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Chapter 1

"Faye! Come on!" I heard my mother yell from downstairs. As I finished packing my last suitcase and took one last glance around my childhood room, I started to cry. Again. I'm a crier, and it's pretty annoying honestly. So I wiped my cheeks and hauled my luggage downstairs to my waiting company: My mom, Dad, Both sisters and younger brother, All my close friends and him. Closest to the door, farthest from me, Braxton.

My boyfriend, well, soon to be ex. Once we get to the airport it's over, we've discussed it many times and this works out best for everyone. Long distance never works, especially when you're thousands of miles apart. So we've been distancing ourselves for a few weeks to prepare for this. It's harder than I thought, just seeing him makes me want to fly down the stairs and into his arms and never let go.

But I can't let anything hold me back. Especially not a boy. Not from this. This is my career and I can't afford to mess this up. Once I say goodbye to my close friends and siblings, I'm out the door and taking deep breaths of the cool fall air, trying to keep myself composed. This is hard too.

The drive to the airport was anything but silent, it's a good hour drive and my dad was a chatterbox, just like my mom and just like me. We spent the whole time going over memories of us all together and filling little awkward spaces when nobody said anything and I kept getting eyeballed by Braxton.

The hour passed as quickly as you'd expect with 3 chatterboxes. And soon enough it was time to say good bye. Dad was first, fighting tears the entire time while my mom couldn't keep it together to save her life. She kept letting us know that she didn't wear makeup for this reason exactly and I laughed every time, because I did the same thing. Once we said goodbyes and I got last minute advice, the tears were welling up before I even turned around to look at him.

I took a few shaky deep breaths and closed my eyes as I spun around on my heels. When I opened them there he was, clear as day, his blue eyes glistening with tears, making them look more like water than before somehow. His brown hair laying on his forehead that he kept swiping away.

"So I guess this is it.." he said quietly.
"Yeah, I guess it is." I said holding back sobs.
"I'm going to miss you. More than you'll ever know. " He looked right into my eyes while saying that sending shivers up and down my spine.
"You too. But you should already know. I've told you like a million times." I said, cracking a slight smile.
"Yeah, and now I miss you saying it..." He said with a sad look in his eyes.
"I bet you do.. Hey, I wrote you something. Just in case you forget how much I'll miss you." I said reaching into my purse for the letter I wrote to him weeks before.
"Thanks. I think you're rubbing off on me because...." he chuckled while reaching into his back pocket to hand me an envelope with my name on it in cursive. I grinned so hard.
"Finally, it only took me 6 years to rub off on you." I said in a chuckle.
He just smiled at me.
"That long huh? Felt like 6 seconds.." he said looking down at the letter, taking a deep, shaky breath.
"Flight 412 to New York will be boarding in 10 minutes." We hear and we both know that it's time to say it, but neither of us can bring ourselves to. So we do what we always do in times like these, we nod our heads to each other and shake our hands.

The electricity bolting up my body at his touch brings tears to my eyes and is all it takes for him to embrace me in seconds. Just like we always do. After some seconds we pull away and we wipe tears off of each other cheeks and do our final head nod.

With that I turn away and walk to my gate, taking one glance back to see my father embracing two crying people while trying to hold it together himself. I smile and do air kisses and walk into my zone. I sit down and look at the letter and put it in my purse.
"Too soon." I tell myself. And I lean back and wait for my flight to board.