outbound | haaland

10.

It was gloomy ride to the airport.

Nova's parents understood when he explained his obligations. They hugged him and told him they looked forward to seeing him soon. He didn't get to say goodbye to Christian. That made him sad. Christian was the first one to explicitly give him approval. It made him feel even worse that they didn't appreciate the depth of his goodbyes, the uncertainty, the near-impossibility of him meeting them again. He only had the length of the car ride to pluck up the nerve to ask if Nova might like him.

Ennik and Ingrid drove with Nova and Erling to the airport. Nova's flight out was in the New Year; their timing didn't match up at the end.  Nova hardly looked at him; it hurt Erling. He wasn't ready to let go of Nova and her family and all the good things that came along with them. He didn't want to return to being Haaland the footballer quite yet.  He really enjoyed his time as Erling, Nova's boyfriend.

Ennik hugged him for a very long time after he got out of the car. Ingrid joined in part of the way through. "We'll stay here and give you two a private goodbye."

Nova silently accompanied Erling into the airport. They stopped at the halfway point between transportation pick up and the airline counters.

"This is it," Erling announced, trying to play down how sad that statement made him.

Nova looked at him for the first time in an hour. "Thank you.  You've been the best boyfriend that I could have lied about."

Erling smiled and nudged him with an elbow, "You're such a good actor.  If you ever want to pursue anything, let me know, I know people."

Nova snorted, letting laughter crack through her sour mask, "You're a good friend.  I'm going to miss you."

It killed Erling a little bit when Nova said friend.  The courage he'd been trying to gather for the past few minutes vanished. He couldn't tell Nova how he felt. He cleared his throat, "Thank you for a wonderful week. I will miss you too."

Nova pulled him into a hug, "Goodbye, Erling Haaland."

Erling wrapped his arms around Nova, squeezing before letting go.

Nova chuckled, "Gotta figure out how to explain how we broke up."

"You can blame me," Erling replied softly. He listed every excuse he could think of, to convince himself of how they would eventually end if he tried to make it real. "I'm a busy person.  I didn't have enough time for you. Rumours of my involvement with other people put a strain on our relationship."

Nova bit her lip and nodded.

Erling glanced behind Nova to see Ennik and Ingrid peering at them from a distance. It made him smile; what kind of privacy was that?

Erling closed the distance between them and pressed a final kiss on Nova's cheek. He felt compelled to leave this little part of his heart with Nova. Maybe the action could convey all the feelings that Erling hadn't verbalized. "For our audience," he lied, motioning to Nova's relations.  "I wish you all the best."

He withdrew himself and pulled his things behind him.  He turned back to wave goodbye at Nova, trying not to cry. She was still in sight, watching him go; Erling had a chance to correct his lie of omission. He still had a sliver of time to tell Nova that he lo- really liked Nova.

Nova waved and turned around, taking Erling's last chance with him.

Erling sat on a bench and waited to calm down before he left the airport and caught a taxi home. He already missed Nova and missed feeling like he was at home.

Erling's phone rang. 

His mother's name populated his display.  He answered his phone and closed his eyes, "Hi, mother."

Her voice was bright, "Hi, my love.  Happy late Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

"How was your Christmas?"

Erling smiled to himself, "Great."

The next time that he saw Nova, he would not let his feelings go unsaid.  (He would see Nova again, right?)