Lost Without You

~5~

After lunch, we settled in the departure lounge filled with passengers bored of waiting like us. Lia, Lucas and I sat down close together, leaving some alone time to Anne and Mark.

"They should get a room before someone reminds them how to behave in public places," Lia whispered, making us laugh.

"Honestly," Lucas chimed in, "I've never seen Mark like this before. He is head over heels for your friend, girls."

Lia giggled and I smiled at hearing this. We have seen our friend like this before.

"Do you mind if I use your phone to call Mum?" I asked Lia. I was afraid that if I switched mine on again, I would have to reply to more texts from William. I definitely wasn't in a mood for that now.

Lia shook her head. "Sorry, I forgot to charge it last night. It's dead."

Oh well. I took my phone out and switched it on, watching it come back to life. Mum insisted I called or texted her from airports whenever I travelled before boarding a plane, or as soon as the plane I was on landed. She has never taken a plane herself, her fear of flying was much worse than mine.

I was about to dial her number, relieved that I haven't received new texts from William, when Anne came over to us, running.

"Sam I need a favour!" She called sitting down next to me. "Jessica phoned, asking me to swap shifts. I can't, so you must take her shift. I've already promised Mark that I'd stay at his place tonight and I simply can't rush off so early in the morning..."

"You what?" Lucas and I asked in perfect unison.

Anne looked at him as if she just noticed he was there with us. "Hmm... yes. I'm staying at your and Mark's place tonight. Anyway," she went on, turning to me, "if you please please please take Jessica's double shift tomorrow, I'll take yours on Saturday and so on..."

"But, Anne, aren't you rushing a bit too much? You and Mark only met two days ago..." I had to smile when I noticed Lucas nodding vigorously. He didn't seem to like the idea of Anne staying in their place either.

"Samara, that's not what I'm talking about. I already have a mother, okay? Will you please take that shift?"

I looked at Lia for help but she only shrugged. There was no time or space for romance in her life right now, hers or anybody else's.

Sighing, I looked at Anne again, in her big, now pleading eyes of a rather familiar shade of green. How could I tell her no?!

"Fine. So I'll do the double shift tomorrow, and then I'll be off on Saturday?"

"Exactly! You are an angel Samara, thank you." She kissed me on the cheek then disappeared before I could change my mind.

"It seems you've got a guest," Lia announced, her eyes crinkling in the corners with a suppressed smile as she looked at the dumbfounded Lucas. "But for us it works well, Samara," she said turning to me. "You'll work all day tomorrow but you'll be free on Saturday. Our night out is back on."

I met Anne at work nearly every day, but I usually met Lia only a couple of times a week. Our Saturday's night out was a years' old routine.

Lost in memories about mine and Lia's past, our friendship dating back to nursery school, I looked up. Our flight had been finally added to the list of departures flashing on a screen hanging above our heads. Instead of at four o'clock in the afternoon, we would be leaving at seven.

"That's late." Lia muttered when I pointed it out to her. "You'll miss the last bus, Sam. You know what? Call your mum and tell her you'll stay at my place tonight, you save yourself the journey back to Hammersmith tomorrow morning. Tell her you'll be at home tomorrow night after work."