I woke up to find someone continuously kicking my feet. My heavy eyes shot open to find Chris standing across from me. He wore dark jeans with a button up blue shirt, with his short brown hair getting caught in the wind.
"Get up" he ordered.
I yawned as sitting up "how did you know where I was?"
"Well, I come here too sometimes" Chris admitted "...come on, I'm taking you to the airport" he gave me his hand to help me up.
I nodded slowly before taking his hand. Once I stood with my own two legs, I took my gym bag from beside my feet.
"Bye Lissie" I kissed my hand then placed it onto the photo on the tombstone.
"C'mon" Chris sighed as we began walking through the cemetery in complete silence.
Once we arrived at his car, he unlocked the doors with the button on his key ring, before jumping into the drivers seat.
I pressed my thumb against the radio's 'on' button, allowing Post Malone to fill the silence. Chris and I didn't exchange any words for the entire car ride, we just sat silently, listening to the radio.
It seemed that Chris and I had grown far apart since Elise died, that was something I wanted to fix before too much time was lost.
After an hour or so, we arrived at the airport. We sat in the parked car for five minutes silently, as Chris just looked down at his wallet.
He then pulled a paper slip from his wallet, which he slowly passed to me. "Here"
I took it from him cautiously. I examined it carefully, only to find my mother's name, address, and cell phone number. "How did you..." my eyes widened at Chris.
"I have my ways" he half smiled.
Chris located my mother's whereabouts. Maybe he does care about me after all? I thought.
"Thank you for doing this for me Chris" my voice broke, "it means so much to me, thank you"
"Of course" he smiled.
I looked down at the piece of paper. My eyes started to well up with tears as I found that she had been in San Francisco the whole time.
That's when I realized, that the woman that left me didn't care. She was living less than fifteen minutes away from my family's home. She could have seen us at any point and chose not to.
I think I just wanted the idea of a mother. I didn't think about the possibility of her being as bad as my father. That's when I slowly tore the paper up into multiple pieces.
"Ned-" Chris widened his eyes.
"She's not my mum" I looked down "sure we share half our DNA...But she was never a mum to me....seeing her now won't change that"
Chris nodded "fair enough".
"Thanks, Chris," I said as jumping out of the car. I shut the door quickly, before poking my head through the car window."You're doing a good job with Cleo" I told him "I'm sorry for being a dick every time I visit....I'm trying to do better"
He nodded with a small smile "I know you are....have a safe flight Ned"
I nodded before walking further and further away from the car until it became as little as a speck.
I boarded my fight a few hours later, at least my family were kind enough to book first class.
I found myself sitting next to an attractive blond with a short shirt. "Hey" she smiled at me.
"Hi" I greeted, sitting up.
"....so Washington" she started "are you going for business or for pleasure" she licked her matte red lips.
"Neither, I live there" I informed, "...what about you?"
"A little bit off both" she announced "I'm a model see so I'm going for an exclusive photo shoot...but I was looking for a good time while I was there"
I nodded, disinterested "cool"
"So how about it?" She asked. I suddenly felt a hand sliding up my thigh.
"Oh" my eyes widened "oh no, I-uh am not interested"
"I'm sorry are you married or something?" She pulled her hand away from me.
Suddenly my mind filled with images of Andi. She was someone that I wanted to spend every second of every day with. She was the love of my life.
A small smile crept across my face "or something"
I had just rejected a girl for the first time in my life. I pulled out my phone in excitement, scrolling through my contact list, search for Sarah's number.
My first thought was that she would be so god damn proud, that I, Ned learnt what love really meant. I then wondered, was it that Sarah succeeded or that I had met someone who changed everything for me?
"Sir, you cannot have your phone on during takeoff" the flight attended cried from beside me.
"Please, I need to call Sarah" I grinned "she's a fucking genius!"
"Sir please" she begged.
I rolled my eyes "fine, fine"
I looked down at my phone and grinned. She did it.
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Hi all,
So the last bunch of chapters have been kind of serious, so I really wanted to make this one light hearted. The next few chapters will be paving the way for the final. Get hyped!
Also, the chapters prior to this one really do show how Ned has evolved. After accepting what his mother had done, he was able to move on with his life and experience genuine love. I hope you guys have enjoyed his transition as much as I have.
Please VOTE
Thank you
Happy reading!