To Mark. For making me feel like this. Cheers to you.
DATE STARTED: OCTOBER 16, 2015
DATE FINISHED: OCTOBER 23, 2015
DATE EDITED: PENDING
WORD COUNT: 2,606
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I shook my head and frowned. My stomach was twisting into knots but it wasn't because I was hungry. I was agitated and I was waiting for him to pick me up.
My clothes were packed, my books had been sent to storage where they'll be safe until I come back for them and my grandparents, sobbed quietly on the dinner table as I lay upside down on the sofa, staring into nothingness as my phone lay still, no notifications bothering me or telling me he was coming.
I looked up at my shoes. Comfortable, right for travel. But then I saw my mismatched socks. A habit I developed out of laziness. I sighed. I rarely wore matching socks because it was too much of a bother. Those same socks are going to be buried under a mountain of stocking and support hoses. What dignified lawyer walks around wearing a purple dinosaur sock paired with an ocean-themed sock?
I was scared. No doubt about it. Adulthood was a scary place. I'm going to miss the comforts of my fuzzy, pink blanket and the funny statement t-shirts.
Finally, I heard a Ford Ranger honking and I rushed off to kiss my grandparents goodbye, lugging my Mickey Mouse Comics! backpack and two matching green trolleys.
He was outside the gate with his back leaned against his car, still wearing his scrubs like he just got off duty. Which he did. When I was directly in front of him, I let go of my green luggage and jumped on him, planting a kiss on his lips while folding my legs around his body like a koala.
This was the first time in weeks that I've seen him and it's also going to be the last until next month when he joins me in our new apartment.
After I released him from my death kiss, my head moved to rest on his shoulder. I didn't move from my koala position despite knowing he was tired as hell. This was compensating for the weeks we were separated. There was no way I was going to not relish the moment.
His lips brushed at my hair as he aked in his raspy, clinical voice, "Ready to go?"
Tears threatened to fall as he asked me. I wanted to say no because he wasn't coming with me. I wanted to say no because it was going to be a long time before I'd ever see him again. I wanted to say no but I couldn't because despite the circumstances, my clothes were packed and our apartment was waiting to be furnished once I arrived. I wasn't ready but I nodded and dried my tears on his shirt.
He made me look at him, tipping my chin up with his pointing finger as tears continued to fall. "What happened to my brave girl? The one who threatened to paint the apartment a disgusting pink and green and fly back here to cut off my penis if I talked to another woman? Where's that girl?" He asked me again.
I bit back a sob. I missed him. I was going to miss him. I was never going to stop missing him every time we parted ways. But even so, I replied to his question, "She's right here and she still will paint the apartment if you talk to anyone. She's just scared."
I looked on as he shook his raven-haired head and kissed my nose before slowly prying me off him and taking my hand into his.
He squeezed my hand, and led me to the front seat of his car, leaving me there to put my bags in the back, before getting into the driver's seat and starting the car again.
The engine hummed to life and off we were on an hour-long roadtrip to the airport. Just like the old times, the car fell silent with only the murmur of three am radio shows playing soft, mellow tones in the background.
One hand rested on the door of the car as my head rested on it while the other was on my lap. I had finally stopped crying.
The reflection on the window showed his face creased into concentration as he tried to stay awake, fighting off 48 hours of consciousness.
We were wrapped in a comfortable blanket of silence. There was nothing to be said. All I wanted to do was bask in his presence, and remember that a month wasn't going to be that long.
After shifting gears for the third time, I felt him take my free hand and entwine it with his own, bringing it up to his face and kissing it, slowly bringing it down and caressing it like he always did.
My heart beated for him and I felt like his heart did the same. Maybe that's why we were here right now.
I flashed back to all the good times that we had. Freshmen year of college and how he asked me out.
We were walking home again, the buses were all full at this time of night. His classes ended at one in the afternoon and mine ended at five thirty, followed by a meeting until eight in the evening and yet he waited for me.
