《Since You Been Gone》Chapter 27

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I slowly wake from a deep sleep—one of the best I've had in a long time—but I don't open my eyes as I am afraid I might ruin my calmness. I even manage to ignore the feeling of warmth pressed against me.

Wait, what is that? I question myself. My eyes slowly flutter open to see the edge of a faded, black tee-shirt and the skin of someone's neck. Suddenly afraid I have made a terrible mistake, I jump away and land on my back on my couch, my body breaking through someone's hands who were wrapped around my back. I look up at the face just in time to see Tobias's eyes open.

"Huh? What happened?" he mutters in a sleepy fog. I stand up and shake my head. I quickly start to pace the floor in front of the couch.

"I. . . I don't know. I just woke up and I was in your arms and. . . what happened last night?" I ask. He looks around like a blind man might as if he can't see. He pulls the black, fuzzy blanket that we were both sleeping under up to his chin and shakes his head.

"I think all that we did last night was watching Catching Fire. I mean, I think I would remember if we. . . you know," he says. I nod since that is all I remember from last night. I run my fingers through my hair to brush out the rats nest that is sure to be in my hair.

"Okay. . . good. I don't think we did either. So, um, we just fell asleep. That's all that happened, right?" I question. He pulls the blanket off of him and lays it in a messy heap on the couch, stands up, and nods.

"Yeah, um, I guess I should get going, shouldn't I?" he asks. I nod and we walk over to the door in silence. I glance back towards the living room, sure I will see Lucas leaving his bedroom.

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"We'll see you later at the airport, right?" I ask. Everyone was supposed to come to the airport to say goodbye to Shauna, Marlene, and Lynn since they have to go back to California for school. He nods and, after an exchange of goodbyes, he walks out to his car and pulls out of our driveway.

In hopes to erase what happened last night, I walk into my bathroom and step into the shower. I allow the warm water to run down my body to remove any final lingering feelings of Tobias's touch. When I finally step out, the mirror is covered in steam and an hour has passed. I hurry to get out since there is only a few hours until Lucas and I have to be at the airport.

§§§

"I am going to miss you guys so much," I say as I wrap my arms around Shauna's neck. She wraps her arms around me and squeezes tight.

"I'm gonna miss you guys, too!" she responds. After a few more seconds of her bone crushing hug, she moves on to Lucas who, is standing between me and Tobias. Marlene and Lynn both continue to make it down the line and the same words are exchanged.

"Do you have to leave?" I hear Lucas mumble to Lynn, the only part of the conversations that I heard between any of them and Lucas. She nods and I hear her mumble something about having to go back to school but she will bring Lucas back something special.

"Bye, guys," Lynn says before moving towards the line going through the metal detectors. We all mumble a similar response. Shauna, after finally breaking away from Zeke, walks to the metal detectors. Marlene is the last to make it to the line since she has to literally pull Uriah off of her.

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"This is always the hardest part of them leaving," Christina says as we walk back towards the doors of the airport. I nod and pick up Lucas so he doesn't get lost in the crowd of people around us.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Lucas mumbles into my ear. I tickle his back and he giggles a little.

"What do you want, Munchkin?" I ask. We walk outside the airport, surviving the wild packs of tourists and business people. He sticks his finger on his chin to make his "thinking face."

"I want chicken nuggets and ice cream," he says. I nod and follow Christina as we begin our hike across the parking lot to where the only available spots were.

"Do you want McDonald's?" I ask. He nods and burrys his head in my neck before I can respond. We walk to the car in silence. "Lucas wants to stop for food. Do you guys want to come?" I ask. They all agree. So, we drive to McDonald's. When we reach it, I pull into a spot farthest away from the restaurant since people apparently eat fast food on Saturday afternoons.

"Lucas, are we gonna race through the playground?" Uriah asks as we walk up to the building. Lucas nods and pulls Uriah up to the door to the restaurant.

"So, any special plans for tonight?" I ask Christina as we walk behind the rest of our group. She shakes her head.

"Nope. You wanna come over? I'm sure Will wouldn't mind," she says. I nod. We walk into the restaurant and I reach into my bag to pull out my wallet to find it missing.

"Can you watch Lucas for a few minutes? I need to run out to the car and get my wallet," I say. She nods. I turn around and walk out the restaurant door. I head in the direction of my car. As I move closer, I come across a car that is almost identical to Al's. It even has the exact same scratch on the hood.

Out of curiosity, I take a quick peek in the windows as I walk by. I begin to walk past it but only then do I realize it is Al's car and there were people inside it. I look back in to see Al leaning across the console on top of someone else, deep in a kiss as she grabs at the bottom of his navy tee-shirt. I gasp and fall back against the truck behind me, setting the car alarm off.

Al and the girl both look up at me and I can finally see the girl's face. Lauren.

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