Don't forget me

Three months, thirteen weeks, ninety-one days

The day my Dad died I cried until I ran out of tears. It was the first goodbye I had ever had to say and since then I've been lucky enough to never have to say goodbye to anyone every again. But placing my packed suitcase by the front door, ready for loading into the car brings the memories of a painful goodbye rushing back and I can't help but fear the reaction I will have when I finally have to walk away by myself. Tyler hasn't quite grasped the idea of how long I'll be away, and I think he believes that I've just overpacked for a weekend at Kia's again. He's still running around crazily swapping between being a princess and a pirate, with no idea as to what is going on. I feel slightly jealous as his simple naivety and can't help but wish I could go back to simpler times.

"That you ready?" Mum asks as she pulls on her coat and picks up her car keys. I nod, not trusting myself to speak without beginning to bawl.

"Alrighty then we better be off, don't want you missing your flight now do we?" She jokes, "Tyler come on sweetie, let's go see some real aeroplanes." This catches Ty's attention and he quickly scrambles towards the car. As I lug my suitcase to the boot, Mum gives me a helping hand as she notices my struggling state. Closing the boot door, she pulls me in for a quick hug,

"Hey you're going to be fine. You'll be back in no time remember." She reminds me of the conversation that we had just yesterday.

"I know." I smile weakly as we break apart and clamber into the car.

Blake, Jake, and Kia are already at the airport when we finally get there. My hands are already shaking at the impending goodbyes that are to come and as soon as I see Kia's face, I can tell that she's already cried once today. She's snuggled into the crook of Jake's arm as he soothes her.

"Oh Ki." I cry as I reach them and she flies into my arms, almost knocking me off balance.

"I'm going to miss you so bloody much Jessie." I hear her sniffle and quickly my own waterworks begin to flow.

"Awh Kia now you got me going." I joke and as she pulls away, we both laugh at each other's now tear stained faces.

"I mean it though. I don't know what I'm going to do without my sister for the next three months." She frowns.

I take a deep breath and place my hands on the side of her arms,

"You Kia Russo are going to go to university and make a ruckus. You're going to go freshers week and get wrecked and probably be late to your first lecture. What you're not going to do is sit there worrying about me, promise?" I ask.

She smiles, "I promise." Kia steps away and Jake steps in to take her place.

"Thanks for amazing summer Jessie." He smiles and envelopes me in one of his huge, bone-crushing hugs.

"And thank you for keeping that loser happy too." He adds quietly and I chuckle at the comment.

"You are more than welcome Jake; I'll see you around when I get back ok?" I say and Jake nods his head reassurance.

With one person left to see the others seem to float off into the distance as he nears me, I turn to my Mum quickly,

"Do you have that envelope I gave you?" I ask her and she pulls it from her pocket, placing it in my hand.

"Thank you." I say,

"We'll meet you before the security gates ok?" I nod in agreement.

With just Blake and I left behind I can already feel the tears burning at my eyes, automatically my hand flies to the necklace as I fiddle with it furiously.

"Hey you." Blake smiles and at that the waterworks begin again.

Blake scoops me up into his arms, wrapping me into a safe bubble that I don't want to ever leave. I breathe a final breath of security before allowing the hug to dissipate.

"So... this is you huh?" He says as he indicates towards the security check in.

"Yeh I guess so." I sigh, "I'm gonna miss you so much." I add.

"Not as much as I think I'm going to miss you." He chuckles.

I suddenly remember the envelope from my Mum and I turn it over in my hands before thrusting it out towards him,

"This is for you." I say. Blake takes it tentatively,

"You're not the one that supposed to be giving out gifts." He laughs and I shake my head in a soft chuckle,

"Well it's not really a gift, just you'll see when you open it. Just wait until I'm gone yeh?" I ask him and he nods in agreement as he tucks it into his jacket.

"Look Blake three months is quite a while and you know your starting uni and I don't want you to feel..."

"We're not breaking up after a week Jess. I told you we'll make this work somehow." Blake takes my hand gently, his thumbs caress the backs of them as he continues,

"Three months, thirteen weeks, ninety-one days. I'll see you when you're back." He reassures me but he doesn't know the contents of the envelope yet and what he finds will change his world if he just takes a chance.

A few months later:

A girl sits uncomfortably in the plane seat, the window view showcases dark, inky skies that are littered with cotton candy clouds. She appears to find solace in a laptop screen and music buds as a soft hum is emitted from her mouth. A constant smile still somehow occupies her face as she admires a CD case for the hundredth time in that hour alone. Herself and a young boy adorn the cover, their gleeful faces frozen in time as she appears to relive the moment each time she touches the image, zoning out in recollection of it. Her skin is glazed a tanned brown from the Nepalese sun and the chain of a necklace peeks out of the collar of her t-shirt. Despite her destination, the dreary and wet UK, the girl seems content to be on the journey.

The girl has a new outlook on life and as she ponders on her new venture in her career, as a lead ambassador for the charity that she had just spent the last few months volunteering for, she can't help but look forward to returning to her home and family.

The girl's mind wanders to the boy who stole her heart and to where he may be now. She had heard of his success with music but during her time away she had, had little contact with any of the outside world.

Little did she know that the boy she had once been in love with had now also captured the hearts of the nation.