Dear Bailey

Part 7

Bailey

Of course we were going to be on opposite sides of the state. That's how things seemed to go for me over the summers I spent with my dad. Anything that could possibly go wrong would. I was going to be in Miami and he was going to be far, far away in Pensacola. That pang of sadness from not knowing him throbbed in my chest as I stared across the table and into those wonderful eyes.

"My plane is boarding soon," I told him with a sigh.

"So is mine. We only have a little more time left." He rubbed his hand through his short hair. "Do you promise that you'll write me back?" He laughed softly, but I could tell he was nervous about it.

"I'll write you. I'm actually looking forward to it." It would keep me busy while I was stuck at my dad's. "You might be disappointed. My life isn't that exciting."

"We can bore each other then." He pushed his chair back and stood up. I did the same, but inside I was panicking. I wanted to tell him we had more time. They wouldn't make us line up this early. He draped his coat over his arm and then extended his elbow to me again. Relief washed over me. Our time together wasn't finished yet. "I need a little reassurance you're going to keep your end of the deal."

"I was thinking I might need a little reassurance you were actually going to write me," I countered. "How about you give me your email address too?" His smile stretched slowly across his face, but he shook his head.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm putting us on the fast track." He tossed our cups one-by-one into the trash near our table and then grabbed my backpack and swung it over his shoulder before giving me his elbow again.

"The fast track?"

"Other couples get to be with each other all the time. They get to see each other at school, or at night after they're done working. We aren't going to get to be like those couples." He moved us away from the small eating area.

"Because we aren't a couple?" I teased.

"Semantics. Two of anything makes a couple. There are two of us right now," he stopped and lifted the elbow I was attached to as if to prove his point. It made me giggle and I know my cheeks turned an embarrassing shade of pink. "We might not be a couple in love, but we're a couple in like. Therefor we're a couple."

"I see," I said as I lowered my chin, hoping he wouldn't see how heated my cheeks had become. He was like binging on sugar. My palms were a little sweaty, my body felt hot, and all through out my cells was this feeling of euphoria. He was dripping with sweetness and I was dying for a cavity.

"That's not what makes us different from those other couples. What makes us different is that we'll have to find other ways to build our trust. I won't get to see you, and you won't get to read a million things into my facial expression." I looked up quickly when he said that. "Don't try to deny it, Bailey. That's what girls do." He lifted his eyebrows, daring me to deny it.

"Fine," I admitted.

"I believe that good relationships are built on trust, and I intend to earn yours. You gave me your email address. In less than an hour we're going to be separated." My stomach dropped with is words. It felt like the count down to the Hunger Games. Everything he was saying sounded wonderful, but there was a big chance he wouldn't write back. If he didn't, I'd have no way to reach him. This small piece of time is all I'd ever get.

He stopped walking and looked down into my eyes. "I'm going to get on a plane and fly far away from you. I'm going to hate every minute of it. The only way I'm going to get through it without being mad as hell about it is by knowing that something good will come of it. As soon as these ridiculously shiny shoes hit the carpet in the house where I'm staying, I'm going to send you an email. When that little notification lights comes through on your phone, I will have earned your trust. I'm making you a promise and I'm going to keep it."

Is it possible for some one to float away? We were about to find out because my chest was expanding and my head was soaring. He couldn't be real. Maybe I fell asleep on that plane and I was dreaming. Or worse, maybe something happened and this was actually heaven. Although, I don't think heaven would have a toddler screaming for more French fries. "Your shoes are kind of ridiculously shiny." My words made him smile and he used his free hand to tug on the bottom of my sweatshirt.

"You know, when you get that email I hope it makes you smile. I hope it makes you feel relief that our story doesn't have to end at some stupid airport in the middle of nowhere. I mean a stupid airport in the middle of nowhere is a great place for a story to start. It's mysterious and exciting. A stupid airport in the middle of nowhere is and awful place for the story to be over. That's just sad and depressing. Anticlimactic even." He was still looking at me as we stood unmoving in a river of hurried travelers.

"Getting an email from you will make me happy." That's all I could manage to say as his eyes drifted over my features and stopped at my lips. We were there again, in that place where it would be so easy for him to lean down and put his strong lips against mine. He could kiss me softly, or even passionately. He could pull me up against him and hold me as we finally fell victim to this spell we'd been under.

The corner of his eyes wrinkled and I watched as he grinned slyly at me again. "I also hope my email makes you a little warm." My head was still buzzing with the hope that he'd kiss me and I had to tell myself to breathe. When I hadn't managed to make any words come out of my mouth, his smile grew bigger. "So warm that maybe you have to take off a layer or two before you send me that picture." He winked and all the tension of the possibility of a kiss snapped, leaving me in a fit of giggles. He might be all dressed up like a man, but underneath it all he was still just a boy.

****Ok readers...here comes the fun part. Are you dying for them to kiss?? It's Tuesday the 17th as I type this. I haven't decided if Bailey will get her kiss in the airport. If I get 100 comments/tweets that are in favor of her getting her kiss, I'll write it in before they separate. You have until 1pm my time (PST). Ready! Set! GO!!!! Tag your friends and make them help!