The Elements You Can't See

It's Not The Same

>Jaz's POV<

"Don't be late!"

"We won't mom!"

"Keith honey are you packed?"

"Yes!"

Keith and I practically ran out the door knowing my mom would want to make sure everything was ready to go 12 hours before it was happening. We dreaded this day for weeks, the day he was going to leave. We spent nights watching movies and hanging with everyone else. We would get on the roof and look at the stars or just sit in my room leaning on each other staring off into space. We never talked about it, but with one glance we knew we were both thinking of the same thing. This day.

We've gotten closer since he's been here. It's nothing like talking over Skype or texting as much as we can. It's much better. I can just tell what with him by looking at him. If he's down or so happy he's in space. If he wants to punch someone or hold them close. Even though it sounds stalkerish, I've seen the way he sleeps with no shirt and steady breathing with that same sweet smile like he's dreaming of something neat. The way his hair falls over his eyes a little messy. How brown his hair turns when we swim and how he tans very well, never a burn in sight.

We finally stopped at the fountain where everyone was missing. We looked at each other and blinked. He had slipped his hand in my hand as we ran out the door and so we stood at the fountain fingers intertwined.

"Where is everyone?"

"Who knows"

That's when we spotted Emily walking over kicking rocks. She had her hands in her pockets and a loose tee on. Kyla walked out from the woods and over before laying down on the bricks. Mack and Jordan finally came walking over and sat down looking as tired as ever.

"Whoa. What happened to yall?"

"Sneaking to visit Kyle"

Kyla yawned. I knew how she's been doing this for a week or two now every night. She really needed some sleep. I looked up at Emily and noticed Brax hadn't been tagging along.

"Where's Brax?"

"I don't know. He didn't come over and wake me up like usual so I got a lot of sleep"

"That sounds nice"

Kyla yawned again, and as much as how sleep sounded good, Emily didn't look too happy.

"Stayed up late again with Mack"

Mack had fallen asleep on Jordan and was beginning to snore. I shook my head. So three people absolutely needed sleep while the other looked upset.

"Well Keith is leaving today so"

"Aw man what? You can't leave me here. I'll only have Brax"

"You have Kyle"

"In jail still. They're talking about 2 years in prison at the least"

"Well aren't you and Brax on good terms now?"

"We barely talk"

"You have me"

Mack stretched and yawned. Keith said his goodbyes and we headed off to the beach. The beach is where we were gonna be at till we had to be back around 9 for Keith to get ready.

...

I sighed. We were sitting on, now, our favorite rock. His arm was wrapped around me as I leaned up against him. In just hours we would have to leave back home for him to catch his plane in time. A cool breeze blowed over and I shivered. He squeezed me tighter as we watched the sun begin to set. The orange slowly began to fill the sky.