Another City Of Lights.

Chapter 37.

November, New York.

Samantha's POV:-

The fact of the matter is that we all don't live in this world. We all live in our separate worlds. These separate worlds are like our own personal bubble around us. We only mingle, befriend, stay in touch, with those people whose bubbles somehow manage to collide with ours. And when these people move away or by any chance do something else with their lives that doesn't involve us anymore or go away, taking their bubbles with them, we forget about them as if they never existed.

This was the thing that was bothering me severely, to the extent that I couldn't fall asleep most nights, and when I did fall asleep, I woke up with a terrible headache. The days were passing by so fast, and even though it made me feel guilty that I thought this way, but I seriously always found myself wishing that somehow time could slow down, or maybe even stop in this moment if possible. I was afraid to go back to a world which I was once a part of, a world that was now alien to me. Everyone had different lives there now, like I did here, and interference isn't always a good thing. I already felt unwanted, unrealted and left out.

I was worse than a kid with my constant complaining and restlessness, and I was sure people around me were going to snap any minute now. Remy included.

The decision to call my parents had been a combined one. Or basically, it hadn't been mine. If I had it my way, I would still be living my good life, without this constant stress on my head about flying back to Karachi on New Years and spending a whole week with them. Hailey had blackmailed me, and when I had consulted with Remy, he had sided with her, saying all sorts of stuff like how I might regret it later, and how he didn't think it was a good idea to keep them out of my life. And in the end, I had finally given up when Hailey mentioned that my Mum isn't doing that well. I knew I was selfish in more ways than one, but they were still my parents, and I actually didn't want this to come and bite me in the ass later.

When I had finally gathered enough courage to call my parents, I had honestly thought they were going to call me back as soon as possible, and sentence me to life imprisonment inside my room. But surprisingly, they managed to give me time until my semester ended to come back.

I had picked a random time on a random Sunday to make the call, when we had finished our pancakes and even spent the morning doing the laundry, and when I couldn't prolong it any longer. Remy had been sitting by my side on the couch, fiddling with the remote of the TV, skipping from one channel to the next, and playing with my fingers with the other hand. He was nervous as hell, just like me, but he was hiding it better. It wasn't very reassuring though, because I could feel the tension radiating off of him, and onto my own skin, adding to mine and doubling it. I was going to tell him to knock it off, but my Mum had picked up the phone, and I had gone completely rigid.

I had had an entire speech planned. I had written it down multiple times on different pages, I even had it saved in my phone, and memorized in my head. But when it actually happened, when it was the time to get the perfect lie I had created out in the open, I panicked. My mind was a complete blank, and I couldn't even form a single coherent sentence. I was looking around helplessly at Remy, begging him to save me from this, but I knew he couldn't. It wouldn't have been wise to throw the fact about him out in the open so soon. So, in my panicked frenzy, I managed to burst out talking after a while, and after deciding on my own that I couldn't run away anymore, I told my parents everything about me and the last two years that they had missed out on. Remy gave me the room, and it took me more than two hours to convince them and a thousand promises to call later until they finally put down the phone.

The fact that I made up my mind about going to the city I grew up in, was because when I had told my Mum about Remy, she hadn't screamed at me enough. To be honest, I thought they would disinherit me right away, and I was betting on that, so that I could use that as an excuse to not go back. But they didn't piss me off enough, and said it was better to discuss it further after coming back home. And when I told them I would bring him along, the thing I was keeping as a last resort, they didn't even argue over that. I would've been ecstatic over their behavior if the circumstances were different, but sadly, I had no other choice but to agree with their plan now.

Convincing Remy turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I didn't even consider the fact that he might say no. He was stubborn, and a nervous ball of anxiety and kept trying to get out of it like I had been.

"But they're your parents, Sam. Parents who haven't seen you in two years and you want to bring me along? You skipped out on meeting my folks, this isn't fair", He had said, being dramatic and all.

His dramatic scheme had worked though, and I felt guilty for doing this to him, especially because now that I thought about it, I didn't know what I was planning on telling my parents about us anyway. We had never discussed it, and I suppose we were serious in a way, but we had never talked about anything. We were used to taking things along in our pace, and with this impending doom upon us, we were both still skidding around that topic. He had agreed to accompany me, because I couldn't imagine to face my parents alone, and I knew he wouldn't say no to me in the end. I knew we were both thinking the same thing, but instead of figuring it out, we were expertly avoiding the topic. And for right now, that was completely fine with me because I had tons of other things on my mind as well.

Like how I was going to meet my family. Like how I would finally meet my friends. Like Aaron. Aaron who was an ass, surprisingly still, and who was avoiding me like the plague. I don't know what his problem was, and I had sent him almost fifty emails by now, and he was yet to reply. I could've just called him, I had his number saved away in my phone since Hailey sent it to me, but I don't know why I didn't. I never called him, or skyped him, or anything other than email. Every time he would be around when I was talking to Hailey, I would end the conversation sooner than usual. I didn't want him to see me, and I didn't want to see him. Although I did really really want to see him, but I just couldn't. I didn't know how I would handle it. I also felt like I had to keep him at a distance now, because I didn't know how I would handle his judgmental vibes when he found out everything about my life now. Including Remy. Remy had been a secret, until the day Hailey had caught him sneaking in to the other room from behind me. Apparently he had thought he could just walk away, shirtless might I add, and no one would see him. Also, he hadn't known that I was still keeping him a secret.

I had to tell Hailey about him after that, and conveniently escaped conversation with her after that incident in order to avoid her glares. I did send her a message to let her know that I would be coming back for a week.

All that was left to do now was to go through the exams without freaking out over it, and try not to think about my parents, my parents meeting Remy, Dash, Hailey and Aaron, and all of them meeting Remy. All I had to do now was to not think about that, and enjoy this month while it lasted, because no one could be sure what this years Christmas might bring.