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The whole car ride was silent.
Theo, Zach and Chase were in the taxi, Chase's suitcase propped up in the garage as they headed for the airport. Theo couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the boy was going home today. The time they had together felt so long, yet so short. And merely hours ago they'd gathered in Anchor's to say their last goodbyes, the memory still fresh in his mind.
"I'll miss you, kid," El had said, hugging him tightly with glassy eyes. "Promise me you'll come visit the greatest shack in the world."
Chase grinned boyishly. "You got it."
For some reason Theo's chest hurt, seeing his little brother and El sad about leaving each other. It was a strange, intense feeling; looking at two people you cared about the most, care about each other, too.
Daisy had been there as well, and despite only knowing the boy for less than two weeks, pulled him into a hug. Chase blushed per usual, but managed to wrap his arms around the older girl's waist.
"Don't break a lot of hearts over there," she teased.
Too late. His little brother was already breaking his.
Theo didn't remember arriving at the airport nor walking down the long aisles. People rushed and went all around him but the noise turned to static in his head. His little brother was leaving. Leaving him. And somehow this goodbye felt more final than their other goodbyes.
The boys had arrived early, the gates not yet opened. Normally this would be when they'd pick seats to sit, but they all halted into a stop, awkwardly not facing each other.
There was still time to talk, Theo thought.
But he felt like there was no time at all.
"Well," Zach started. "I guess this is it."
His friend's voice was one of nonchalance, but one look at Zach's face and Theo knew he was as emotional as he was. Chase was his little brother too, after all —and the fact that they had grown to be a little, tight-knit family over the summer made it that much harder to leave him.
