The Stars // Yoandri Cabrera

23 | Airplanes

Chapter Twenty-Three

Yoandri's POV

"Baby, I'm sorry."

All I hear is her quiet breathing.

"Angelia?"

A small hiccup.

"I'm leaving tomorrow and I'm coming over to your house."

She sighs and I finally hear her voice, "Don't fucking bother, Yoandri. You've done enough." I rub my face and end up with my fingers tugging at the ends of my hair. I close my eyes and plop onto the pillow behind me.

"I was drunk. My parents let me go to a party, I'm sorry." I feel my voice quiver, "My god, I'm so sorry, Angelia." All I hear is her rustling and then she mumbles, "You say you love me and I say it back, right?"

I get up on an elbow and wipe the tears brimming my eyes, "Yeah." She sniffles and I hear her hiccup again, "Try now." With a heavy feeling in my chest, I croak out, "I love you."

She stays quiet and I see my vision blur, the artificial light in the room suddenly bothering me. I turn off the lights and choke, "Please."

I wipe my eyes and pull my knees into me. "Please say it back." Angelia sniffles on the other end of the phone and all I want to do is kiss her until we both feel repaired, wipe her tears away gently.

"I can't do that."

The line goes dead and I cover my mouth to keep the cries of anger, self-loathing, to emit from my lips.

I fucked up big time.

She won't take me back.

I wipe my face and new tears replace the old ones, my chin dripping. It wasn't worth it. Getting drunk, I mean. It's not worth losing the only person that you've loved like no other.

I shouldn't have gone to the stupid party, met that stupid girl, done the stupid dirty deed. I couldn't even remember anything, no memory of even going to her house.

I always mess something up.

****

"Yoandri, mi bebe. You look terrible."

I nod and rub my itchy red eyes, dragging my suitcase to the airport entrance. My mom kisses my head and rubs my back soothingly. "I can't wait for you to see Angelia." I bite my lip and my eyes get glossy again. "I don't think that's gonna happen, mom."

She frowns and reaches to touch my shoulder. "Why not?" I shake my head and turn to my family who was unpacking the rest of our luggage. "YOANDRI!"

I smile a little and look down at my niece, Lola, who was hanging onto my knee. I take a deep breath of the humid air and kneel down so I'm on her level, "Hey, cutie."

Lola giggles and hugs me, "Bye, Tio." I hug her tightly and stroke her wavy black hair, "Bye, baby." She runs to go play with her brother and I stand up, looking up at the sky that held no clouds.

I close my eyes and take in Cuba as a whole, then grab my luggage and walk into the air conditioned airport. "Yoandri come on."

The ceiling was high and as I take in my surroundings, I feel more choked up than ever. People were everywhere, hurrying, bustling, and yelling.

I sigh and slide my luggage onto the weight measure, the attendant nodding before putting it on the conveyer belt, and finally checking our tickets.

My family and I walk over to the security area of the airport, and after passing through, walk to the gate leading to home.

Where Angelia was.