Saint Nick

23. December

Hazel had left early that morning before Nick woke up and sneaked out of the bedroom. She left him a note with a few words on his bedside table that she hoped he would find and follow.

Right now, though, she needed space.

Last night, they hadn't had sex or fucked or done anything remotely crude or sexual. Not in the way Hazel saw it.

No; they had made love.

The imprint of his touch was still on her skin as Hazel drove home with tears in her eyes and an infinitely heavy weight on her chest. The worst had happened, the thing she had feared would when things had started to get too good between them.

She had fallen hopelessly in love with Nick and he was leaving tomorrow. Gone, probably forever, unless he returned next year. Which after today, he might not.

Hazel sniveled as she walked into her apartment and ditched her jacket and shoes. She didn't hesitate to go into the living room and grab her phone, dialing up the number she knew by heart and always called, ironically, when her heart was in trouble.

"He... hello?" A very groggy Camille replied in the other end as it was still very early morning, probably too early for Hazel to even be calling her. She knew her sister would be busy today cleaning the house and making everything ready for tomorrow, and waking her up just seemed cruel. But this couldn't wait.

"I love him," Hazel whisper-cried, not strong enough to say the words louder. "Camille, I... I love him so much, I-I don't know what to do."

Hazel heard some shuffling in the phone, the sound of bedsheets moving and her sister sitting up. After another moment, she thought she heard floorboards and then the scrape of a chair.

"Oh, Hazel," Camille's voice softened in the other end. "That took you long enough."

Hazel sighed and shook her head. She wanted to be mad at her for pushing her to do this, for advising her to stay with him and play it out. She should be furious for letting her heart get attached to a man who was leaving tomorrow and going along with this stupid pretense they had been doing all this time.

But the truth was... she wasn't. As much as she wanted to, she didn't regret a moment of what had happened over the past month. Meeting Nick and learning that someone like him truly existed in this world was a memory she wouldn't want to ever forget. Camille wasn't to blame for her broken heart; that was purely fate being fickle again.

"What should I do, Cam?" Hazel cried. "He leaves tomorrow and–and I don't want him to. I don't want to leave him, I... I want him to stay. But he can't. Cam, please, tell me what I should do."

"Hazel, if you truly love him, then there's only one question you have to ask yourself," Camille said. "You need to ask yourself; How much do you love him? And how much do you not want to lose him?"

Hazel thought about her sister's words for a moment before exhaling. "I love him more than I have words for."

"Then it's simple; You have to fight for that love. Don't let it escape."

Hazel closed her eyes and sobbed quietly into her hand. She wanted to fight, but she didn't know how. "How can I do that? He lives there and I live here. He can't uproot his business and I can't—"