Two Birds, One Stone

28. Movie Magic

i'm being so good to yall over break you better love me

(we just won't talk about the one time i took a month and a half to update)

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"I still don't get it," Jacob said, leaning forward between the front seats with his elbows propped on the console. He was frowning. "Who takes a two-month long trip? Do you seriously have to go for the whole summer?"

     I shrugged apologetically at him from the passenger seat. "I'm gonna miss you, too," I said with a cheeky smile. I didn't say what I was thinking out loud for my dad's sake, but I was confident Jacob knew. I had to get away. I couldn't spend my last summer before college with my mom treating me like a stranger and my best friend across the country.

     I tried not to feel so torn about leaving Jacob for so long. He wasn't having any more trouble than usual with mom and dad, and Stevie would be with him soon. He didn't need me there. It was just a vacation, and I would see him again when I moved. We would talk on the phone all the time while I was on my trip, and we'd visit each other while I was in college. There was, on paper, nothing to make a big deal about.

     Yet, as my dad pulled up to the entrance of the airport, I felt something squeezing in my chest, and was almost tempted to tell him to turn around and take us back home.

     My dad. Thinking about not seeing him for the next couple of months was chipping pretty hard at my resolve, too.

     He had really been trying his hardest lately. Like he was trying to make up for lost time and be a parent for me on behalf of both him and mom. Things were awkward at times, but he was there -- he talked to me and spent time with me and gave me everything I needed from him.

     I felt closer to him than ever. Him and Jacob both. And now I was leaving.

     My dad looked over at me as he put the car in park against the curb, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing. Between us, Jacob sighed.

     I was about to say something -- something like a thank you -- when a security guard knocked obnoxiously on my window, startling me halfway to hell, a stern expression on his face as he gestured for us to keep moving.

     "Looks like you've gotta go, bud," my dad said, his voice heavy despite his chuckle. "Don't have too much fun on the west coast."

     I returned his smile, but that was about all I could give before the security guard came banging again. "Jesus fucking Christ," Jacob muttered under his breath, and my dad was too annoyed to scold him for cursing. I clambered out of the car and hurried to the trunk where my bags were, all-the-while feeling the impatient glare of the guard on my back. My dad rolled down the passenger window, and by the time I had managed to say see you later, he was already pulling away.

     Glaring at the security guard, I shouldered my way into the airport, fighting off the feeling that I was leaving too many loose strings behind.

     It was almost an hour before I found Brian and Vanessa. They must have gotten there long before I did; whereas I was still shaking off the discomfort I always got going through security, they were settled and cozy at the boarding gate. They smiled when they saw me, and I sat down next to Bryan, a good hour left to spare before our flight would leave.

     Most of that hour passed pretty smoothly. Vanessa had her glasses on, her headphones in, and a book propped in her lap, and Bryan and I made a fun game out of people-watching the bustling airport life. But I was distracted, and I knew Bryan could tell. He asked me a couple of times if everything was okay, and I told him I was fine, and he let it go.