He Wasn't a Jerk In The End (He Wasn't a Jerk #4)

Chapter Fourteen

The author's note in the beginning of this chapter said 'First upload of 2016' and I realized just how much time really does fly. I was re-reading chapters of this novel, so I could get somewhat close to the original ideas I had and I felt like I had sat down at my laptop to write them just days ago. I still get SO many reads, votes, and comments on He Wasn't a Jerk Online. I put this story on a hiatus, a much longer hiatus than I intended (much like 1D - ahem, but we're not gonna talk about that). I love you all to the moon and back. 

And no, I wasn't listening to Half a Heart on a constant loop while writing this. 

Chapter Fourteen

     CheapFlights.com had become my holy grail in the last five years. I used it to get out of the States, and now I'm using it to leave Doncaster once again. I clicked the home button on my iPhone, and pulled up the internet app. My fingers flew across the screen as I typed my destination into the website's search bar for a one-way ticket. Scanning the results quickly, my stomach plummeted when I realized there were only two tickets availble - one was departing today at eleven-fifty six p.m. and the other was at an ungodly hour on Monday morning. I inhaled through my nose, flaring them as I clicked on the result for the flight that was scheduled to depart today. I prayed my bank account wasn't going to scream for help the second I purchased the ticket. 

     Glancing at the traffic light in front of me, I quickly hit pick date and hit continue on the necessary steps before it confirmed my ticket order and said that it would arrive in my email with my ticket number within a few short moments. A car horn behind me made me jolt, dropping my already cracked phone to the floor but my foot immediately hit the gas the moment I saw that the light was green and the car in front of me had already passed through the intersection.

      I spared a guilty glance at the clock on my dashboard to see how much time I had to kill before the flight. It was currently a little past seven-thirty in the afternoon so I had roughly about three hours. I couldn't let Tiff know where I was going, so camping out at our apartment until it was almost time to leave was crossed off on my list of options. 

     Flicking on my left turn signal, I maneuvered the car into the left turn lane  to turn onto the Main Street that would take me to Cheryl's house. When I got stopped at the next traffic light, I carefully reached my hand down and felt around for my phone. When I finally felt the cracked plastic, I pulled it from off the car's floor mat and I instructed Siri to call Cheryl.

     "Vic?" Cheryl's concerned voice echoed through the speakers on the phone, "is everything alright?" 

     I laughed softly even though nothing in this particular situation was funny. I placed the phone in my cup holder while I placed my hands on the steering wheel to avoid getting pulled over by police patrolling the nearly empty streets. 

     "When is anything ever alright?" My question was rhetorical, "I need to stop by your house for an hour or so. I'll be flying out of Sheffield at around twelve tonight."

     "Because of Harry." It wasn't a question. She knew the reason I was high-tailing it to the airport after dumping the rest of my bank account on a one-way trip to Australia. 

     "So you've heard," I stated and flicked on my turn signal once again to make another sharp right hand turn down Cheryl's street, "Hope you're going through Victoria withdrawal, I'm about seven houses away." With that, I hung up and Cheryl's modest two story house came into view. Sitting outside was a bright blue tricycle that was tipped on it's side, the garage door was popped open showing the mess of toys Cheryl had jammed into the empty space.