Goodbye's Second Chance

You're All the Things I Need to Remember

I'm hallucinating. I've finally gone completely mental and am seeing him waving at me. He kept walking towards the veranda as I stared, slack jawed, at that sly grin of his. He stopped just below me and looked up at me. "You just gonna stare at me? You could at least say hi; It's been a rather long day." He said casually.

His voice slapped me back to reality and it hit me that he was actually standing there in front of me. Before I even thought about what I was doing, I launched myself over the railing and down to him. It was only about a 3m drop, and I could have really gotten myself in trouble if I'd gotten hurt, but there was nothing but him in my brain at that moment. I landed and rebounded, clinging to him like a baby koala.

"HOW ARE YOU HERE?" I screamed as I jumped on him. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me to him. "Mmh phhm ifff ouu." He said, smothered by my chest. I leaned back a little and looked at him. He smiled up at me and said, "I missed you." I was so very confused but so happy at the same time. Laughter from somewhere up at the bar floated down to us and I realized we were standing out in the open like a couple of lovesick kids. I hopped down from his arms, but didn't move away.

"But...how...it's..wha-how?" I stumbled over myself as I just stared at him. "I caught a flight." He replied like it was the most natural thing ever. "Oh? Just like that." I said. "It was actually pretty cheap to be honest." He said with a grin. I glanced around to see if there was anyone else before grabbing his cheeks and kissing him hard. I thought it would be weeks before I got to kiss these lips again.

He gripped the back of my jacket, returning the kiss with equal enthusiasm. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as we sunk deeper into each other. This was so utterly surreal; I honestly had no idea how any of this was happening. We finally separated and he leaned his forehead against my shoulder and I just held him like that.

The alarm for curfew went off on my phone, breaking the moment. "Shit." I cursed, not wanting the moment to end. "Think you can sneak out later?" he asked. "Iwaizumi Hajime! I'm shocked!" I feigned, having already devised a plan to get out after Gomez starts snoring. He laughed a little then said, "I'll text you my room number after I check in. Go back up for now and I'll see you in a little bit." I leaned down and kissed him again before turning to walk back inside with him, not letting go of his hand until we got to the main doors.

We separated and I headed for the elevators while he continued to the front desk. I couldn't help staring at him as I boarded the elevator. He looked over at me, meeting my eyes with that little grin of his and I felt my cheeks burst into flame just as the doors closed between us. He jumped on a plane because he missed me. I dropped my head as a huge smile split my lips. I couldn't help but laugh a little when I thought about how insane it all was-we spent years hiding from each other, and in the last 72 hours became unable bear a few hours apart.

It was so hard to say goodbye to him back in Irvine, but even still, I had so much hope, unlike the previous time we'd said goodbye. I wandered back to my room, lost in my memories of the last few days. "You seem better." Gomez said around the cheeseburger in his mouth as I walked in. "Yeah, fresh air. Good for the soul." I replied, unable to stop smiling. My phone buzzed in my pocket as I sat down on my bed.

Iwa:

Room 1210 when you can get away.

Me:

See you soon Haji.

The next 10 minutes until Coach came around felt like an eternity. As soon as he checked the room, I hopped in the shower, eager to get ready. I was hoping my oaf of a roommate would be asleep by the time I came out, but I guess there's only so much luck one can have in a night. I flopped down on my bed, pretending to look through my phone as I waited until he knocked out. I wasn't even really looking at anything; rather, I kept thinking about how Iwa touched me, the feel of his mouth on me, the feel of him in me.