THRUST

Chapter Twenty-Eight

There's something to be said about missing someone you love. 

And there are so many questions, now that he's gone.

How long is it gonna be like this?

Can this truly work?

While Briggs has been gone for exactly 43 hours and twenty-three minutes... I've been right here, in my house.

Jess came over and watched a movie with me yesterday, but I was no fun. It's hard to concentrate on anything, when all I can do is think about him.

Tiny flutters, tickle up from the pit of my tummy and out through my skin everytime I think about him. How he looked the night before he left... on my bed, on my floor, in the shower, on the stairs... on the kitchen counter.

We didn't even sleep that night.

We stayed tangled together until five am when we had to leave to get him to the airport.

On the way back home, it made perfect sense to me; why Briggs didn't want to do it that way... why he wanted to wait until he got back. Something big happened when we made love for the first time. We tied ourselves together in a way that I've never experienced before and on that drive home from the airport that morning, when I thought my insides might spill out along with all of my tears, I pulled off to the side of the road until I calmed down enough to get myself back home.

It all made sense then, on the side of that road why Briggs tried to hold us off for a while.

How did he know it would be like this?

I don't like this yearning hollow feeling inside, when I talk to him or think about him. The wanting and the missing him is so heavy.

The other night, we stayed locked onto each other for an hour before getting up and showering. He pulled my hair over my shoulder and pressed me softly to the wall, kissing me so sweet and so honest as he whispered words along my neck that left me breathless. He made love to me against the wall, while the water showered down over us and tears streamed down my cheeks. They weren't tears of sorrow or even tears of fear for him leaving, they were just tears of this overwhelming feeling that I can't quite describe, because I've never felt it before.

After we showered I went with him to Jess's to help him pack, but when Jess met us at the door, her expression said that we had some explaining to do, being that I hadn't answered any calls or texts for two days and I showed up suddenly with her cousin.

I didn't even try to hide my hand in his, or my kiss on his lips before he went upstairs to pack, leaving me there with her to fend for myself.

Luckily, she was understanding, but we're family. It's kind of a rule that no matter what I do, she pretty much just has to love me through it.

Besides... I can't imagine anything that Jess could do that I would push her out of my life for, so I know she's the same when it comes to me.

We talked for about ten minutes while Briggs packed. Hugging and laughing until I got teary eyed about Briggs leaving and she just hugged me tight some more, trying to change the subject to Seth, which made me giggle.

Though this is tough for me to see him go, it's something that Jess is happy about. She knows he won't be in danger in New York and she's hoping he won't go back to his old lifestyle when he does get back here. She's excited about him going.

With Briggs' arm around us both, we told Jess goodbye and walked back to my house. We didn't separate until it was time to leave with the sunrise.

.