ғʀᴏᴍ ᴘᴏʀᴛʟᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʟ.ᴀ. » ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟ sᴇᴀᴠᴇʏ

Chapter Eleven

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Kai
Text me when you get to the airport; I'm waiting in my car in the parking lot.

I lay my head back against the leather headrest and slowly let out a sigh, looking at the gray sky above the full parking lot of the Portland, Oregon Airport.

Dwelling on dread is how I pass the time leading up to when my phone vibrates with a text message.

Daniel
Getting out of the car. We'll wait for you in front of the main entrance doors

I compose myself before swinging my car door open and stepping out into the muggy air.

***

Jeff, Keri, Anna, Daniel, and I finally make it through security. I silently thank God for blessing us with the airline representative at the ticket desk who allowed us to go through security to the boarding gate, even though Daniel is the only one with a ticket.

I can't explain the feeling that courses through my body as I walk slightly behind Daniel, just looking at his profile. He's not doing anything. Just walking. Pulling a suitcase. Carrying a jacket over one arm. Nothing much, but I feel like I'm in some sort of trance, regardless. There's just something about him.

We reach the gate too soon. Daniel checks his the time on his phone and sighs.

"Five minutes," he says. My gaze finds the floor.

He says goodbye to his father first, each clapping each other on the back as they hug. Keri has proud tears in her eyes when he reaches out to her. He speaks to her softly for the majority of the time he has left and then hugs her tightly once more before attacking his younger sister is a bear hug, rocking them side to side as she laughs into his shoulder.

I look away from them, allowing them to have their moment as I try to ignore the slight sting of my eyes watering. Suddenly, warm hands cup under my elbows.

"Kai," Daniel says in a quiet voice, "please look at me."

I raise my head slowly to see him watching me carefully.

"I can't tell what you're thinking... but I need you to know that just because I'm leaving Portland doesn't mean I'm leaving you."

I swallow, smile a little, nod.

"You're not a burden. Your past is not a burden. And I need you to know that when I get on that plane, I'm not going to stop pursuing this friendship."

I pull him into a hug and he holds me close to his chest.

"I'm going to miss you," I whisper.

I knew my mom for seventeen years before she moved to New York. Seventeen years.

I've known Daniel Seavey for nine days, but as he boards the plane, I know for a fact that him leaving hurts more than mom leaving ever did.