Where I Was Before You

55. rubber duckies

"How much longer until we board?" My velvety voice beauty asks quietly in my ear. We were waiting in the terminal, and I was drifting in and out of sleep for the past 30 minutes. Freddie didn't mind, he just let me use his shoulder as a pillow. He smelt so nice, I was more than happy to do it. It was 11:30 am, and the plane was supposed to be leaving at 12. We had so much time to spare. I would usually be bored, but just sitting here and knowing Fred was next to me was more than enough. Okay alright I'll try and stop talking about how sappy he makes me feel, but God can you blame me! I've never had anything even remotely close to this before. And the man was Freddie f*cking Mercury! I couldn't help it!

"Should be in 10 minutes or so." I say back to him, louder but sill keeping my voice down. We were both tired and felt like quiet talking was more appropriate right now.

"Do you think I'd have time to go to the bathroom?" Wow, he was that comfortable with me, to talk about things like that. Okay, I know that everyone needs to go to the bathroom, but I probably would have just gotten up and not told him where I was going until I got back. Of course, I'm extremely socially awkward.

"Yeah, I'd say so."

"I'll be right back." Fred kisses me quickly and I wanna gag.

"Ugh, god that was such a 'mom and dad' kiss." I poke my tongue out and Freddie lifts his eyebrow. He stares at me and smiles, and before I can think what he's doing, he pulls his face into mine and grabs my tongue along the way. I open my eyes wide and freak out for a moment before it dissolves into pure satisfaction. He lightly swirls his tongue around in my mouth, tracing my teeth and my lips. And all I want to do is keep going. He lets go and leaves me with my mouth hanging open.

"Was that better?" He asks, and goddammit if we weren't in public...

"Marginally." I cough up, and Freddie scoffs as he stands up and walks away.

"Hey," I call to him. He pauses and turns around.

"Don't run off on me." Freddie chuckles and looks at the ground while shaking his head.

"Mandy, were you present for any of that kiss?" He smiles and I scoff while I watch him walk away towards the bathroom. I watch his hair, his ass, his legs. God everything about him was so perfect. What the f*ck did he see in me? Like at all? What was so special about me that it warranted this special attention?

I look down at my phone in my hands and know that I will never be able to figure it out. Unless I asked him, and God knows I'm not trying that again.

I click the home button on my phone and see the photo on my lock screen. It was me and Kelsey being weird. She took the photo, as much as I hated how I looked in that photo I loved how happy I looked in that photo. It was like a one way mirror into an alternate dimension where I was content and happy with my life. A world where I had more than work friends, and my best friend wasn't my sister. A world where I dressed and looked pretty and had a boyfriend who liked me. A world that clearly didn't and wouldn't exist, but that I still pretended was real.

I look at Kelseys face in this photo. God she was beautiful. Why didn't I get any of that? Not a single shared gene between us. f*cking hogger. Maybe I should... call her. I look around me to see if anyone is in extremely close proximity with me, and then I look back to my phone. I go to contacts and find my sister. I look towards the bathroom and see Freddie has only just made it to the door. I have time.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Ring rin-

"Hello there stranger!" A sweet and buttery voice reaches out for me, and I grab her hand so fast.