Other Side

34 | Back in Boston

Talia hated San Francisco.

Maybe it was the dismal summer fog, that when she zoned out in just the right way, brought her back to a damp winter afternoon in Boston. Or perhaps it was the obscene amounts of her salary that went to the rent she was already splitting with another intern.

Or maybe, just maybe, there was nothing wrong with the city at all, and it was simply the summer she'd wasted in a suffocating corporate environment tainting her view of the place. After twelve weeks of nonstop spreadsheets, lines of code, and trying not to bother the worn-out second-year analyst who had taken her and another intern, Clara, under his wing, she was over this company—in every sense of the word.

She recalled a conversation between Clara and her one evening in the office, both trying to distract themselves with the sunset view through the window as they typed away.

"Are you nervous about getting a return offer?" she'd asked, lowering her voice and leaning forward. "I haven't been able to sleep the past week."

Talia had looked up with a simple shrug of her shoulders. "Nope, not worried at all."

It was only until after those confident words had left her mouth had she realized how cocky she'd sounded, recovering with some feigned enthusiasm. In reality, her plans included never seeing this firm again and beginning the recruiting process all over again, with only one city in mind.

Boston.

She looked up at the screen before her, making sure she was reading the boarding time correctly. Making real adult money this summer had rendered all of her purchases more valuable, meaning there was no way in hell she was missing this flight.

Besides, if mental math was any accurate on four hours of sleep, then it had been exactly two-hundred-six days since she'd last seen Zaid, and she wasn't adding any more figures to that number. That number of days meant seven full months since she'd last glanced at his face without the barrier of a screen, last wrapped her arms around his body outside of her dreams—last called his name out to the air and he'd actually answered.

Maintaining a long-distance relationship hadn't been as difficult as finding a way out of it. Between his internship in Boston and hers on the other side of the country, and the small window between when hers ended, and he had to return home to work with his brother, they were left with exactly three uninterrupted days for themselves.

Three more days than zero, Zaid had reminded her as they'd stayed up on FaceTime trying to figure out a day to book her flight. She hadn't let him know she'd changed her booking at the last minute, choosing to fly in the night before to sleep off some of her jet lag...and nerves.

She didn't want to admit it, but her heart thudded faster every time she reminded herself of their impending reunion. Would that same novel spark travel across her skin as his fingers danced across it? Would she bury herself into his chest in her sleep, or would they wake up on opposite sides of the bed?

When did I even start thinking like this? she thought, trying to snap herself out of it.

Sappiness wasn't in her blood, but Zaid had brought her a hair close to taking up a Notes app poetry hobby.

Certainly would have kept her busy on the plane.

"So, what's waiting in Boston for you?"
The elderly woman seated to her right leaned over the armrest and sent her a warm smile, lighting up her pale blue eyes. Though Talia usually wasn't one for small talk, she could tell she'd been wanting to strike up conversation for the past hour, as the middle-aged man next to her had passed out a couple minutes after the plane had departed.