*** COMPLETED *** Think About You [A G-Eazy Story, Sequel to If I'm Lucky]

Chapter 24, Part 2: "I'm sorry, Rachel. I should've been there."

August 24, 2018
Buffalo, New York
The Endless Summer Tour

Kaitlyn and I made it to the airport to catch our flight with about 25 minutes to spare. We were at our gate saying goodbye to James and Grady.

"I'm gonna miss you," Kaitlyn cried into Grady's shoulder as she hugged him tightly. "I probably won't even get to see you for my birthday next month. I probably won't even get to see you until Thanksgiving break," she sniffled as she looked up at him.

"Babe," Grady frowned as he wiped her tears away. "You'll see me. Trust me. I'll pop up and surprise you when you're least expecting it," he winked as he leaned down and kissed her. "I love you. You're going to kick ass during your last semester."

She laughed as she kept her arms around his torso, biting down on her lip.

"Remember the first time you popped up in our dorm room? I threatened to call the police," she giggled. "I keep bringing that up, but it's so funny."

"Now you wouldn't call the police on me," he winked. "See how far we've come?"

I set my bag down on the chair and looked at James who was watching me.

"So you're just gonna leave and not stay to finish the mini-series?" He laughed as he threw his arms around my shoulders, hugging me tightly. "You were doing such a good job."

I smirked, shaking my head as I looked up at him, my hands resting on his hips.

"I worked out a deal with Gerald's manager," I said softly. "I'm gonna edit and put together some episodes, and Grady is going to be sending me footage to work with."

"You're amazing, you know that?" He laughed as he rubbed my back slightly. "I'm gonna miss you."

I could see Kaitlyn watching us out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't want to pull away, even though I knew that I was going to get grilled with questions the whole plane ride back.

"I'll miss you, too," I laughed as I leaned up, kissing his chin. "But you have my phone number, and my Snapchat, and my Instagram, so you'll basically be able to see what I'm doing every day."

Flight 563 is now boarding to Columbia, Missouri. All passengers please make their way to the gates.

"Okay, we better go before we miss our flight," I said as I leaned up on my tippy toes and gave him a quick peck on the lips before pulling away. "I'll call when we land."

Kaitlyn said her last goodbyes to Grady before grabbing her bag and following me to the gate. We gave the attendant our boarding passes and made our way to our seats.

After we got settled, the questions started coming in hot.

"Excuse me," Kaitlyn said, turning to look at me. "Why the fuck did you kiss James, and why were you cuddling with him last night?"

"Shhhh, Jesus," I whispered as I looked around to see if anyone else was listening. "Other people can hear you."

She rolled her eyes as she untangled her headphones, leaving them in her lap.

"Stop avoiding the question," she said sternly. "Why were you all giggly and lovey-dovey with James?"

"Well, last night, Gerald caught me in the hallway when I was coming back from eating food," I started to explain. "He started causing a scene in the hallway, so I went to his room to shut him up. We got into a fight about the breakup and he got angry and pinned me to the wall while choking me. He was about to hit me, but then James walked in and pulled him off, and...-"

"What?! He pinned you?!! And choked you?!" She asked, her eyes a little wider. "That mother fucker," she hummed under her breath. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I should've been there."

I shrugged, plugging my headphones into my phone before looking back up at her.

"It's fine, he was drunk anyway, and he didn't actually hurt me," I said quietly. "But then a while later, James came to the room with those roses that I put in my suitcase to make me feel better. I asked him to stay with me while I was waiting for you to come back, and we fell asleep. And then we made out this morning..."

Kaitlyn squeaked softly, smacking my arm as a smile grew across her face.

"You like James!" She smirked as she shook her head, putting an earbud in her ear. "What is Gerald going to do if he finds out?"

"Gerald doesn't control my life anymore, not that he never really did in the first place," I explained. "But I wouldn't say that I like James. I guess we just kinda got caught up in the moment. I really don't see us going anywhere, but it's nice that he's here for me through all of this."

She nodded, leaning back in her seat as she looked at me.

"I'm glad you found someone to support you when I can't be there," she grinned as she squeezed my shoulder. "Are you ready to be done with school?"

"Yeah," I laughed as I pulled my laptop out, setting it on the tray and turning it on. "I'm still putting what I did for Gerald's tour on my resume. I know I'll be able to find a job within the San Francisco area."

Kaitlyn and I talked about what we wanted to do after school was over until the flight attendant went over the safety rules, then she put her other earbud in and I opened up Adobe Premier to start editing together the first episode of the Endless Summer Tour mini-series. I didn't want to look at all of the footage, but I had to prove that I was able to be professional and put my feelings aside.

Xoxox

After a few hours, we were finally back in our empty dorm rooms. We hadn't unpacked anything yet because we literally just dropped it all off a few days ago before we caught our flight to Buffalo, but we were too tired to unpack.

I turned my phone off of airplane mode, and it immediately started blowing up with texts from Gerald, James and even Grady. Something had to of happened.

James: Did you land yet?? Can you please call me???

Gerald: YOU MADE OUT WITH MY FUCKING BROTHER???

Grady: I'm so sorry, Rachel. It slipped out. I told him about the P-Lo thing too.

Gerald: You better fucking call me when you land.

Gerald: I am beyond disgusted.

James: Please tell me you're getting these messages.

Kaitlyn noticed that tears had begun to stream down my cheeks while I was reading all of these texts, so she took my phone from me and read them.

"You were assaulted by P-Lo?!" She exclaimed. "When!?!"

I shrugged, biting down on my lip even harder.

"I-I," I paused, trying to catch my breath. "I don't know, it was probably when...when all that shit went down."

I looked at my phone in Kaitlyn's hand when it started ringing. It was Gerald. She gave it to me, and I hesitated for a second before clicking the green accept button.

"H-Hello?" I stuttered, afraid of what I was going to hear next.

"Start talking. Now," the voice that I knew all too well said on the other end of the line. "Tell me the whole fucking truth, Rachel."