"Miles, moving to Florida is not going to solve anything," I say to him. Miles came over an hour ago and has been pacing around my room ever since, he's stressed about the situation, to say the least.
"We can only tell that after you move to Florida, your life is on the line here Lu, I'm not sure you understand that."
"I understand that perfectly clearly okay? If he's dead, why do I have to move?" I ask him. I still haven't gotten the time to process what happened perfectly, that is how the hell Ezra ended up being dead. It's not a surprise though, that man is overly psychotic.
"It's a precaution Luna, a precaution. I'm sure deep down you can understand why I am doing this, don't be like this," he says with a sigh and I can imagine him running a hand through his hair. I take a few moments to think over this situation and form a pros and cons list in my head.
Pros- I'll be safe, they can monitor the situation on their own, find new up-and-coming leads and hopefully save me from this life of misery.
Cons - I won't be able to take part in the procedure mentioned above but I guess I'll live, my FOMO can be put to rest for a while.
"Okay, I've thought things over," I say to him.
"Wow, that was quick-" he starts but I cut him off.
"Yes I agree, look, I'll move to Florida for a while okay? I'll do the whole safe house thing, but you have to keep my mother and aunt safe, if I'm gone, they will come for them. And on one condition, I'll be kept up-to-date and involved in this whole process okay?"
"Leave it up to you to keep conditions on keeping you safe. Fine, I'm in," I can hear the eye roll in his voice but I grin in any case, maybe it won't be so bad.
When things get bad, they're bound to get better, right?
"Right," I whisper to myself.
"Hmm?" Miles asks me.
"No, nothing. Let's start packing, shall we?" I say to him with a grim smile on my face.
Florida, how bad could it be?
***
"You've taken everything? Phone? Charger? Sufficient cup noodles?" My mom asks me, pacing around my luggage.
"Mom, I'll be fine, don't worry. It's just Florida. Thank you for the cup noodles, I wasn't sure how I was gonna make it out of there alive and yes, I do have everything, you made sure of that. I'll be good okay? Stop fuzzing," I say to her and pull her in for a hug. As soon as Miles left my hospital room, I told my mom and she literally jumped at that idea. I got discharged three days later and mom began packing the minute we reached home. Two more days later and here we are, standing in front of JFK airport.
"Be good," she whispers to me and caresses my hair softly.
"Be safe," I tell her and kiss her on the cheek. Things were rough between us after the fight in the hospital but it seems to be okay now.
"Oh I'm going to miss you and our movie nights so much," Aunt Maria says to me and hugs me soon after mom lets go.
"You be safe too and good, keep yourself and mom out of trouble. Do not invite strange men to the house in the hopes of fixing them up with me, okay?" I say to her and she huffs.
"Hey! Why do I get the long lecture?" Aunt Maria says and mom and I giggle.
"Okay, time to go Lu. All checked in," Miles says to me, appearing out of nowhere. He had gone to get saran wrap for our luggage, you can never be too sure, mom's words, not mine.
"We'll get going now, I'll miss you both," I say to my mom and aunt and pull them in for one last hug. They both kiss me on the cheek and let me go. Miles plans to stay with me for a week and then he'll leave because unlike me, he has a job where he needs to be local. With access to my data, I can do my normal bug-tapping from anywhere in the U.S.
Our plane boards in about 20 minutes so we sit in the lounge. Maria had us bumped to first-class which we both are truly grateful for, I cannot handle screaming kids for an entire plane ride, I'm already getting a migraine thinking of it.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Miles asks me.
"Honestly, good, hopeful. You?"
"Same," he says with a low chuckle.
A thought occurs to me, something which I hadn't thought of before which is strange because I work with Major crimes.
"Miles, the entire point of being in a safe house is to not keep in contact with any of my old acquaintances, why are you going with me?"
"Because I'm worried"
"And is this safe?"
"Do you honestly think this is going to solve anything?"
"What?"
Wasn't this entire thing his idea? He was pushing me over this so much that I had to finally give in.
"It's a precaution, not a cure," he says and gets up.
"Where are you going?" I ask him.
"They announced our flight leaves in 5, come let's go," he says and leaves.
Why is he getting so riled up over this? I just asked a simple question.
"Miles? Come on, what's wrong?" I ask him twenty minutes into the flight. He hasn't said a word since, I wonder if it's something specific to Florida-related or something else entirely.
"Nothing, why would anything be wrong?"
"Because you've barely talked to me since the starting of the flight and you got so riled up over a simple question. Call me blind, but I can still see stuff," I say and attempt to humour him but I get nothing, not even a low chuckle.
"Is it something with your new bae?" I ask him again, if this doesn't work, I don't know what will.
"Bae? 2015 ended seven years ago, hon"
"Aha! It is the bae, come on spill the tea. How did he mess up? You know I can trash talk guys all day," I say to him in hopes of lightening up the mood. He chuckles softly and I smile.
"Okay fine, he dumped me, surprise surprise," he says, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.
"What why? I thought things were going great?"
"Apparently not, I'm way too 'invested' in my work"
"What is wrong with being invested in your work? Would they rather you sit around and do nothing?"
"Apparently"
"Oh come on Miles, you know that's bullshit. You deserve better, okay? Get that through your thick skull," I say and pat him reassuringly on the back.
"Yeah well, it's not like I can help not ever being enough," he says with a sigh. God, I hate seeing how down he is. It's not like him to get so hung over a breakup and feel insecure. I don't even know that guy and I already hate him, if someone makes Miles feel so bad, they're already the worst humans on the planet for me.
"Look, I'd love to feed you some reassuring crap about how you'll find the 'right' one and everything will be all sunshine and glimmer, but that's not true, it's never true. Love doesn't solve anything, sure it makes you feel better but that's only because you start being happy about yourself, you feel better in your own skin. I absolutely loathe how we need someone else to make us feel okay, imagine if we could do that on our own, just be happy, contented, full and never feel saddened by looking at other people, feeling like you're missing out. It would be so absolutely amazing to feel such happiness on our own, it's a crime we don't. Perhaps, that's the real tragedy," I say to him.
"Why don't you quit your job and just become a philosopher? You know you're good at this shit. But thanks Lu, I don't know how you do it, but I feel so much better," he says and pulls me in for a side hug.
I don't have to look at him to see his shining eyes, that sight will always be in my mind. I put my hand on top of his and give it a squeeze.
YOU ARE READING
And I, you
RomanceLuna loses her beloved son in a car accident. They all called it an accident, the 'kind' stranger who helped them, the voices in her head, her almost miracle. But was it?
