coastlines | dreamwastaken

chapter twenty three.

ʀᴇᴀʟ ʟɪғᴇ.
𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏y'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗.

destiny stood in the security line, anxiously waiting for her turn. she fiddled with the ring on her thumb and triple checked the boarding pass on her phone as she attempted to make the time pass quicker.

the line had barely moved when she was distracted by a loud commotion behind her.

"hi, sorry, excuse me." the voice that she had come to know and love echoed throughout the crowd while his white high top converse crashed against the floor as he ran at her.

she tilted her head and furrowed her brows, confused as to why he was dramatically running through the airport. they had just said goodbye after all.

"clay?" she asked as he finally reached her. he was breathing heavily, almost gasping for air. "is everything okay?"

"yeah, yeah. just, give me a second." he placed his hands on his knees, bent over as he tried to catch his breath. destiny grabbed her things and stepped out of line, awkwardly waiting to see what he had to say.

"sorry," he said finally, running his hands through his messy hair. he had prepared a whole speech in his head, but as soon as his eyes met her's, his mind went blank.

"that was quite the entrance that you made back there." destiny joked after a few quiet moments, trying to ease the obvious tension between the pair.

"yeah, sorry about that." clay laughed nervously. no one had ever gotten him this flustered before. "okay." he took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. he felt like he was going to explode.

before destiny knew what she was doing, she found herself grabbing clay's hand and stroking it reassuringly. she could tell that he was nervous, and she was too. she had been hoping and praying for a moment like this, she just hoped that he was about to say the things that she had been thinking for months.

clay immediately felt a sense of calm rush over him as destiny grabbed his hand in her's. there was no turning back now.

"okay, i know that this is going to sound crazy." he took another deep breath. "i know that we just met in person like, a week ago." he chuckled to himself. "but, you're all i think about, destiny. you're all that i've been able to think about since the day that we met."

destiny bit her lip nervously. "cmon just say it," she thought to herself.

"i'm crazy about you, des." he looked into her eyes and could feel himself falling for her all over again. "i'm in love with you. like crazily, head over heels, stupidly in love with you. and i don't want you to go back to new york without knowing that."

his heart was beating a million miles a minute. he was hoping, praying that she felt the same way that he did.

destiny could feel her face heating up as she took a step forward, closing the gap between her and clay. she dropped his hand, reaching her arms up around his neck instead. "can i kiss you?" was all that she managed to say.

clay didn't answer. instead, he just grabbed her face and kissed her. destiny could barely kiss him back she was smiling so hard.

after a moment, she pulled back, still keeping herself close to him. "i love you too, by the way. if it wasn't obvious." he smirked, placing another kiss on her lips, and then another and another.

being with him felt like a dream come true, and she didn't want this moment to end.

clay's hands moved from destiny's face down to her waist, keeping her close to him.

"they're watching us, aren't they?" destiny chuckled as she gestured across the crowded airport.

"yeah, i think so." clay turned to look, and sure enough sapnap and punz were staring at them, giving them thumbs up and cheering. "oh god." clay cringed as he turned back to destiny.

"i have no words." destiny laughed. "they're something else."

destiny and clay were interrupted again my the airport intercom, announcing that destiny's flight was getting ready to board. destiny's heart dropped, she couldn't believe that she had to leave. she slowly dropped her hands from around clay's neck.

"don't go back to new york." destiny was snapped out of her thoughts.

"what?"

"i mean- why don't you just stay for a little while longer. you don't even have to get a hotel, you can stay with us. and i'll get you another flight to go home, but-" he scratched the back of his neck. "i'm not ready for you to leave yet."

destiny couldn't help but smile. "okay." she nodded. she wasn't ready to leave either, if she was being honest.

"okay." clay held out his arm for destiny. "shall we?"

destiny giggled, taking his arm in hers and grabbing her suitcase with her free hand.

sapnap and luke were waiting for them with open arms. "what'd i tell you!" sapnap threw his hands up, taking destiny's suitcase from her. "i knew it. i just knew it!"