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Highway Don't Care

Zach's POV
"Julia wait!!" I called after her, but it was too late. She had already taken off down the road. "Chase my keys!" Chase tossed me my motorcycle keys from the door. I got on Nessie and put my helmet on before taking off down the road. I looked around as I tried to catch some sight of her, but I couldn't. I kept taking separate roads and looking for her, but it was hard to see considering it was already dark out. "Come on...come on...where are you??" I said to myself as I went into full panic mode. I knew she didn't know this location. I tried calling her several times, but she didn't pick up. "Julia please." I whispered as I drove past a park. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a silhouette in front of a bike and I sped up to exit down that road and into the park. I slowed down in the parking lot and I parked my bike next to hers. My heart broken when I heard the sound of her sobbing. I got off my bike and took my helmet off before walking over to her. "Go away." She said through sobs. I sat next to her and she turned her back to me. "You know I can't leave you out here by yourself." "I SAID GO AWAY!!" she yelled turning as she started hitting my chest. I just took the hits and pulled her close to me. After a while of hitting me and screaming she broke down into sobs again. I looked up at the sky as I blinked away a few tears. "You weren't going to tell me were you?" "I was still trying to figure out how to tell you." I said hoping my voice wasn't going to crack too much. "How could you? This is such a big decision and I can't believe you went a head and made it without telling me." She pulled away from me and her eyes were already red and puffy from crying. "I wanted to tell you, but I only found out this morning that I got the job." "This morning." She said in disbelief as she stood up and started to pace a bit. I stood up as well. "I thought it would be something we could work through. I thought we at least owed it to each other to try." I said softly and she looked at me in disbelief. "Are you serious right now?" she said folding her arms across her chest. "I thought we could make long distance work. I would never ask you to give up your passion or your job and I thought you would be the same way." She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. She knelt in front of me so her head was resting on my lap. I looked down at her and knew exactly how this conversation was going to end. I think the both of us knew as soon as I sat down how this was going to end. "Baby I love you and I would never ask you to give up your passion or your dream, but Georgia? I'm not moving to Georgia. I already have such a community built where I am and transporting all the animals. Why couldn't you have gotten a State Police job in Virginia?" "This is my home. My parents and family are here. I wanted to eventually bring my wife and kids to Georgia to settle down, but even you said you didn't want to have kids tonight." "Oh no you don't get to pull that card." "I'm just trying to think of the future baby. I want us both to be happy and I don't want us to sacrifice what we love for each other." "If neither of us are willing to sacrifice for love then was it really love?" I felt my heart sink as she stood up and turned her back to me. I stood up and turned her to face me as I pulled her into an emotionally painful kiss. I felt tears run down my face and hers. I pulled away and wiped away her tears with my thumbs. "Don't ever say I never loved you." I said before she hugged me. "Baby...the reason I didn't want kids is because I can't have them." She said softly and I backed up to look at her. "What?" "I was going to tell you later if we ever got to that point, but since you want to think about the future you should know. There is some genetic disorder in my family and most of the females in my family can't have kids." "Babe...I didn't know I'm sorry." I said rubbing her back. "Because we never got around to talking about our future. Which I was okay with. I was perfectly fine just us living the day to day, but now that I'm here...I can't be back in Virginia worried about you getting hurt down here and not being able to come to you aid. You can't be here and worry about me getting hurt in Virginia and then rush to my aid. We can't come home at the end of the day and just fall asleep together. We can't cuddle or hold hands whenever we get lonely. Long distance they never work..." "We can make them work." I said to her taking her hands in mine. "That's what every long distance couple says, but then it doesn't work for them." She looked at me and bit her lip and I could tell she was hurting as much in this as I was. "I don't want to do this." I said as I felt my lip quiver. "I don't want to either." She said and I pulled her into a passionate kiss. It was the kiss that decided for us what this all meant. It was the kiss that said I love you, but goodbye. We pulled away with tears in our eyes. She hugged me and I took in the familiar comforting smell of her perfume and softness of her lips. I kissed her again and she looked at me and kissed my cheek. She nodded and took a deep shaking breath. I walked her to her bike side and she got on and put her helmet on. "You will always be welcome in Georgia." "Promise not to pull me over?" She said and we both shared a bittersweet laugh as I dried my eyes. "Only if I'm still welcome in Virginia." "Always." She said and turned her motorcycle on. "Zach. You were my first so I will always love you. Please be careful." she said before lowering her visor. "You too. Please ride safe and let the last message you send me be the fact you got home safe." "I will." She looked down at her bike and shook her head. She put the kickstand down and jumped off her bike before quickly taking off her helmet and kissing me again. This time she got back on the motorcycle and put her helmet on. Then I watched her drive off down the road and I knew she wasn't heading back to Chase's house, but back to Virginia. I climbed on my bike with a heavy heart and headed back to Chase's house spending the rest of the week with him.
