She Won't Be Lonely Long

Early in the next morning, the four were already packed and fled the campsite for home. Maral swooned at Hannah lounging in the back seat, curled into a ball with her head in Xabi's lap as he played with her hair and held her on the seat with his other hand against her butt. The image provided Maral with a sense of false hope, very false. She knew Hannah well enough to know that she was far too rational to move over seas for a man she had known for three days, to a country that he didn't even reside in, but wouldn't consider that. As painful as it was, Hannah had to see the short lived romance between her and Xabi as a fling although a mere fling had never had such an effect on her before.

He was truly perfect and that didn't make her insecure anymore, it only made her weak at the knees and her heart go off beat whenever his strength reached for her. The aforesaid sex was something she had never felt before, a sense of pleasure that before their rendezvous she couldn't even imagine, and there had to be something special about their relationship that accelerated it past a fling. But it was too difficult to thing about, because although it would be difficult, the only thing she could do was return to Michigan.

As for Xabi, he had developed a strong affinity for Hannah as well. Their previous conversation by the river left him a bit distraut but, knowing there wasn't anything he could do, he took her advice and decided to make the best out of the rest of her stay because he knew together they could make it pretty damn good.

The next week was Hannah's last in Spain and she knew that it would only leave a bitter taste in her mouth once she was settled in Michigan again. There wasn't much done out of the privacy of Sergio's home, and as a matter of fact, there wasn't much done out of the privacy of the bedroom that her and Xabi had shared since the camping trip. Maral didn't see enough of Hannah for her liking but let it slide, hoping that the time she spent in the bedroom might butter her up enough to convince her to stay.

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One early Thursday morning, Xabi had awoke and felt Hannah's steady breathing in his arms. She was awake, turned away from him and blankly staring at the satin finish of the adjacent wall. It wasn't normal for her to be awake this early, and certainly wasn't normal for her to stare so intently at nothing. He could already predict what was coming.

"You are leaving today?" he muttered in her ear, his fluid voice causing her to shiver and almost convincing her to deny that assumption.

But her duties still stood strong. "Yes.."

His body tensed against her, and his grip tightened. "I don't want you to..."

"I don't want to either." she sighed.

This was preposterous to him, that a young and vibrant girl like herself would maroone herself in her bland home-town against all of her desires; As if her life was already set in stone, at the ripe age of twenty one. But that ship had sailed, and that conversation had passed.

"Will I see you again?"

The response came quick to her head and stung, but she had to remain truthful. "Probably not... It would just be best that way."

The sound of his teeth grinding behind her made her cringe. He was struggling to contain his thoughts and to respect her decision, but it was difficult knowing that it didn't only hurt him, but also herself. "At least take a later flight..."

She nodded. "I am; I have to leave here at eight tonight."

Although that wasn't nearly long enough he would have to settle with it, knowing that his griping would only cause her more pain but no change in mind. Her devotion to the place that she called home was something her admired about her, ironic because it was also something he hated.

Sergio was cuddling with the thick suede stubble of the couch when Hannah walked out. He was shocked to see her so early without Xabi trailing close behind, and most of all shocked to see her at all. By that day, it had been more than twenty four hours since he had seen her although she was directly across the hall. He too knew what was coming.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Sergio. If you ever want to vacation in a dump surrounded by corn fields, give me a call." she chuckled lightly, smacking her hand against the coarse muscles of his shoulder as he smirked.

That had been difficult, which only made her tremble to what was to come. Maral was sitting at a barstool in the kitchen, her fingers wrapped around the warmth of a sage green coffee mug as she hunched over the plain white tile of the island counter.

Her thoughts turned frantic when she saw Hannah for a change, but she chose to remain ignorant until Hannah could muster the balls to say anything.

"I'm leaving at eight tonight... I'm sorry." Hannah whimpered, to which Maral just nodded.

"You're being an idiot." she spoke calmly. "Thinkin' you can fool me... I know you well enough to know that you hate your life in Michigan. And I've only been so pushy because I want you to be happy, and I know you'd be happy here."

Hannah smirked in return. She had heard it all before. "Why did you set me up with Xabi then? Did you forget that he lives in England?"

Maral shook with laughter over the counter. "That would be Sergio's doing."

There was a few more minutes of silence, and Maral sighed. "I know you want to go back to bed with Xabi; Go!" her lips warmly stretched across her teeth as she giggled. "Just make sure you're out here by eight... and make sure you can walk normal so the airport security doesn't think you've got a bag of coacaine shoved up your ass."

Hannah let out an exasperated sigh and lept to her feet. "This is why I love you!"

She galloped into their room again and undressed before swinging her body onto the bed and straddling Xabi. He held her legs and smirked.

"Did it go well?"

She nodded slowly, staring into space and acknowleding how odd that all had occured. "Yeah, actually... it really did."

"Oh? Well, you just wait until eight o'clock."

Hannah's smile fell and it occured to her that the worst was yet to come. She loved all of these people so much... and saying goodbye to them would truly be self-inflicted torture.