A Travel Guide: To My Heart

one

Sam sat beside Nico in the airport on one of the couches in front of a window with a view of planes and the runway.

He looked tired for once. Not from a lack of sleep but more like he was exhausted from his own thoughts. Whatever they were, she knew he was feeling sad and a bit anxious about the new place he was going.

"It'll be fine, you know. Lot's of things to do and it'll only be what, three months?" Sam poked his arm. "I'll get to come to visit anyway."

"Of course," he smiled.

He leaned over to pick up his backpack from the ground and then lifted it to place it on his lap. Everything inside was no doubt packed away neatly in the same organised style he always went about with. The familiarity of his presence had always been comforting to Sam, she knew every part of him.

After unzipping the main pocket and digging around for a moment he brought out a small object, about the size of a tennis ball, and passed it to her.

"What's in this?" She asked.

It was a brown box with no marking or decorative features on the outside to identify what could be inside. There was no movement either so its contents must fit the space perfectly. On closer inspection, she saw a strip of clear tape approximately an inch long was keeping the sides closed.

Nico shrugged in response to her question and zipped his bag shut again. He leaned his head against the wall.

"It's a gift. Don't open it now." Is all he said.

Just as she was about to say something they heard an announcement calling for the last chance for passengers to begin boarding flight BA173.

Nico looked up. "Shit. How did we not hear that before?"

He went to stand with his bag in hand and held his free one out to his best friend. Sam took it and they both walked to the gate in a rush before the gate could shut. Luckily people were still lining up when they arrived.

Sam dropped Nico's hand and turned to face him, looking at him as she was about to say goodbye.

"I will miss you so much," she said. "More than that time my family dragged me on that dreadful holiday and I couldn't talk to you for a whole week."

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug one last time. She responded by doing the same and patting him on the back affectionately. They held onto each other for another long moment before Sam pulled away and glanced at the line growing smaller to board his flight.

When they were standing so close like this Nico thought for a moment he wanted to kiss her. He's felt that way before. It was stupid but if he didn't do it there'd be no chance to wait for the right moment for months to come. She was his best friend, it didn't need to be anything more than a goodbye.

He kissed her left cheek, letting go of her embrace. "Bye, I promise to message when I land."

Sam only nodded. "Good. Don't leave me thinking you've become the next Aircrash Investigations victim."

"I'd never. But at least they'd have lots to say about me."

She rolled her eyes and shoved him as if to say go. He winked and left her standing there, heading towards the counter with his boarding pass ready to depart.

--

One of the passengers was taking forever and holding up the line.

Sam closed the app she was scrolling through and slipped her phone into her pocket so she could look at Nico.

She watched him standing in the line waiting to board the plane. There wasn't much time left before he'd be gone.

He raised his left wrist to check the time on his watch and looked over the heads of the three other passengers before him, each of them clutching their own passports and boarding passes to get onto the plane that would take them thousands of miles away.

In his head, he was probably thinking that the time would pass before either of them knew it; they'd see each other again in a few months and things would resume exactly the same as it's always been between the two of them. That's how it would feel for him.

Sam gripped the small box he had placed in her hand before leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek only five minutes ago. It was just a goodbye, she told herself in an effort to squash even the littlest thought of the possibility that it was intended to be anything more. She couldn't- wouldn't- let herself believe it.

Because it was silly, when the boy she'd been best friends with the entire time living in this city is about to leave home behind, and her. Obviously, they were never together or anything as such but she couldn't help wondering what it meant when it still felt like the other part of herself would be missing in just a few hours and she'd no longer know what to do without him there.

She didn't want him to go like this, when there were so many things still left there was talk about and times to make each other laugh. She wanted to run up to him and whisper in his ear the three words she'd been too scared to say, not knowing how to come to terms with the meaning that they held.

Only, she didn't need to, because he glanced up and his eyes met hers; reading all the thoughts in her mind and taking in the girl that stood there already missing him. I love you, he mouthed.

Nico's brown eyes held the promise of a new journey beginning between the two of them. If not for the distance, it was only his trip keeping them apart now.

And with one final smile, he turned to board his flight.