Cut!

Take 14 - Strong

A/N: Please comment as you read. It'll mean the world to me 

Marcus was waiting for me to get ready. He was supposed to drive me to the airport, but I was experiencing some problems: I was lazy.

“Hurry up!” Marcus yelled. “The plane waits for no one.”

The unfairness of the situation wasn’t lost on me. It had been Marcus’ idea to confine me to the suite for two whole days. I’d been going out of my mind, talking to myself, and more than a few times, I’ve caught myself staring at out of the window, simply to see humans. My laziness right now? It was entirely Marcus’ fault. 

Without any social contact, I’d been entertaining myself for the better part of over 48 hours. Of course, Marcus had been there some of the time. However, since Ludmilla was being transferred to a private clinic, he’d been helping out there for hours a day. The meant that most of my conversations with either my sister or her assistant were held over video chat.

I groaned. The loneliness had slowly driven me mad, and right now, I was paying for my increased procrastination.

“Where’s my charger?” I yelled.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Marcus shouted back. “Hurry up, please.”

I noticed the end of my charger sticking out under my bed table. Crouching down, I reached in to grab it, only to discover something else too.  I pulled it out, revealing the lily from Harry.

He had been texting me rapidly, but I’d refused to answer. I needed to stay away from him—there was too much at stake already. It would be utterly idiotic to allow myself to grow feelings for him. No matter how sweet, caring, funny, handsome—where was I?

Right.  I had to stay away.

I knew I should throw the flower away, but when I stared at its wilted petals, I just couldn’t do it. This was the symbol of what Harry and I shared. And just like any future with Harry, the flower was dead—rotten away due to neglect and purposefully avoidance.

I sighed. Maybe the aftermaths of the loneliness were still hitting me. After all, I didn’t use to be so overdramatic. On the other side, my life didn’t use to involve stalkers, movie stars and teen heartthrobs either. Maybe insanity was an occupational hazard—I couldn’t tell.

“Are you ready?” Marcus called.

“Yeah. Just about.” I placed the flower inside a book and threw it in my luggage. The charger followed slowly after, and I zipped the bag. Carrying it out into the hall, I avoided Marcus’ stare. Instead, I simply walked past him.

“Are you coming?” I asked.

He mumbled something inaudible, and I snickered a bit to myself. I would miss him in Italy. Even though we’d only been together for a small period, I still felt like we shared some kind of friendship now. At least, we were totally at that point where I could tease him comfortably—or at least piss him off for fun.

The drive to the airport was relatively silent. Maybe it was the bittersweet notion that this was goodbye for now. It could also be the nerves springing up since I was going to be alone. I didn’t know.

Marcus fetched the ticket, and I hurried to get my baggage sent off. After that, there wasn’t much else to do but to go into the duty-free zone. Unfortunately, Marcus couldn’t accompany me there either. I was literally being kicked, headfirst, out of the bird’s nest.

“Be careful,” he said and handed me my handbag. “And keep in touch every day.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said. “And you take care of Ludmilla.”