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He was not allowed to run away again.
I immediately turned on my heel and started running, despite my dad shouting at me to stop.
But I didn’t care. I needed to get to the airport.
He was supposed to be here for at least another month. We were supposed to be able to see each other and fight this out for another thirty days. We were supposed to figure out our shit and end up together by the end of this summer. This was our time. He and I both knew that.
I threw my car in reverse, and the thought of not being able to face him again made my vision go blurry.
I swiped away my tears before gassing it out of the parking lot. Now was not the time for crying, I reminded myself.
As I sped toward the highway, I think I slammed on my car horn and flipped the bird to the car behind me about six times. I tried to slow my thoughts and plan out how to confront Duke, but I was having a hard time.
I thought he was truly serious about his apology back at the beginning of summer. But now here he was, doing it again– leaving without saying goodbye.
And I honestly wanted to show up to the airport just to slap him in the face for that.
39.Duke
I was sitting peacefully alone in the airport, waiting by my terminal with my eyes closed, when something smacked the back of my head, hard.
“Ow! What the-”
I touched the spot that just took the hit and pulled out my headphones. I twisted in my seat to see what the hell just came flying at me… and I spotted a snickers bar on the ground by my feet.
No…
My neck immediately snapped up to look behind me…
And there she was.
My heart pounded so hard in my chest I could feel the blood pumping in my ears.
Because you know how sometimes you have a feeling that what’s about to happen will be an important moment in your life? That what’s about to happen will change the course of your lifecompletely?
I knew without a doubt that this was one of those moments.
She stood there in jogger sweatpants and her Ice League uniform hoodie with her dark hair piled on top of her hair in a messy bun. Her eye makeup was smudged, like she’d been crying.
“You’re gonna need some luck, Duke Callahan.” She tried to keep her voice even, but I could hear a little hiccup at the end of her sentence.
Her lower lip quivered, her shoulders looked tense as all hell, and her hands were balled up in fists by her side.
I slowly stood up and started walking toward her.
And what started as a slow walk, turned into her running toward me.
Her small body slammed against mine into a tight hug. I could feel her tears soaking into my t-shirt, and I hated the fact that I made her cry… but I loved that fact all the same, because she was crying over not wanting me to leave. I furiously blinked my own eyes to stop them from being all leaky.
“Shit babe,” I whispered into her hair and touched her lower back. “Your stitches. You okay?”
She nodded against me and let out a deep, shaky sob.
“I’m sorry–” we both started to say at the same time.
“Me first,” I told her. I used my thumbs to smooth the tears away from under her shiny, hazel eyes. “On Monday, I went to the rink to apologize. I was scared, scared to be with you and lose you because of something out of our control. I'm impulsive and a risk taker with everything in life except for with you. With you, I played it so cautiously, which is so unlike me.” I let out a dry laugh. “And that’s been biting me in the ass. So Claire, I want to take this risk with you.”
She nodded, but her face cracked with more tears and she slapped me in the chest. “I’m still mad that you were going to leave without saying goodbye though.” The sadness in her voice broke me.
