Faces (Lannan Eacott) *Under Editing*

39

Lannan had gone back to Sydney a couple days after our talk. Although his family and friends weren't thrilled he bailed on everything to find me, they understood. Many agreeing that they would have done the same.

Long distance hadn't been easy but we were taking it in strides. One day at a time. His video quality seemed to do better since things had been patched up. He left sweet little inuendos in each video posted for me simply because he knew I would watch them.

A couple weeks has passed before we hit our first snag in the long distance situation. I began packing for college and in the middle of a stress induced breakdown I attempted to FaceTime Lannan. He missed the first call. Which wasn't something that bugged me entirely. Of course I wished he had been there to pick up the phone, but sometimes that's just not a realistic thing. I called off and on throughout the night and never heard a word back from him. Another couple days had passed before I got a simple text "what's up". My fingers trembled as I searched for his contact and hit call. He answered on the third ring.

"What's up? What's up. Really? Lan, I know you have a life or your own and I don't scrutinize you for it; but baby, I needed you. And it took you four days to answer. What happened?" He chuckled, not taking me seriously.

"There were a couple parties we had been invited to. Since I missed so much time while I was in the states with you I had to keep up appearances. Not everything is about you Sam." My breath hitched in my throat.

"You're joking, right?" The silence that passed between us proved he had missed the point. "Lannan, I'm not asking for much from you. I'm asking for one call."

"And sorry, Samantha. But one call was just too much for me at that point." I scoffed.

"So what is it Lannan? Am I too much or not enough? Because you seem to like going back and forth between the two." He sighed. "Until you can pull your head out of your ass, don't talk to me."

"Sam-" click. I knew he was partially right. He did need to keep up appearances since he went rogue for nearly five days. I had a right to be upset too. One that was justified. Long distance was taking a toll on both of us but I could at least act like he was my partner.

The day began to drag by. Minutes felt like hours and all I could think of was if I had made the mistake. Maybe I had overreacted like Jacob said I used to. I dialed Lannan's number and on the fourth ring someone answered.

"Sam. I'm sorry." I sighed at his words. "You were right. I could have taken five minutes to give you a call. You're stressed with school and since I can't be there to help you the least I could do was return a phone call."

"It's okay, Lan. If anything I was being too tense. It just feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders right now." He chuckled a sad chuckle.

"I know the feeling." We talked for a few more minutes before I heard Elliot call for him. "I love you okay? If you need me, please call." We bid our goodbyes and I began packing once more.

"Wichita, here I come."