Running Bases With You

Chapter 47

{unedited}

*Louis' POV*

"Annabeth. Annabeth, it's time to get up, babe."

I shake her awake with gentle force before rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I got a few hours of sleep tops last night due to all the tossing and turning I did.

Today is the day. The day I leave England behind and go to America. The day I leave her.

Annabeth rolls over on her side, facing me. Her eyes are glossy and I feel my heart beat faster.

"Hey, don't cry. Not yet." I sit down beside her and take her into my arms.

Annabeth sighs. "I'm trying really hard, but I dunno how long I can hold it in."

We sit in silence for a few long minutes, neither one of us having the right words of comfort to assure each other that we can survive time and distance.

It seems as if all the people we care the most about, the ones that hold us up when we're at our lowest possible point, are the ones who we never get to spend wanted time with. Distance separates us and time divides us until we are nothing but two people connected by the heart. Love is what holds us together and the only thing that is able to keep us strong is the thought of being with each other again.

I pull away from Annabeth when I feel my emotions starting to get the best of me. If she sees me start crying, I know she'll start to cry; and God knows, I can't hurt her like that.

"C'mon. Let's finish packing up your things." Annabeth looks away, the first to make a move towards my half empty bags.

Most of my things are already packed, but I may have purposely unpacked and half packed things to make this morning go slower...

"Louis... These bags were packed yesterday. What.."

"Okay, okay. So maybe I'm not taking this as well as I'm letting on, but for your sake and mine, let's not talk about it please." I visibly cringe, trying to avoid Annabeth's piercing gaze.

She sighs, muttering something under her breath that I can't decipher before kneeling down and repacking stacks of my clothes. After a minute or so I lean down to help her, my hands shaking violently from anxiety. I clench my fists together so hard my knuckles turn ghostly white; I have to gain control of myself.

Annabeth is the one to place the last t-shirt in one of my suitcases, and it just so happens to be my Avengers graphic tee. She zips it up slowly, bringing the two twin zippers together in the middle.

"Well," Annabeth gulps, sniffing. "That's the last of it."

I only nod and bite the inside of my cheek. I have no words left.

"I'll go get ready now..."

~~~~~

*Annabeth's POV*

My whole body, mind, soul, and heart feel numb. I should be hurting, gosh my heart should be aching in the worst kind of way right now; but for some odd reason, I can't feel a thing.

This could only mean the worst is yet to come, for I've felt this way once before. The day I left my family for the first time to come to Uni in England... Now that was something I'd call pain.

One of my countless amount of flaws would be my attachment to people. So many people come into our lives, whether one by one or in numbers, and most of them leave a mark on each of us. The marks they leave can either be deep or just enough to imprint the surface; but none of them are ever erased. Sure, you can try to forget them and let the mark they made fade a little, but it will never go away. Only some people make marks deep enough to puncture our hearts, but those are the marks hardest to forget.