Turbulence - (18+)

29.

GATE B24 SHAY

New Orleans (MSY)-> San Francisco (SFO)-> New York (JFK)

I hit "post" on my thirtieth blog post of the week, logging off before I could see a comment from my personal troll. I was sitting on the fire escape by my window, letting New York's familiar soft rains pelt against my skin.

With two days off, I'd planned to finally address my mail, to finally open the numerous envelopes that littered the corners in my apartment, but I couldn't do it. For one, I still thought that if I avoided them, they would eventually go away, and two, I was getting slightly paranoid about the fact that Justin had yet to respond to my latest email, even though I knew he was here in New York.

I scrolled through my emails again, double checking to be sure my "Hey...You got a minute?" text had gone through yesterday. I tapped the screen as the word "sent" appeared and tapped my fingers against the window sill.

I didn't want to make too much of this, but there was definitely a pattern. Every third week of the month, like he'd said from the beginning, he was practically unreachable. No texts, no emails, no phone calls. But the second the weekend ended, he would pick up right where we left off, as if the messages I'd sent prior had never happened.

Not only that, but the few occasions that I spent the night with him, I would catch him whispering in his sleep. It was always the same phrases over and over, "He lied to you, Justin, he lied to all of us, How do you sleep at night?" or, "Who are you here for?"

And every time that I attempted to ask him about it, he would look at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about. He would then, as always, distract me from the topic with his incomparable sex-rendering me completely useless for hours.

Sighing, I swung my feet across the ledge and shut the window. I walked over to the corner by my desk and picked up a handful of envelopes, prepared to force myself to at least face five of them, but a familiar sound suddenly came through the walls.

"Ohhhh goddd! Ohhh god! Yesss!!!" Meredith's voice rang out loud and clear. "Yessss!" The walls shook harder and harder, and before I could grab my earbuds, my phone vibrated against my pocket. A text message from Justin.

Justin: Come over. (Use the luxury cab. I'll pay for it.)

I tossed the envelopes to the floor and grabbed my coat.

***

GATE B25 JUSTIN

As the evening clouds gave way to an ashen grey sky, I stood on my balcony, watching Shay sleep in my bedroom.

Whenever she spent the night with me, I noticed a pattern: No restless nights or stress if she was around. Even today, when my memories seemed hell bent on following me around, her very presence seemed to keep them at bay. Not only that, but anytime I was around her, there were remnants of feelings that came to life whenever she gave me a certain look.

When we kissed, I felt hints of emotions I once possessed. And after several meet-ups in cities all across the country, I wanted to deny that my attraction to her was more than skin deep. I wanted to deny that even though she was the exact type I should stay away from, I couldn't seem to get close enough. She was getting under my skin, slipping into my marrow, and that was a problem.

Picking up my phone, I logged into my condo's call log, stopping when I saw a new voicemail from an unfamiliar number. Helplessly hoping it was the one I'd waited years for, I typed the password into my system and let it play.

"One new message..." The system said before the familiar soft beep.

"Justin, it's me..." It was the last person I wanted to hear again, Evan. "Justin, I really hate that you insist on rerouting all of our phone calls. It really hurts, and you never-"

"Stop." I gritted my teeth as the message came to an end, scrolling past the new set of blocked numbers for Evan, Riley, and my father-the ten different ones they'd used this month.

As I added this new, unwelcome number to the list, a chill ran down my spine. It was a sudden reminder of how I'd been off track for the past weeks, how I'd lost focus and almost started to trust someone again.

Every person in my life, except one, had betrayed me at some point, or decided to take an opportunistic turn instead of remaining loyal, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Shay did the same.

I walked back over to her as she slept and pulled the blanket across her body. I trailed my finger against her lips, making them curve into a sated smile, and then I took a pillow and a blanket to the couch.

I needed to stop whatever the hell this was turning into and return to what we were at the start. For both of our sakes.