Stardust (Complete)

Dropping In

I guess a part of me knew it would be him, or, maybe it was just hope.  I desperately wanted him to be there, but it was so much to ask for, such a long way for him to travel for a girl who had run off on him, a girl he might not even care about as much as she cared about him.

All the doubt vanished as I saw him waiting there, though.  He spotted me, and he smiled uncertainly, but I didn't return it, I just stood there, like a moron.

"Hey," he said, closing the distance between us.

Uncertainty really didn't suit him, I'd decided. 

"You're a long way from home," I finally managed to get out.

"Yeah, well," he hesitated, glancing over his shoulder, then back at me.  "I needed to see you."

"Oh."

"I never got to say goodbye to you," he reminded me, seeming kind of sheepish, "you sort of just... disappeared."

He said it offhandedly, but I could see the hurt beneath his words.  I'd left to save him the hurt of saying goodbye, but, ultimately, I'd hurt him more by just running off.  The irony wasn't lost on me.

"I know."

He nodded, and we lapsed into an awkward silence.

"Look, I know this is sort of inappropriate, dropping in like this when you're working..."

"It's fine," I shrugged.

"I didn't know where else to look for you."  He smiled, then bit his lip, kind of flustered, rubbing the back of his neck.  "You're a hard chick to find."

I nodded, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

"I guess I owe you an explanation, " I admitted.

"You don't owe me anything."  He shrugged.  "I just wanted to know what was going on, if I did something wrong..."

I shook my head.

"No.  Never."

He waited, looking at me expectantly, and I sighed.

"I'm sorry I ran off."  My voice was quiet, and I couldn't look at him as I said it.  "I didn't want to have to say goodbye."

"Why?"  He seemed confused and I shrugged again, shifting uncomfortably.

"I didn't want to think about never seeing you again."

"Why would you never see me again?"

I shrugged.

"I wasn't sure if you would..."

I trailed off, glancing up at him, at his intense focus.

"When it got to the last day, I didn't know how to tell you."  I looked away again.  "I didn't want you to be upset, but, I panicked..."

"Why did you panic?"

"In case you didn't care, the way I did, that it might be the last time we saw each other."

He was taken aback by my revelation, about to say something, when Rebecca appeared.

"Hey, Ash," she glanced at Kyra, then back at me, "we need you, a.s.a.p."

"Okay," I nodded, and she disappeared, then I turned back to Kyra.

"I should let you go," he said quietly, but I grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"Wait, Kyra."

He looked up at me, meeting my eye properly for the first time.

"I finish in about an hour," I told him, "can we talk, then?"

I didn't expect him to wait around that long.  I didn't deserve him to, really, but he nodded quickly, a spark of hope returning to his eyes, and he even managed a small smile.

"Of course," he said.  "I can meet you back here when you're done?"

"Yeah," I nodded as well, a small smile of my own creeping over my face.  "Okay."