Atlas

Twenty seven

"...Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to inform you that British Airlines flight BI568 is ready for boarding at Gate C-4."

Dimia looked at me with concern. Her carry-on was far above the limit, filled with Christmas presents from her extended family.

"I don't think I can do this, Dimi." I sat back down in the chair. I was breathing heavy, my heart rate was through the roof – classic signs of a panic attack. I'd been getting them a lot lately.

I wiped frustrated tears off my face. I wasn't even crying because something had happened. It was solely the panic attack I had just had.

Dimia squeezed my hand. With her other, she called Reece. "Where the fuck are you?! Dios mío!"

I heard Reece on the other end complaining about not being able to find a charger at Duty Free. Dimia shut off the call and faced her body towards me.

"Listen, mi amore, we're going to go back and kill this new semester. In a good way. You don't need him. You have me. And Reece."

"No... it's not that I don't want to see him, I just..I don't know."

"How are you feeling?" she carefully touched the band-aids on my forehead. "Your mom told us you missed the party on New Years because you didn't feel well."

"Yeah." One of the reasons why. New Years was three days ago, and this time I had taken a break from all the parties.

"Come on, Gracie, you can do this." She got up and with much difficulty pulled her huge backpack onto her shoulders.

We found Reece at the boarding gate, and the flight wasn't too full thankfully. I slept for the most of it, played a puzzle game with Reece on his phone, ate. Time flew by.

Before I knew it, the plane had landed, we had gone through customs and we were exiting the airport with all our luggage.

Reece called a cab. The weather was cold and wet. I looked at the 12 am night sky and my shoulders sank. A few weeks ago, I was excited at the prospect of Atlas being the one to come pick us up from the airport. Now, he didn't even know I was coming back.

As if Dimia could read my mind, when we sat in the cab she nudged my shoulder. "Did you tell him you were coming back?"

"Nope."

"When was the last time you spoke?"

"We texted on Christmas. He checked up on me."

"You know you can come stay at my place anytime right?"

I half-smiled at her. "Thanks, I know."

The cab dropped me off first. Reece offered to take my luggage up for me, but considering how tired we all were, I said I could do it myself.

He hugged me goodbye, and I hauled up my bags. Nervously, I checked the time. Atlas came home around this time now. I was just hoping I wouldn't bump into him.

I dragged my bags across the hallway, cursing the bumps in the carpet. It was making this whole thing harder.

I was unlocking my door, thanking the Gods above that I hadn't seen him, when the elevator tinged on my floor.

Shit.

My door opened with a swing, but clearly, I wasn't fast enough.

"Grace?!"

I slowly turned my head. I wasn't ready for this.

"Uh, Atlas. Hi."

Gosh, could this get any more awkward?