The Unexpected

41 || Traffic Jams

"Skye, dinner's almost ready," Grace informs quietly from the doorway of the office.

I nod at her, letting her know I heard, then look back out the window. The steps that I watched Michael break down on stare back at me. My eyes can't seem to look anywhere else. Sitting here and watching him walk away with a piece of me inflicted an indescribable pain. Even as the sun slowly begins to set, igniting the sky in colors of pink and orange, I stay perfectly still in the spot that I've sat in for the past three hours, waiting for this feeling to go numb.

It seems that whenever I feel I've hit my lowest, something comes and knocks me down further. I had almost fully mentally let go of Mikey until he showed up here. The overwhelming surge of emotions that hit me was a force I never wish to feel again. He came out of nowhere and threw me into a tailspin. Confusion grips every part of me, leaving me unsure of how to react.

The thought that I could've fixed things hangs over me like a dark cloud. He flew all the way from Sydney to come and fix things. He came to fix things that shouldn't have been broken. I should have known that he wasn't cheating on me. How could he? I know him too well but I let my judgement be clouded by fear and paranoia.

Maybe he really is the one, but I've gone and pushed him away. Do we all really have one person meant for us? And if that one is gone, is there another one to replace them or are you just alone forever? Or is there an infinite amount of perfect ones for you? I guess I'll never truly know.

My hand reaches to the necklace that remains around my neck. All of my favorite moments replay in my mind over and over and over. The feeling of his lips on mine will haunt my brain for eternity.The sound of his voice will follow me everywhere I go. The absence of the warmth from him lying next to me as we both slept is the chill that runs down my spine. Every thing he ever did for me will be mine until I die, but he himself is gone.

Then a thought dawns on me. He doesn't have to be gone forever. I can still make things right. When I go back home, I can put everything back to how it used to be.

Heading towards the kitchen, I begin to formulate exactly what I'll say. The second I'm back home, I'm going to march up to his apartment and I'm going to say everything that I've needed to say. Every single thought that I've been holding back will be laid out in front of him. We're going to start over, and forget all of our mistakes.

"Where's Michael?" Grace inquires as I enter the large room.

"What do you mean? How did you- You're the one that gave him our address... You knew he was coming."

"Well duh. Why isn't he with you?"

Why isn't he with me?

"I told him to leave," I sigh.

My mother interjects suddenly, "why would you do that Skye?"

Why would I do that?

"I have to go!" I shout as I run to grab my coat and car keys.

As I burst through the garage and onto the driveway, the winter cold engulfs me. Quickly, I jump into my SUV and start the engine. Before leaving, I check the flight times. His plane leaves in an hour, and the drive takes almost forty-five minutes. I just hope he hasn't already gotten on a plane by the time I get there. Speeding, I make my way towards Dulles.

I know that if I wait until we're both back in Sydney, it may be too late. If he's already on a plane to Sydney, this could all be over and I'm not ready to give that up. Our late night phone calls; lazy days of watching netflix and eating bagel bites; random adventures to some of the dumbest places; helping him think of words when he's stuck writing a song. I don't want to do those things with anyone else. I want Michael Gordon Clifford.

Weaving through all of the slow cars, I get closer and closer to the airport. After only twenty minutes in, I hit a patch of traffic. Everything around me slows to an agonizing pace. The road becomes more and more clogged with each passing second. Soon, I'm barely even moving. This can't be happening...

I put on some music to help calm me down, but it hardly works. This almost claustrophobic feeling from the excruciatingly slowness of the traffic takes over me. As I inch forward for what seems like forever, a car accident comes into view. My stomach drops when I see that a taxi is flipped over. It's not him; it can't be. With probably a little too much faith, I continue on to the airport. I know he's safe. He has to be.

When I finally catch a shuttle from the parking lot to the airport, I begin to feel nervous. The doors open and I'm running into the airport. United Airlines' logo catches my eye as I head towards the counter. I buy the cheapest ticket I can get, then hurry towards security.

I refuse to believe that I'm too late. The thought of losing Mikey forever has me on the verge of tears, but I can't break down yet. Before I do anything else, I have to make sure that he hasn't left. If I give up now, I'll never know what could have been.

After walking through the scanner, I quickly force my shoes back on. The giant screen with departing flights tells me that Michael's plane began boarding five minutes ago at Gate B23. My legs begin to increase in speed as I sprint towards his gate. I can make it.

Finally, I arrive at the B gates and his is right in front of me. The seats of all of the waiting passengers are empty; the plane is gone. It's over.

_______________

A/N

When you don't make it. 

Sorry for being short. Lol I'm not saying whether I'm doing an epilogue or another chapter next, so you'll just have to wait until this friday! So while you wait, go blow up your favorite chapter so far with lots of comments (:

SONG: Human//Aquilo

DEDICATION: lukeamericana you girl you and your comments blew up my notifs while I was gone. bless you. you make me feel so young. (i swear it was almost 120 comments)

Xx. Ash