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My eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really. We drew straws to see who would have to put up with you while you waited for your plane and, well, I drew the short straw.”
I punched him playfully but gave him a grateful smile, and he said, “You ready?”
“I guess so.
I gave everyone one last hug, then Miguel picked up my bags and we left the hotel and got into a cab.
'This is it,' I thought as the door closed, and we began to drive away from the hotel. 'Now I begin my journey home.'
There was a solid knot of gloom in my stomach as I thought, not only about the friends I was leaving behind, but about Radleigh.
As I broke into tears again, Miguel wrapped his arm around my shoulders and let me cry.
My flight wasn't due to leave for two and a half hours, and I was severely dehydrated and exhausted from crying so much, so Miguel took me into one of the airport cafés and supplied me with what looked like a bucket of coffee.
I barely had the energy to lift the cup.
Across the table, Miguel watched me but didn't say a word, until I got tired of him looking at me. “What?”
“What happened last night?”
“Well,” I began with a sigh, “let's just say Radleigh made it clear he didn't want me.”
“He really said that?”
“Please,” I begged softly, “don't make me talk about it again.”
He reached over and held my hand. “I'm sorry, Leah.”
“It's my own fault. I should have taken the hint when he didn't show up at the party. I never should have gone to see him. It made things worse. And that's saying something. I didn't think things could get worse.”
“The fact that he turned you away proves what a complete loser he is. He doesn't deserve you, he never did. He never will.”
I looked up at him, his beautiful brown eyes completely genuine. I squeezed his hand. “Miguel, I'm so sorry. I don't know how you can even stand to look at me after what I did to you.”
“It's simple. What we had was important to me. You’re important to me. If I held a grudge, I wouldn't get to have you in my life at all.”
As I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain, the kindness of Miguel's words washed over me and the emotion was just too much. Moving my coffee cup aside, I rested my head on the table as a huge out-pouring of grief and regret came flooding out of me.
I heard him move, and felt him as he wrapped his arms around me again, holding me tightly, gently stroking my hair with one hand.
.
Chapter 21: Mullets and Shell Suits
My journey home was long and exhausting. My mum and dad greeted me just after one a.m on Monday morning at Newquay airport. Even though I’d slept a lot on the journey from Los Angeles to London, I still felt tired and with the added annoyance of jetlag, I was a little bit dazed.
My parents were thrilled I was finally home but while I was happy to see them, my enthusiasm was stilted to say the least. On the plane, whenever I hadn’t been asleep, I’d been crying. Physically, I may have been in England, but my mind and my heart were still very much in America.
Arriving back in my parents' house and going back to my old room filled me with a mixture of comfort and sadness. I loved the familiarity of it, the way the rooms smelled, and how everything looked the same as when I left.
Bur they weren't really my surroundings. Not anymore.
After a quick cup of tea with my parents, I climbed into bed and cried myself to sleep.
I didn't wake up until well past noon on Monday afternoon. As far as my body was concerned, it was still early morning so it didn't feel like I’d woken up at the wrong time. Even so, when I traipsed down to the kitchen in my dressing gown at two-thirty that afternoon, my mum looked a little amused.
