Finding Heaven

The four of us decided to surprise Emily by accompanying her to the airport, as planned the night before.

Oh, and yeah, Joshua confessed to me—about his love at first sight.

Which was cute by the way, because the four of us half-expected that to happen, (even Alex) and that Emily was completely oblivious to it.

The moment Emily saw us waiting for her at the lobby of the dorm, I thought she was going to flop since she looked like Santa Claus just arrived, with the deers and all.

“Oh my—“ Emily looked at us, her eyes started to well-up. “You guys don’t even need to do this for me… It’s not like I won’t come back or anything.”

“We wanted to see you off,” I said.

She dropped her bag and practically jumped to wrap her slender arms around me, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

“Man, girls can easily say those words to each other,” I could hear Max say.

“Yeah, try it guy-to-guy and see what happens,” Alex chuckled.

Goons.

I could smell her sweet cherry scent, the same scent she usually had, and realized that I am going to miss her for the entire holidays.

“If I could spend Christmas with you guys, believe me, I would,” she said as she pulled away. She looked straight at Joshua, “That includes you, too.”

I exchanged glances with Alex instinctively, and saw a huge grin playing on his lips. I turned to Joshua, and saw him looking at me through Emily’s shoulder.

This is your time to shine, buddy. Say it!

“Emily, I—“ Joshua began, his gaze focused on hers. “I—“

Say it, come on.

“Joshua? Are you okay?”

I bit my lip nervously. How long would it take for him to say it? Ten, twenty years?

“I really want to say that…”

GAHHH! SAY IT!

“…I wish you a safe trip,” he said.

“Oh. Thanks.”

I tried to read Emily’s expression and saw something like…

Dismay?

Max’s jaw dropped, “So he backed out?”

Emily turned. “Backed out from what?”

“Ahhh, let’s get you to the airport now,” Alex cut in, and then shot Joshua a you-missed-your-chance-dude-you’ll-regret-it glare.

It’s really amazing how you could say so much with a look.

Anyway.

We had gotten ourselves into a cab, and about half an hour later we were inside the state airport. We sat over a comfortable bench to wait as Emily inquired at the information center.

Finally, she went over to us and said, “This is it, guys.”

We stood up. Joshua looked so desperate that you’d feel sorry for the guy.

I embraced Emily, “Take care, Em.”

“I will—“ she held me tighter. “—and thank you. Thank you.”

She turned to hug Max, then Alex… and lastly, Joshua.

“I couldn’t have handled it well without you,” she told him. “Thank you so much.”

Come on, Joshua, this is another chance.

Alex walked over beside me and whispered, “I guess this isn’t the appropriate time yet.”

On my other side, Max said, “Guys aren’t good in expressing themselves after all.”

“I’ve got to go. Thank you so much—and advance Merry Christmas.”

“Advance Merry Christmas!” the three of us, except Joshua, greeted one last time.

Just as Emily was about to turn and head for the line to her plane, Joshua did the most surprising—and the most sweetest—thing.

He hugged her from behind.

I didn’t hear what he’d said, but I could tell that he told her exactly what he wanted her to know.

He stepped away from the hug, and I saw Emily flashing a wide smile at me, her face as bright red as a tomato, before she disappeared into the crowd.

“I’m guessing that you got a yes?” I asked as Joshua approached.

If he could cry tears of joy in front of us, he would, but he contented himself with a cheerful smile.

“Yeah,” he said shortly, his cheeks burning.

Ah, love.

I looked over at Alex, who was currently spacing out, thinking of how much I liked him and the chances of him liking me back.

Impossible.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Max positioned himself beside me and caught me off guard.

“You might not believe it but—” he whispered. “—right now he might just be thinking of a cool way to tell you what he really feels.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You’ll know soon.”

I stole a glance from Alex while he was talking to Joshua behind us—

And suddenly picked up words he said that completely sucked away all the chances of him liking me back.

My heart sank and crumbled into a million pieces.

I turned away and said sternly, my voice slowly breaking,“You’re wrong, Max.”

Sometimes, there are things we hear that we wish we never should have heard.