At the time, we had already made it known that we liked each other. But we were biding our time. He was still debating on whether asking me to be his girlfriend was going to be worth it considering the fact that his major was going to keep him insanely busy memorizing ailments and what causes them as much as mine was going to keep me stressed over current events and constitution amendments.
As we were walking home, we'd fought over something stupid that I couldn't remember. But then all of a sudden, I'd said that I was going to be his girlfriend no matter what and he'd looked at me, shocked. It took a couple of minutes for the both of us to realize and to agree that we were going to be be together despite the restrictions and the problems we knew we were going to face if it happened. When we got to another bus stop, he held me close and said the cheesiest thing he could in that moment. "I have a girlfriend now."
He let go of my hand to change gears but then held it again as soon as the job was done. I turned to face him, to memorize his face until I got to see it again in personal.
For a second, he took his eyes off the road to look at me and ask if there was something on his face. My mouth automatically formed a small smile of contentment as I shook my head.
"Oh, okay. I thought there was. I got kind of worried. I tunneled through the hospital food just to keep my energy up. Maybe I'd forgotten to wipe my mouth or something. You know how it is."
Of course I did. Being a nurse was hard. Being a nurse in a relationship was harder. You barely have the time to sleep and study, let alone go on a date. I was fine with it. But there was a time where I wasn't.
We had been going out for less than a month but I was already frustrated. I could accept the fact that his main goal was school and graduating with honors and that I was second to that. What I couldn't accept was the fact that most of his free time was always spent with his classmates or friends from high school and rarely with me.
It was bad enough that I was feeling intense pressure to uphold my reputation as a freshmen to be watched [in a good way, of course]. Adding the feeling of being forgotten by the boy you learned to love was just torture I couldn't take.
So ofcourse I got mad. I told him he had to balance friends and me. Because it wasn't fair for him to favor one over the other. I was willing to be second banana for school but friends, not as much. If I could've shared second banana to friends, it would have been enough.
We went to the same university but it felt like he was on Mars. Sometimes, I'd be walking from on office to another and I'd see him, ten-twenty feet away, and I'd think to myself about how it felt like I was an obsessed fangirl of his, only being able to gaze at him from afar, hoping for a greeting or a hug or a signed autograph.
But then, I remembered how we'd solved the problem. And how it kind of got easier to accept not see him everyday. I coped, and so did he.
I squeezed his hand and looked out into the dark, still-sleeping world. If I was travelling with anyone else and it was this dark, I would have been been feeling jumpy, worrying about made-up monsters that didn't exist. But with him, I felt like I was always protected.
I untwined our fingers and use both of my hands to make his cup my face and share his warmth with my cold cheek, which he caressed and pinched. I was going to miss him like hell.
Two seconds later his hand went for the gears to shift and the cold came back. I frowned.
"Babe, I got Mel and Jasper to keep your housewarming present until you get to the apartment." He said vaguely.
I gave him a quizzical look. He was never one for surprises. It came to me as a shock that I had a housewarming present waiting for me.
"Who are you and what have you done to my boyfriend?" I inquired.
He blew a raspberry at me and shrugged. "I try being the 'surprise' kind of guy and that's how you react? Cruel, babe. Cruel."
I rolled my eyes at him and wished I could shove him but both his hands were on the wheel now and I really didn't want to risk killing the both of us.
The sky was still dark. His hands were still on the wheel, and I was still sad.
My mouth opened like a fish and the question came out so randomly. "What colors do you want the walls to be?"
He paused to think for a while before responding with powder green.
I frowned at his answer. "Again, who are you? My boyfriend hates green."
His hand reached for my cheek and pinched it, making me pout.
"I hate green but love my girlfriend, who loves green. So I know she's going to love me more for wanting green for the walls."
My cheeks instantly flared. He knew just what to say to shut me up. You'd think that because I'd studied a major that involved a lot of training to think quickly on your feet and fibbing that I'd already be attacking him with a lot of them. I did have them in my head but I knew better than to let them out of my mouth. I learned that the hard way.
It was one of days. We were fighting again because I wanted to spend time with him but he was busy with school. Again. It had gotten so bad to the point where we insulted each other on Twitter.