Julia's POV
I kept riding down the roads and following my GPS. I was scrolling through some music trying to take my mind of what just happened. I shook my head a few times to blink away tears. I knew if I started crying again then I wouldn't stop. It hurt so bad that we had to break up, but deep down I think the both of us knew it was for the better. I think the two of us were supposed to be together to help each other grow. If I hadn't met Zach I might've never gotten back on a motorcycle. If Zach and I hadn't date he might've never gotten the confidence back to be his normal, goofy, loving self. I was skipping through songs till one song seemed to play. That was the one thing I hated was whenever you were in a mood all the radio stations seemed to play the one song you didn't want to hear. I gave up on trying to find another station as I just let the song play through. "I bet your window's rolled down and your hair's pulled back and I bet you got no idea you're going way too fast. You're trying not to think about what went wrong. You're trying not to stop till you get where you're going. You're trying to stay awake so I bet you turned on the radio and the song goes. I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby. I can't live without you, I can't live without baby oh baby. The highway won't hold you tonight. The highway don't know you're alive. The highway don't care if you're all alone, but I do I do. The highway won't dry your tears. The highway don't need you here. The highway don't care if you're coming home, but I do I do. I bet you got a dead cellphone in your shotgun seat. I bet you're bending God's ear talking bout me. You're trying not to let the first tear fall out. Trying not to think about turning around. You're trying not to get lost in the sound, but that song is always on so you sing along. I can't live without you, I can't live without baby. I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby. The highway won't hold you tonight. The highway don't know you're alive. The highway don't care that you're all, but I do I do. The highway won't dry your tears. The highway don't need you here. The highway don't care if you're coming home, but I do I do." I had to blink back tears and fight the urge to turn back and run into Zach's arms and tell him we could make it work and that I was sorry. "I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby. I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby. The highway don't care. The highway don't care. The highway don't care, but I do I do. The highway don't care. The highway don't care. The highway don't care, but I do I do. The highway don't care. The highway don't care. The highway don't care, but I do I do. I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby." The song finally ended and I could feel the cold wind blow my tears down my chin. I continued to listen to country music on my drive home. I drove through the night and watched the sunrise. After about 8 hours of driving I pulled down the familiar gravel road of my driveway. I saw a car that I didn't know parked next to Ellie. When I saw Ellie a part of me got excited thinking that Zach was here until I remembered what happened. I parked the bike feeling emotionally and physically drained. I walked up the stairs and unlocked the door. I was immediately met by my protective dogs. I tried to keep them quiet as it was only 7 in the morning. I made my way to my room. I took off my gear and climbed into bed locking the door and falling asleep. I woke up about 2 in the afternoon and wrapped my arm around the pillow next to me. I remembered that Zach wasn't there and I blinked away some tears. I crawled out of bed and sat in the shower feeling the hot water on my skin. I sat on the cold tile and let the hot water wash over me. I sniffled a few times and I heard a knock on my bedroom door. "It's open." I said from the bathroom as I continued to sit in the shower. "You are back earlier than I thought you were going to be. I saw only your bike outside. Is everything okay?" I heard Kierstien ask from the other side of the bathroom door. I bit my lip to prevent me from breaking down again. I stood up and turned the water off before wrapping myself in a towel. I took a deep breath before slowly opening the bathroom door. Kierstien gave me the look that you give a soaking wet puppy. "That's what I was afraid of." She said looking over me. "Come on." She said softly and I sat on the bed. "Arlette." Kierstien called and Arlette poked her head into the room. "Give me a hand will you?" Arlette looked at me and got serious. She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Arlette was my high school friend and she has been really successful in fashion and makeup over in France. She had come to visit and I hadn't planned on needing help, but I knew it was pointless to fight my friends when they were just trying to help me. She went through my clothes and picked out an outfit. "Here get dressed." Arlette said handing me the outfit. I felt like I had barely any energy to get dressed, but somehow I managed to. The girls came back in after I was done dressing and Arlette straightened up the outfit a little while Kierstien did my hair and makeup.