"We love you Noelle" Sam, Nathan, and Maya said with smiles.
"Thank...thank you guys so much for everything. This all means a lot. You guys are great. I'm lucky to have you guys as friends" I brought them in for hugs, along with Claire.
As I pulled away from Claire and Maya, I felt two rough things scrape against my body.
"What the hell? Do you have a rock on your.....shit....those things are rocks!" I saw two diamond engagement rings on Claire and Maya's left ring fingers.
"So......." I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!" Claire and Maya cheered with huge smiles on their beaming faces, as Sam and Nathan just laughed at our reactions.
"That's great!!! I'm so happy for you guys. When did this happen? Why haven't you told me sooner??" I asked, as I playfully slapped Sam and Nathan.
"It happened....when Nathan?' Claire asked.
"A couple of weeks ago babe, and for Maya it was about four weeks ago" Nathan smiled, kissing Claire on the head as he pulled her in for a hug.
"So why didn't you tell me guys?" I quitely let out, "I thought we were close"
"Nellie we are. We just didn't want to tell you because of all this Declan stuff going on. We wanted to tell you when you were a little....'better'" Maya said.
"Really?" I asked
"Really" Maya said.
"Come here you!" I smiled as I pulled all of them in for a huge group hug. "You guys are the best. But I have one question" I asked as Sam and Nathan cleaned up.
"Why am I this dressed up?" I motioned to my red dress.
"Because of this" Claire said as she handed me a sticky note.
"Gate 24. 4:00pm" I read, "What's this for? Did I win something?" I laughed, but stopped smiling when I saw the semi-serious faces on Claire and Maya.
"Sam? Nathan?" I asked to see if they knew what this was all about. All they did was ignore me.
"It's the gate number that Declan, Mindy, and Charlotte are leaving from for the honeymoon. They're going to be in Australia for 1 month" Claire said as Maya went upstairs to get something.
"The four of us think that you need to do the right thing as try to say goodbye to Charlotte, and hopefully Declan too before they leave. Though he might not want to see you ever again, Charlotte really loved you Noelle" Claire said.
"So what do you think is going to come out of this? That Charlotte's going to come running towards me, then Declan see's me and dumps Mindy and we live happily ever after?" I said a little sternly.
Claire didn't say anything, but her eyes said yes as Maya came back down.
"This isn't like the movies Claire. This isn't going to be like in Love Actually when the little boy goes running through Heathrow after his crush" I was now slowly pasing.
"Nellie. Please" Maya said as she handed me a cropped cardigan.
"Change your shoes, and wear this" She instructed, and I did so because of her serious tone.
"Okay Noelle. What you're going to do is go after the guy you love who's about to leave for his honeymoon with a woman that threatened to hit hig daughter, and who's cheating on him" Maya said as she handed me my phone and guided me to the front door of the shop to an awaiting cab to LaGuardia.
I was speechless.
"Go get him Nellie" was the last thing I heard from Claire as Maya, Sam, and Nathan waved goodbye. They soon were just little specks in the cab's back window.
The journey to the aiport seemed like an out of body experience.
Declan was waiting at the airport, checking his phone anixously, for any text messages from me. He started to become very umconfortable when it was 10 minutes to board, at this time Mindy was saying goodbye to her family as little Charlotte colored in her coloring book that I got her for christmas. I was almost at the airport, but there was a car accident which made the traffic build. I started tapping my foot impatiently until I finally cracked and handed the taxi driver the money. I took off my heels because they were getting uncomfortable and sprinted as fast as I could to the airport which was in sight.
It was the type of moment where the big climax in the orchestra's happen. The type of orchestra that played Portugease Love Theme from Love Actually. Don't know what it is? Look it up, its a beautiful song.
I didn't know if Declan had already boarded but I proceeded running anyway. I got to the airport main doors and tried to find Declan. I basically followed the signs and announcements that were typical in an airport.
Declan patted Charlotte on the back and told him that they had to leave for the flight. She sighed and looked around to see if I was anywhere in sight. I wasn't.
Declan put his backpack on one shoulder, Charlotte's on the other, and began walking towards the door's listening to the music that was blasting through his iphone headphones.
I saw him walking through the doors and started frantically calling his name as loud as I could.
He didn't respond.
I knew he was listening to music, I regret buying those headphones for him.
As the solid metal door closed behind him and Charlotte, I could feel my heart shatter into a million pieces.
I was a second too late.
I begged the heavy set black woman named Ronda to open the door, she refused at first, but saw the shattered look on my face and changed her mind. She said she felt sorry for me. She called someone on her black plastic phone, then shook head as she looked into my eyes.
I thanked her and then found a seat near by, and dropped my black heels on the floor and cried.
The pain I was feeling was getting so tangible that I could reach out and touch it. I felt like it was everywhere, consuming me, I didn't realise how long it had been eating away at my insides until I finally caved in and crumbled helplessly, crashed, spiralled down, and hopeless. All in the middle of an airport.
There was a terrible tightning in my chest, constriction of my lungs, and deep shuddering breaths coming in and out of myself as I tried to hold back the inevitable.
I began to rub my palms against my temples, hoping that it would take away the pain that I was feeling. No use, it didn't work.
I then broke down. The painful, wracking sobs, screaming silently, came as my stupid, regretful self seeped out the cracks that I flimsily tried to repair. But this time, those cracks had split wide open, leaving a gaping hole in my being.
I wailed for a long time, weeping pitifully as I cried myself a pool of self sympathy, until I was empty, benumbed, and turned inside out.
All alone in the airport.
