Not All Bad Boys Are The Same.

Chapter 42

Elizabeth's POV

The hardest part of my year was when I hugged Charlotte goodbye and she thanked me for being apart of her son's life. I felt worse than crap. When I found Luca in the living room I kissed his forehead and closed the living room doors on my way out so no one would find him and wake him up.

I didn't know or understand what he thought he felt for me but I needed him to be sure about his feelings. I was sure about mine. Maybe he got a bit too involved in the pretending and couldn't tell between the lines of reality and acting anymore. But I was with him on that. I stopped acting after a while and everything just came naturally.

He could be making a mistake in leaving Allison to be with me. He needed to understand that. I saw the two missed calls on my phone but it was too late I was already on the plane.

My heart ached, I knew it would be hard but this was heart-shattering. I'd fallen in love with all those amazing people and I didn't want to say goodbye but it was the right thing to do.

Tears welled in my eyes and I stared out at the sky through the plane's window. Shutting my eyes for a moment and letting out a heavy breath. A lump formed in my throat and each second felt like I made a terrible mistake that I wanted to take back.

I was conflicted but I encouraged myself to go through with the decision I've made since everything was already said and done.

************

The plane landed at San Gabriel airport. I walked off with the rest of the passengers. A feeling of numbness and nausea coursed through my body. My legs felt like jelly and I wanted nothing more than to go home and collapse on my bed.

The air felt different. It felt like home and even though it was winter it was warmer than England. Everything sounded louder as I moved through the airport parking lot. The lights from car headlights even seemed brighter causing me to squint now and then.

I looked at my phone for the number plate of the cab I was supposed to be taking as well as looked at the number plates of cars parked out in the lot. I almost thought the cab driver left me until I finally found the cab parked last in the row of cars.

The driver Luca helped me hire was standing outside his car. He was an elderly man dressed in a green Christmas sweater that had reindeers prancing on the front. "Good evening," he greeted. "You must be Elizabeth."

"Yes, Good evening," I smiled. He helped me load my bags into the trunk of the car and I got into the back seat.

My mother had no idea I was coming home because I wanted to surprise her. I was a bit excited to catch her off guard. But more importantly, I just wanted to spend time with her and I feel like I needed to be home for a while before my classes started again and I had to return to the housing.

Blake sent me a text while I was on the plane saying that he wanted me back at work on the second of January, but that wasn't even the oddest part. Other than finding it odd that he was being rather generous with my leave days.

The part of the message that really got me to read the name on the top of my screen to ensure I was talking to Blake, was the end of the message where he wished me happy holidays and sent me a dancing Santa.

I stared at the text in astonishment that Blake was actually being nice. It was too good to be true and I knew that something was up so then I immediately texted Ardeth to ask her if Blake fell and bumped his head.

When Ardeth texted me back explaining that he was just being nice because he fired Rosa and she complained to the labor relations court about being unfairly dismissed and he was in big trouble not only with the court but with the owners of the restaurant. His sudden behavior change made sense.