About 20 minutes later, we bundled into the hotel lobby with our bags. Oli faltered slightly when she saw that Sal was sitting with Brian. Knowing her like I did, I knew she would be freaking out about everything so I threw my bag at Brian and linked my arm through Sal's, dragging him out the door and leaving Oli to follow. I glanced back at her and she smiled gratefully.
As Brian went to get the car, I took the opportunity to speak to Sal. "Promise me that if anything happens you will tell me. Or you will make him tell me. I can't deal with that shit again." Sal promised, crossing his heart and everything. "Now...you need to tell me how you really feel about my best friend over there."
I chuckled as he squirmed.
"I like her, Shae." He started. "And I don't usually do what we did, but I was so mad that she kissed Casey..."
"That you wanted to fuck the thought of him right out of her mind?" I interrupted, laughing wildly.
Sal scratched his head and looked embarrassed. "Something like that, yeah."
Just then Brian came screeching round the corner in his car. I piled into the back seat behind Brian, allowing Sal to sit up front. Brian leaned back and squeezed my knee before starting the engine and heading off towards the airport. I gazed out of the window as we drove, catching Brian's eye in the rear view mirror every now and again and smiling. I was determined to make this work. I just had to shake off the blanket of insecurity that was covering me. I glanced over at Oli, who was resolutely looking down at her phone. I nudged her and frowned. She shook her head. I raised my eyebrows at her and jerked my head in Sal's direction. She shrugged. I chuckled silently and nodded. Her eyes widened.
"It really freaks me out when you two have those silent conversations." Brian announced from the drivers seat.
"They're silent for a reason, dumb ass." I countered, sticking my tongue out at him.
I took my phone out and text Oli. Stop being a dick and talk to him. He likes you. And put my phone away again. I watched as she read the message, eyes wild. We would have a lot to talk about on the plane.
I sighed as we reached the airport. It really was time to go. Brian and Sal refused to let us carry our bags. "There's no use pretending to be gentlemen guys...we already know you too well." Oli laughed as we walked into departures. She still hadn't spoken to Sal, and I wasn't going to have them standing there awkwardly while I said goodbye to Brian so I turned to face them and pulled them so they were stood next to each other.
"For the love of God will you two just talk. You're both adults. Sort your shit out." At that, I turned to face Brian and pulled him into the queue to check in. I glanced behind me to check that Oli and Sal had followed. Oli glared at me, whereas Sal just smiled.
Brian wrapped his arm round me as we waited, I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder. Every few minutes we shuffled forward a few steps as the check in queue went down. Neither of us spoke. I knew we had to say goodbye soon and the thought of it was tearing me up inside. Eventually we reached the front of the queue, I called Oli and she rushed over. We handed over our passports to the attendant. I checked over our tickets as she handed them back to us.
"Excuse me, there must be a mistake. These are business class." I waved the tickets at the attendant and asked her to double check.
"I upgraded you." Brian whispered to me. "It'll be quieter, you'll have more space...and there's free wifi." I squealed and threw myself at him. The attendant smiled and handed us the tickets once again.
"Have a good flight."
"This is too much, Q" Oli started but Brian cut her off.
"Seriously, it's nothing. Now shush." He put his arm round my shoulder and pulled me towards the bar. "I'm gonna be really selfish and ask you to stay here with me til your flights called..."
I squeezed his hand. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
We sat in the bar for the next hour or so, with one eye constantly on the departures screen. With my head resting on Brian's shoulder, I watched Oli and Sal. Whatever they said to each other before, they seemed to be back to normal...laughing and joking together. I glanced up at Brian and saw he was watching them too. "It's about time, right?" I muttered.
Brian laughed. "Tell me about it." His eyes darkened as he listened to the tannoy announcement - they were calling our flight.
I sighed and sat up, running my hands over my face and through my hair. "I don't want to go..." I whined.
Brian stood and held his hand out to pull me up. He wrapped himself around me and held me tight.
"It's only three weeks. I'll be there before you know it." He kissed the top of my head. I looked up at him and kissed him gently.
"I know...still sucks though." I felt the rumble of his laughter more than heard it.
We dragged our feet as we made our way to security. My heart was pounding in my chest as I tried not to break down. All my insecurities and paranoia were bubbling just under the surface, and I didn't want to ruin our last moments together. I took a deep breath and tried to lock it down.
We reached the gate far too quickly. I untangled myself from Brian and gave Sal a big hug. "See ya Salvatore." I smiled.
"Don't be a stranger," he squeezed me. "And don't worry about Q, I'm right here." He kissed my forehead and released me. I waited for Oli to say goodbye to Brian before doing a kind of swap.
I bit my lip to try and hold in the tears that were rapidly filling my eyes.
"Hey hey, no tears." Brian said gently, wiping away the tears that had managed to escape.
"I'm sorry," I sniffed. "I can't help it." He threw his arms around me and kissed me passionately.
"It's cute." He smiled, and tapped the tip of my nose. "I'm gonna miss you so much. These three weeks better fly by." He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I let the tears fall. "Jesus Shae, what have you done to me?" Brian continued to murmur into my hair, talking to himself more than to me, but I caught something. And I froze.
Oli called my name, we had to go. Brian only held me tighter. My heart was in my mouth at what I thought I had heard Brian say. Oli had to physically drag me away. I kissed Brian once more and then we had to run.
