer than expected, horn honking and people shouting out their windows, a typical weekend in California.
But our small talk goes on for a while, taking is to the airport without a minute to spare.
We get there an hour later, thirty minutes late, not to mention the time it took us to find a spot and look for the gate.
We walk into the crowded airport, trying to find someone to let us know where his gate was. But it resulted in us starting in s never ending line.
"Where's your uncle coming from?"
"Australia" she hesitates.
"Does he live there?"
"Yeah. He's coming down to spend the holidays with us"
"Oh, nice" I doze off.
My stare is locked to the luggage sat in front of us.
Rose taps on my shoulder; it takes me a sec9nd to unlock my stare, but I look over at her,
"Hmm?"
She looks at me for a split second before nudging towards a direction off left from us.
I look with the crowded main hall of the airport, searching around for something she was trying to get at. My eyes land on the familiar face. His eyes meet mine at the exact split moment, a slight smirk starting to spread across his face from a distance.
I look over at Rose, wide eyes as she grins proudly,
"Well go" she nudges me.
I nod, calmly making my way through the people towards him, I smile as I meet his eyes again, eyes I had missed.
He let's go of his bags, letting his stuff drop on the ground besides him. Welcoming me into his arms as he wraps his around me.
His hold harshens, not letting go for a while, not planning on it.
My eyes begin to sting again, starting to cry into his chest silently. I had hurt him, he didn't know it yet. And I felt horrible.
"Jace, what are you doing here?" I mumble
"I told my parents I was coming home early- they couldn't do much about it out of the country" he chuckles, kissing my forehead.
I pull away, he frowns noticing my tears,
"You okay?
"I've just missed you"
"I missed you too baby" he whispers, pushing a stand of hair out of my face. He leans down slightly to kiss me, I flinch. But stop myself from pulling away. All of the things I had done against him flooded me with guilt.
"You ready to go home?"
He hesitates, centimeters apart from my lips,
"Yeah"
"Me too" I reach down, grabbing his backpack as he takes his other bag.
He grabs my hand, tightly, not willing to let go. And neither was I, because it could be the last time that I did.
I smile through my guilt, truly happy that he was here. I look at Rose who makes her way over to us; giving jace a friendly hug.
She turns towards me, grinning.
"I don't have an uncle"