Author's note: Since I felt some emotional connection to the previous one-shot, so I decided why not just write up what happens next. I apologize for any lack of... 'description' or something.
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The air is filled with suspense, excitement and most of all, ecstasy. With me are his family and a few of his close friends from back in the day.
I swear, the ceiling is so high up, it feels like there’s no shelter hovering above us. The sunrays reflect onto the glass windows that make up the walls of the arrival hall. People around me are from all around the globe, meeting up; old friends, colleagues, and relatives. The airport always amazes me. It gives off that really bittersweet ambience whenever I am in the building. When I go to the airport, all I can think about are people crying, smiling, hugging, cheering and frowning. Loved ones are going someplace far away and probably not coming back for a while or not coming back at all. Bitter goodbyes I see from people are the worst sights ever. I feel so heartbroken for them.
But today, I’m not one of them.
Amber gasps as she sneaks a peek through the translucent sliding doors.
“What? What did you see?” her mother asks urgently. Everyone’s nervous in a good way while I am both nervous in a good and bad way.
“I see him! I see him!” she jumps and shakes her sister’s arm. I bring my nails close to my lips, biting them softly. My heart rate had begun to accelerate. His friends, who are behind me, are on their toes hoping to see though the checkpoint of the arrival hall.
“Ahh!” Amber silently freaks out.
My palms are clammy from all the anxiety building inside me. My cheeks are burning; my lungs are now like weights; my knees that are loosened by the weight of my anxiety are about to collapse onto the ground.
How different is he going to look off the screen? Two years, does that make a big difference based on how he looks? I don’t look any different.
“There he is! He’s out!” Amber’s mother exclaims. She runs on her high heels, towards the young man with a white dress shirt and blue and silver striped neck tie. His black coat hanging freely on his arm, three bags of luggage stacked up behind him. He embraces his mother lovingly with the most thoughtful expression.
I almost didn’t recognize him.
He looks tanned, taller, and of course… a little older.
After his mother, his sisters run up to him; dodging him with a hug and burying their faces into his shirt. He laughs whole-heartedly, “I missed you two!”
“We missed you more!” they sang in a chorus. He rubs their backs simultaneously.
Next, after his sisters let go, his brother gives him a fist bump and says, “Welcome back, man.”
Then his father comes up, patting his back with a proud smile and a tear rolling down his worn out cheek.
“Hey, you!” he looks directly at me. He probably saw me watching his little family reunion observantly.
I move my fist away from my lips and gave a subtle wave. He approaches me in a quick pace.
His brightly lit eyes coming at me; the rosy-red lips that form a sincere smile; the puffy pink cheeks and gleaming array of teeth; all the things that I recognize long back are right in front of me.
My heart’s beating so fast, that I can’t even feel anything. My whole body just shut down as soon as he grabbed me into a suffocating bear hug.
Typical him.
“David—” I start.
“No! Wait, don’t say anything yet!” he cuts me off with a tone of exhilaration.
He finally let go of me, then took one good look of me. His hands grabbing onto my arms, “Wow, what have I missed!”
A chorus of chuckles come from his family and friends. I feel my ears heating up together with my cheeks. My throat starts to tighten.
“W-what do you mean?” I say without looking at him in the eye.
He lets out a breath through his mouth like he always does when he’s done being excited, “You look different! Glasses!? When did that happen?!”
I start to titter, “I look the same! You’re the one who looks different!”
His hair was still clean cut. I bet he couldn’t wait to grow it out.
***
“It feels so good to be back!” he cries out in his reinstated room.
His album collections are back up, the shelves for books and scriptures are filled, his laptop on his desk is charging and his clothes neatly folded into the dresser. Pictures of us and his friends are back up on his huge cork board that hovers over his desk.
I sit on his bed, still catching up on things while he finishes the final touches to his bedroom.
He’s usually the listener but today, he’s the talker. I don’t mind listening though. Chile sounds amazing from what he told me. The people there are so hospitable and same goes to his ‘missionary buddies’. He had picked up a few language lessons from the locals there; something called ‘Chilean Spanish’. The way he talks about his journey felt like as if I was there with him.
A rush of relief poured over me as I thought about him not going anywhere far away any time soon.
“So, um, did you miss us?” I ask awkwardly, pushing up my glasses to meet my nose bridge.
“Of course I did!” he plops himself beside me.
I clasp my hands together anxiously, biting my lip, “I mean… You know. Um.”
I look up at him gradually. His expression blank, clueless just like how he is whenever I stutter over my words.
I’m implying something here and like the usual, he’s oblivious to it. It’s fine. I’ll just tell him how I really feel right now.
“Did you… miss… us?” I rephrase the question. His eyes widen with astonishment. My arms and legs start to jitter.
“Us…” he licks his lips, thinking about the word and muttering it slowly.
A moment passes by and he’s still in the midst of thinking. Even two years after, he hasn’t changed much of his answering skills.
“You know what ju—”
Before I could complete my sentence, he reaches for my hands. I trailed my eyes from his hands, to his arms, and at last, to his eyes. The colour of hazel swirling around in the encased area that is his iris; he, too, looks flushed.
“Yeah, I do.”
I slowly move my hands away from his grasp as I say, “Great, ‘cause… I was thinking that maybe… Umm, we can hang out tomorrow or something. Just like we used to.”
Wait, no!
“I mean, um, just hang out, you know?”
His stare softens and he gives me a faint laugh, “I get it, I get it.”
I just threw out the wrong implication. How stupid of me. He must think that I moulded into this freak. Well, I can always blame the work load given by my college classes.
“Great!” I say it like nothing’s wrong, like I meant to say that. “I’m just going to head out and call it a night.”
We both stand up at the same time. He ushers me to his door, opening it.
Still smiling, he greets me good night and gives me a warning about bed bugs.
A little part of me takes a stand against my weakling self. Protesting, I stop myself halfway out the door. I walk back into his room and shut the door. His expression falls from smiling to eyebrows raised.
Adrenaline rushes through my veins, the numbness is gone. I look him straight in the eye and blurt out, “Look, I really like you and I’ve always wanted to say that ever since that Christmas party you threw two years ago but I didn’t because you were leaving and I didn’t want things to get harsh between us. I really like you—”
My breath stops as he viciously attacks my lips. My wrists that are up in the air are in his firm grip. The tip of his nose grazed my cheek, his hands moving from my wrist to my jaw. My build had turned stiff the second he planted one on me. His hands continue to slide down from my jaw to my neck then corrals me to meet his body. His other hand eases up to my cheek while the other squeezes my waist.
I exhale and suddenly, there was no room for bottled up feelings anymore.
My arms had found their way around David’s figure and my fingers are grabbing hold of his shirt. Somehow I feel like David had been waiting for this moment to happen for ages. Wanting to do this but never knew exactly how.
His hand tucks itself under my chin, lifting it up to get a better angle.
Obviously, I’m too short for him at this point. I stand on my toes and start nipping on his bottom lip. My nails dig into his back as he lets his tongue taste my lips.
We finally break apart, looking at each other. I feel intensity radiating from his eyes. My skin tingles when coming into contact with his warm breath. My hands had slithered up to his shoulders.
“I’ve waited too long…” he admits, breaking the silence (excluding our heavy breathing).
My heart starts to slow down. For once, I felt something has lifted off my shoulders. I feel lighter, better and happier.
“I’ve waited long enough,” I smarmily say.
His mouth starts to form his signature smile, “I’m sorry that you’re the one who had to confess first. Forgive me. I was too afraid of rejection, I guess.”
I rest my palm on his warm cheek, “Well then you owe me one for being the first.”
He nods with union, “As you wish.”