Pizza & Wings

4 LATE

Avi

I was late, very late. I wanted to drive like a crazy person, just race down the highway to get to my girl, but if I did that then two things could happen. I could get pulled over and a huge ticket or I could get into an accident and get hurt or worse. I had a very bad feeling that everything was about to come undone and I couldn't shake it. 8 months and I never betrayed her, never once even considered it. Things weren't always easy. We didn't always agree we had small fights here and there, but nothing we couldn't handle. Nothing that hurt too bad and made us angry for more than a short while. Making up always involved some sort of long talk and healing then the fun stuff happened, sometimes a day later, but it didn't matter. I didn't care. In the end, I was hers and she was mine. That was all that mattered to me.

I looked at the dash clock. It was 1:10. I was supposed to pick her up at 1:00. I turned off the radio. I couldn't handle it. I didn't like the silence either. I grew more and more frustrated with every second that passed. I didn't have my phone to call her and tell her that I would be there. Or what happened. I didn't know where it was. I didn't have her phone number memorized, why would I when it was in my phone, so no other phone would allow me to get a hold of her. I had to stay on the highway to get to the airport so I couldn't sidetrack home to see if it was there, or swing by the studio or to Marissa & Noah's to call her with one of their phones. There was no fucking help in sight. One thing I never was with her was late. I was going to be really fucking late.

I made it to the airport just past an hour late and headed to the little cafe I was supposed to meet her at. She wasn't fucking there. I didn't know why she didn't just wait for me. I had never been late before and I always kept my word. I was pissed as hell. I wanted my phone. I found the nearest phone and called the only number I knew. No one answered. I looked around for her again. Went down to the baggage claim for her flight, checked to see if had been delayed and not landed yet. Its number wasn't even on the screen anymore. I thought I was worried over my damn phone. I was suddenly terrified that her plane had crashed and by some fucking miracle it hadn't shut down the airport or made the national news. I stopped at the counter and freaked the lady working there out asking about Lizzie's flight. Once she got me calm she was able to tell me that it had landed early. "FUCK," I said out loud before I managed to say thank you and started to head towards the doors. I hoped like hell she went to my place.

I took three steps and was stopped by a handful of girls wearing PTX shirts. Shit, were they in town? I didn't even know anymore. I made a mental run through of Kevin's schedule and Scott's and came up with nothing. I kept looking at the doors and was really distracted by the need I had to get the hell out of there and get to Lizzie. If they noticed my sense of urgency, they sure as fuck didn't care. They were rambling on about something that regrettably I simply couldn't bring myself to care about. I apologized as best I could and excused myself. When one of them latched onto my arm, likely because I didn't take any pictures with them I turned and let loose a particularly vicious look upon them. I might have even growled a bit. I did my best to recover the moment, smiled and requested that I be let go. I informed them that I was very late and that I had to go about as politely as a two-ton truck is to a wall when it hits it at 60 miles an hour.

I reached my car and went straight home. Traffic was, of course, a bitch and I was so damn angry by the time I did get home that I couldn't see straight and I had no fucking clue who I was angry at. She wasn't there. She hadn't waited for me either. Why hadn't she waited for me? I promised. I had never broken a promise to her. Never. Angry tears fell down my face as I looked at the clock. It was almost 4. I got out of my car and went into my house. I had a spare phone. I'd have to get it activated and figure out where the hell my fucking girlfriend was.

I was hungry in addition to being angry and every plan I had for a nice evening of love and relaxation seemed to be so far away that I didn't know what to do with myself. I was pouting and crying and pitching a general fit. Mad as hell at Lizzie for not staying put and waiting for me. It was just an hour. Just one. What the fuck? I threw my keys, kicked my shoes off and went to the kitchen to find something to settle my stomach and ease the emptiness. My head was pounding so damn hard by this point that it only made matters worse. Nothing in the fridge looked good. The pretty purple cake I bought with the little sprig of lavender was waiting on the shelf the wine on the door. I told each of them to fuck off and grabbed a bottle of water. My head was swimming in anger and worry and hurt. That's a pretty deadly combination on an empty stomach especially in me.

The water didn't stay down. I brushed my teeth and threw myself on the couch. It was only 4:30 I did all of that in half an hour. I rolled over to turn on the lamp and screamed. My phone was sitting on the end table next to the lamp. I picked it up and tried to turn it on. It was dead. I scrambled to my bedroom and plugged it in. The minute or two it took for the thing to get enough charge was excruciating. I paced like a madman and tried to turn the damn thing on 17 times. Finally, it had enough charge to turn on. I picked it up. It died the second it was off the charger. It damn near went flying across the room. I put it back on the charger and raced to the bathroom. There were too many missed calls and messages to count.

When I returned from the bathroom I looked at it again. Lizzie had tried to get a hold of me. I checked the messages. There was no mistaking that tone. None at all. I was pretty much fucked. I dropped my phone and rushed to the bathroom again. How many times was I going to throw up when I didn't have anything in my stomach? I should not have gone out drinking. I needed food and aspirin and water. I needed Lizette more. I didn't want to throw up all over her.

I was afraid to call. Terrified actually. We hadn't spoken in 24 hours and something else happened to me that I didn't get the chance to talk to Brad about. It was the first time Lizzie and I had been apart, but if she'd had just waited for me 5 minutes more I would have been there. I picked up my phone and just stared at it. My whole life was out there and she was pissed as hell at me. I almost threw up again. I drug myself to the kitchen ate some of the crackers I kept around and took something for both my head and my stomach. My heart was sinking by the time I found my keys. I knew where to find her. I grabbed my phone. Looked at it, cried a little more than got angry for crying over something that wasn't my fault and headed to Lizzie's apartment.