dancing to my heartbeat ~Ondreaz Lopez~

chapter 36

The next evening we say goodbye to everyone. Abby gives my mother a big hug. "Thank you, for everything. I can't tell you how much all this has helped me" she smiles at mum. "Anytime, Abby" we also say goodbye to Tony, who still drives us to the airport. "See you in LA. Have a good trip" he smiles at us before he leaves the parking lot.

After a nine hour flight, a one hour stopover and two hours time difference we land in Lafayette at eight o'clock in the morning. Abby and I actually slept through the whole flight. We get Abby's suitcase and call a taxi. Abby gives the address and takes my hand as we sit in the back of the taxi. She seems tense and nervous.

We drive a little before we stop, pay the taxi and get out. I get Abby's suitcase out of the trunk and follow Abby to the door. I hear her take a deep breath before she unlocks the door. The house is bigger than I thought. We enter the hallway and immediately a large family portrait catches my eye.Abby smiles at it, but I know her well enough to see that this is her fake laugh.

Abby pulls me into her room, which she unlocks first."The boxes with a red dot have to get in the car," she explains as we enter the room. I nod and pull her into a hug first. "We'll do this as quickly as possible. We'll be gone soon" I give her a kiss on the hair. She nods. I take two boxes and run after Abby into the garage.

"That's my car" she points to a jeep. "That's yours?" she nods. "It's my grandpa's old one" she opens the car and we load the box in. As we get back into the house, Abby suddenly freezes. Only now do I see there's a boy at the top of the stairs. "Christian...I thought you were at school" Abby stares at her brother. "I wasn't feeling well. I was allowed to stay home" Christian walks slowly down the stairs and hugs his sister. "How are you, Abby?" I can hear Abby sighing. "Good, it's tough. But I've got him" Abby breaks away and takes my hand. "I'm Ondre, your sister's boyfriend" I smile at Christian for a second. "Christian, her brother" he too smiles briefly.

Christian helps us put the rest of the boxes in the car. Abby seems more and more distressed every second. When we have packed all the boxes into the car, she runs through the whole house again before hugging her brother. "I'm so sorry I let you down," she sobs. Christian sighs and puts his arms around her. "You won't abandon me. I love you and that won't change even from a distance. I'll come and visit you soon, ok?" She nods.

"Take care of her" Christian says goodbye to me with a handshake. I nod. "I will" he smiles gratefully at me and goes into the house. Abby opens the garage. "Ready?" I look at her. She nods and bursts into tears again. I hug her and kiss her hair. "Let it out. It's okay" she presses herself against me and sobs. "Come on, let's go. I'll take the first track" I open the passenger door for Abby and she gets in, while I get in the other side and start the engine.

We've been on the road for seven hours now. The first hour was hard for Abby and she struggled with tears several times. At some point she fell asleep. I made a short stop to buy us food, but Abby next to me is still fast asleep and I don't want to wake her up. First of all, she's getting the whole thing so messed up that she could use sleep and secondly, she looks way too cute when she sleeps.

After eight hours of sleep, Abby wakes up next to me and stretches. "Well, awake again?" I smile at her. She nods. "How long was I asleep?" "About seven hours." Abby looks at me startled. "That long?" I nod. "How are you feeling?" "Better. I'm just hungry" I laugh. "There must be a sandwich and Coke in that bag at your feet." Abby looks for them right away.

After two more quick stops, we park in front of a motel and decide to spend the night. We book a room and take our first shower one after the other. When Abby is in the shower, I organize a pizza for us nearby, which we share on the motel bed. We have about thirteen hours of driving ahead of us tomorrow, so we decide to leave at five o'clock and go to sleep shortly after.

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