Somewhere Else

Chapter 6

6

Elle

No one really said anything on the ride home from the airport. Jeffrey kept his eyes on the road, and every now and then I caught Lily stealing a glance at me. I had the feeling they both thought I would spontaneously combust given the physical distance that was gradually growing between me and Jude, but, in all honestly, I felt just fine.

I turned to face Lily after catching her giving me one of her side glances.

"You know I can see you doing that, right? Like every other human on earth, I have peripheral vision."

"Oh, well, I just, you know, was making sure you're alright," she said.

I poked my head between the two front seats. "You can stop tiptoeing too, Jeffrey."

"Just trying to give you space in case you needed it."

I watched a light pink tint creep up Jeffrey's cheeks in the rearview mirror.

"I'm fine, really. Obviously I'm going to miss him, but it's only two months. People sustain relationships for far longer periods of time apart than that."

Lily smiled at me. "Very true, and now we can have the London experience we were meant to have before you had to go and fall in love and dedicate all of your time to the most adorable relationship on earth."

"I've missed hanging out with you, Lil." Her sarcasm would never be wasted on me.

Jeffrey pulled up to our flat and helped me get my hulking bag out of the trunk; it had to fit almost a month's worth of clothes and whatnot and was nearly bursting at the seams.

As Lily walked towards the door, I turned to Jeffrey and threw my arms around him. He seemed taken aback, and it took him a few seconds to wrap his arms around me.

"See you in a few months. Thank you, really, for everything you do for him, for us." I broke away from him and watched his eyes soften.

"You have my number right?"

I flashed him the business card that had his number on it.

"If you're ever in a bind and you need a ride, please don't hesitate to call."

"Thanks." I gave him my warmest smile before grabbing the handle of my suitcase and dragging it back into the flat.

Upon entering, I headed straight for my room. I'm so fixated on having everything exactly where it needs to be that I knew I wouldn't be able to relax until all of my things were put back where they belonged. As I pulled clothes, shoes, and random toiletries out of my bag, I heard the familiar ding of my cellphone come from the depths of my clothing pile. There was a text from Jude waiting for me.

"Just sat down in my seat. We've got those pod things to sleep in, so I guess that's kind of cool. It'll be about 13 hours from here to Singapore, and then we've got a bit of a layover before the final leg to Sydney. I keep trying to figure out what time it'll be in London when I land, but I was never good at maths. You still want me to call? Even if it's like, 3 am or something absurd?"

Was he crazy? Of course I wanted a call. I didn't care what time of night it would be. I composed a snarky response to him.

"Duh. I want you to call all day every day. I'm going to be extra needy with my phone call time from you. But really, I want to know you're safe. I love you."

My phone buzzed in my hand before I had a chance to set it down.

"That's my girl. I'll call you when I land in Singapore, then again in Sydney. The flight attendant is staring me down...apparently this isn't one of those flights where you can text all the way through. Don't they know who I am?  ;) Love you, Elle. xxxxx"