Stand By Me - Leah Williamson

I've Missed You

Kameron's POV

I walked back through the reception, being put back into reality. So thankful for even the smell of cigarettes, which I'd always hated, but it showed that life wasn't just white walls and disinfectant wipes which is what I'd experienced for the last week.

"Leah!" I shouted, her back was turned to me, but from the classic Nike tracksuit and blonde ponytail, I knew it was her. That was my girl. 

As she turned around, I threw myself into her arms, having missed her presence too much to even bear, I had to treasure every last moment. 

Leah chuckled lightly, "Someone's missed me," she spoke sarcastically, kissing the top of my head. 

"Shut up, like you haven't been waiting here for like forty five minutes."

"An hour and a half actually."

That was Le, always far too thoughtful for her own good, "You're joking."

"Well I couldn't miss my angel walking out. What if the traffic was bad?"

I pulled away from her, looking into her eyes, instantly getting caught in the haze of blue. "How are you so perfect?" She just laughed.

Our eyes caught one another's and refused to let go, "we should get going, we have a stop to make on the way home."

I smiled, "Ooo, mysterious. I like it."

"Here," she held out her hand to take my bag, "Let me take that."

"It's alright Le, I can manage."

"Kam, give it here," after those words came out of her mouth, I just couldn't argue with her, I was too exhausted. So, I handed the bags to Leah as we walked towards her car. 

"Where are we going?" I asked, always being terrible with surprises. 

"Not telling," she smirked at me as she put a post code into the screen, it was completely unknown to me thought, "It's nothing big, I just thought it would be nice."

"Anything much happened recently?" Though it had only been a week, I knew a lot could happen in an hour, let alone seven days.

"Not really, everyone's been asking about you. Jonas asked if you could put out a statement when you're ready, not about what happened, just about the break."

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll do it tonight."

"I've missed you though Kam."

"I missed you too Le, spoke about you every day."

"Only good, I hope," she joked. 

"Of course, there's nothing bad I could ever say."

"I saw Ingrid a few times," Leah told me.

"How is she? I know she got injured."

"She'll be out for a couple months from Barca, but she seems alright. Me and Beth took her to all the classic spots, showed her a good time."

"I'm glad, thankyou Le."

"It's no problem she's good fun and she really loves you. When I first spoke to her on the phone, she started driving to the airport before she'd even checked flights."

"Yeah," as much as I knew these were the realities that I put people through, the images that flashed through my mind of their panic, sent spirals through my mind, "She's really sweet."

We drove for about half an hour, just continuing random conversations. Leah knew that I wouldn't want to talk about my time in the hospital yet, so she didn't bring it up, she just tried to distract me with whatever came first to her mind. 

"We're nearly there," Leah told me as we pulled into a smaller country lane, the winds and hills taking us through the beautiful English country side. I'd always thought England could be quite beautiful, while living in central London was convenient and had lots of fun involved, I'd always dreamed to one day move into the country. 

That's where my dream of the villa in the Italian countryside came from. I'd always pictured a beautiful house, large but not too big to feel museum like. I wanted a garden that felt like fields, where I could have a vineyard, orange orchards and a beautiful pool. I wanted a kitchen where memories would be made, first with Leah and then with our children. I wanted a living room that felt like home. My fantasy was in a reality of it's own, so heaven-like that no one could ever find us in our own little world. 

"Here we are," Leah pulled into a little café, it was in a quaint little town, with cobblestone streets and thatched roofs over the cottages, "It's not exciting or anything," Leah suddenly sounded insecure of her idea, "But I thought it might be nice."

I quickly leant over, kissing her cheek, "It's perfect Le. Thankyou."

We got out of the car and Leah led me into the café, which turned out to be a cute little afternoon tea place, nothing particularly fancy, it had character and soul, two of my favorite things. 

That afternoon was really special, for once, we felt like a normal couple. Everyone else in there were lovely, little old ladies having a catch up so no one knew who we were, it was a breath of fresh air. We could laugh freely and kiss knowing that the pictures wouldn't be plastered all over the internet. 

The food had been amazing but it was the company that had made it truly perfect, Leah was perfect for me, it just felt as if I wasn't perfect for her. 

As we walked out, I wrapped my hand around Leah's, truly soaking in the moment. 

The drive home was quieter, but it was peaceful; we had music playing and it was a time when I had to think. I had to finally decide what I was going to do and the truth was, that nothing Leah had done this afternoon, could have changed what I had to do. 

Leah's heart was too pure, it meant that she would do what she thought was best for me, being to never leave my side again. It would ruin the rest of her life if she did that, Leah was someone who craved freedom and adventure, I wasn't right for her at the moment. 

Our paths had drifted too far away from one another for the time being.

I had to build myself back up from nothing and knowing that I'd held Leah back would destroy my sense of righteousness and most of all, go against all of the love I felt for Leah. 

I'd never stop loving her but it wasn't right at the moment. I knew that we were destined to be together in every universe; earth or sky. But at this time, we needed to be apart and to grow and move on with our lives, I just had to rely on the mind of the universe to bring us back together further down the line. 

It was a risk that scared me, but I had faith in us but more so, I couldn't destroy what Leah had built for herself. I wouldn't let her destroy herself for me. 

_____________

author's note

as much as these next chapters might hurt like a bitch, I felt it was the only way, not to be dramatic or anything but I think for Kam to truly recover she has to focus on herself for a bit, do it for herself. And also we all know that Leah would have taken the time off, no matter what Kameron said, and we couldn't have that, could we?