Going the Distance ✔️

Chapter forty six.

Liam's POV

I stayed at the airport for hours. Watching people come and go with their luggage and other belongings. I saw people crying and saying goodbye and I also saw people running up to each other and hugging for ages. Tears of joy and tears of sadness all in one place and I didn't realise it until now.

I watched her go. I watched her get on that plane. I watched it take her away from me. I never knew love until I met her and I had never wanted anything so much in my entire life. I never thought we'd have a last kiss and I never would've imagined that it would end the way it did. Lou was gone and I didn't know if I would ever see her again.

The drive home was slow. It was torture, and even though her plane left hours ago, I couldn't bare to leave it behind. What if she came back? What if she told them to stop the plane so she could get off? But that never happened and the thought of her never coming back to me killed me inside and out. I thought about all of the memories that we shared together. They were fun and joyful and there wasn't a boring day with her. She took risks and ditched with me and she ended up enjoying our time together.

When I got home in the middle of the night, Xanthe was in the living room. "Where have you been?" She asked in a whisper as I closed the front door.

I shrugged. "Nowhere important."

She frowned and I knew she didn't believe me. It had to be a twin instinct or something; I hated that. "Don't lie, Liam. I know you're upset about Louisa leaving, but you should have said goodbye to her."

I wanted to cry, but not in front of my sister. "I did say goodbye." And with those words, I burst into tears that I didn't know I had been holding in. Xanthe looked shocked and she had never seen me cry before, so to comfort me, she hugged me tightly. "She's gone."

Xanthe smelt like strawberries and I forgot what it was like to hug her. "I know she's gone," she said softly, "I had no idea how close you two had become."

I wrapped my arms around Xanthe and cried into her shoulder. "I was in love with her." I said without hesitation. I needed to tell somebody otherwise it would eat me alive.

Xanthe let our hug go, still close to me, but she looked shocked. "You were?"

My eyes were still filled with unwanted tears, but I needed to let it out. I nodded before responding. "I was."

"How did that even happen?" She asked me and I knew she had a million questions to ask me.

I shrugged. "I don't know," I told her truthfully, "we had been spending so much time together and it just happened. She was a good influence on me and she has a beautiful heart. She's smart and kind and she cares. She made me want to study and I barely ditch school anymore. I fell for her hard, Xanthe and I never thought I would."

I was feeling a little skeptical when telling her, but it didn't end badly. "Wow," Xanthe said, "does she feel the same way?" Once I nodded, Xanthe gasped. "She never said a word to me."

I knew that telling my sister was a big deal and I would've thought she would slap me for loving another one of her friends, but instead she was really supportive. "We kissed," I smiled, "twice."

It would take a while for Xanthe to wrap her head around the idea, but I saw her smiling. "Why didn't you stop her from leaving?"

I sighed as we walked over to sit on the couch in the living room. I stared blankly at the TV that wasn't even turned on. "I tried," I told her, "I went to the airport." And that was when I told her everything that had happened from when I told Lou I was in love with her while I was drunk to when we kissed in the rain to when we said our final goodbye at the airport. Xanthe listened closely and I could tell she was surprised, but she looked happy yet sad for me at the same time.