WendsorEyesore tweeted: If you loved someone, you wouldn't dare hurt them like this. You broke your promise. You inconsiderate jerk. Why would you do this to me?
WendsorEyesore tweeted: You're one goddamn daring dick aren't you? Going ahead and saying that to me?
WendsorEyesore tweeted: I thought nurses were supposed to care for their patients, not make them feel like their world is going to crumble!
JumpingJax tweeted: Two can play at that game. You know who you are.
JumpingJax tweeted: Aren't you one to talk, pot mouth. You've got your lawyer skills down but it's a shame you're using them on me, isn't it?
JumpingJax tweeted: You do know I can see your tweets right? I get affected too, you know.
JumpingJax tweeted: You're like Math. Turning simple things into very complicated matters.
It was a very vicious Twitter battle that had only ended when he sent me a private message and asked if we were going to continue fighting until we eventually broke up. We had fixed up the fight when it was put to light that I was going to fly to another city for a nationwide conference that I had gotten into. If it weren't for that conference, we would never had made up.
He took my hand and entwined our fingers again, his warmth immediately creeping up and calming me down. I don't know how I could survive without him in my life. So for the rest of the car ride, we remained silent, his fingers caressing my own like he always liked to do.
When we reached the airport, he somberly opened my door for me and unloaded my bags from his car. In the next minute, he was standing in front of me as I looked up at him sadly, my lips curled in a grimace. I can do this.
He kissed my forehead softly, making me sigh. I felt my lips quiver. Every time we said goodbye to each other, I'd always miss him almost instantly. I'd miss the rasp in his voice and the small squeaks in it that he tried to hide. A month away was going to be torture.
At the thought, tears sprung from their confines and dribbled down my face like a waterfall and like clockwork, his hands cupped my face like they always did when I cried, and wiped the tears away. My arms snaked around his waist and pulled him closer to me. So close I could smell the sterility of the hospital in his scrubs and the mild cologne he always wore around me because he knew his regular scent would make me sneeze every time I got close to him.
I was then enveloped in a very melded hug. One of his arms was wrapped around my waist and the other was in my hair, messing it up as his lips were pressed against my forehead again, whispering comforting words to calm me down.
"It's one month, Wendy. You're not going to die without me." He told me.
I gathered all the willpower I had to reply. "Luke, the longest I've ever gone without seeing you personally is three weeks! How can I handle a month? I can't even cook, let alone do my own laundry! How do you expect me to liv-" I was cut off by his lips colliding with my own.
So there we were, kissing in front of his car and about a hundred people not knowing who we were and not caring that the two of us were publicly displaying affection for each other.
When we broke up for air, I looked him in the eyes and nodded. I could do this. I had to believe in myself. Luke smiled at me and nodded back, letting me go to hand me my bags.
Luke stayed with me until we got to the check-in counter. When my bags were checked in, he wrapped me into another hug.
"I love you and I'm going to miss you so much, Wendy." He said, planting his last kiss on my forehead.
"I love you too, Luke." I replied, wriggling out of his grasp and walking away before it got too difficult to leave.
--
Hi there! I know it's been a while since my last story and this is not like my comedic shit and you're all probably wondering what the hell happened to my funny side so I'm just going to go ahead and say it. My funny bone quit on me and has decided to go on a vacation for an indefinite amount of time and will not be reached until he comes back so I can't ask him to take his job back.
Okay. That sounds stupid. Long story short, I hate college, I hate a lot of people and a lot of things have happened that made my funny bone quit his job. In his resignation letter he cited, "Inconsiderate working conditions with no action for its betterment and ratification can be made by the owner until he or she changes headquarters…" or in other words, transfer to a different university, which I'd do if it weren't for the fact that my family doesn't have as much money as it used to and I'm going to a public school to help out. BUT THE THING IS, GOING TO A PUBLIC SCHOOL IS THE PROBLEM. . I have nothing against public school kids or public school in general but there are a lot of things that are being done differently in the private schools I went to and I can't cope with all of it. I know. Rich kid problems. <\3
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