Helplessly; j.g.

Eleven

Eight months had passed since Rome had moved to Italy. Seven months and one week since Johnson died and Rome had stopped living for two months. 

She couldn't focus on her work or life, she was concerned about Jack and Kayla and Johnson's family. The funeral was three days after he died and she'd sobbed for a week straight.

Now, she was heading back to Los Angeles to celebrate Jack's twentieth birthday. Rome hadn't seen Jack since the funeral and she was concerned if he flipped back to being the depressed guy he was when she'd first met him. 

Rome bobbed her right knee up and down while she sat in her airplane seat, running her hand through her hair and observing the ocean below her. 

"Scared of flights, honey?" the lady sitting next to her asked with a smile on her face.

Rome lightly chuckled, shaking her head. "No, heading home for the first time in seven months for a friend's birthday party," she answered.

"Where's home for you?" the lady asked.

"Los Angeles. It's not really a home, but it's where I grew up, so it is for me," Rome answered, pulling her tray down as the stewardess came down the isle with the cart containing the food Rome ordered.

"Oh, I love Los Angeles. I live over in Orange County, so it's a little bit away, but I always take my grandkids there on the weekends when they come to visit," she nodded with a smile on her face again.

"That's sweet," Rome beamed. 

The stewardess leaned forward and put the plate of food on Rome's tray. It didn't look super appealing, but she took a bite of the pasta. It wasn't very appealing, but she was starving and it was food.

The last five hours of the flight, she slept curled up in the seat. A stewardess woke her up two minutes after the plane landed, making her one of the last people off the plane.

Rome gathered her belongings and walked off the plane and into the airport, heading to her baggage claim area.

She stopped abruptly when she saw Jack standing by the baggage claim conveyor belt. Rome tilted her head and drew her eyebrows together as she slowly walked over to Jack.

"Long time, no see, huh?" she asked when she stood next to him.

Jack instantly looked down and cracked a smile. "Definitely. How was Italy? You seemed to have picked up a slight accent," Jack observed. 

Rome chuckled and shrugged her shoulders, seeing her suitcase and grabbing it off the belt. 

"You doing okay?" she asked, looking up at Jack and pulling the handle of her suitcase up.

Jack sighed and looked down at the ground. "As okay as anyone who lost their best friend can be, I guess," he nodded.

Rome didn't say anything else, just looked at him. She checked the time on her phone and looked back at him. "Happy twentieth birthday, Jack."

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word count // 482

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