Two Different Worlds Collide

We spent the remainder of the day lounging in bed or on the couch, neither wanting to bring to light the fact that ten o’clock tomorrow morning I would be on a flight back to Canada. Jared ordered in Chinese food for supper, and we ate while watching movies.

The doorbell rang, and after a pause we both bolted to his bedroom to get properly dressed – I was still in his T-shirt and a pair of his boxers, while he was in gym shorts. I slipped off the boxer shorts and pulled on my jeans while Jared threw on a hoodie and then answered the door. Brett and Liza were standing there, looking pretty forlorn as well, and I knew that the fact we were leaving tomorrow had hit them pretty hard too.

“Hey, you guys busy?” Brett asked, his arm around Liza’s waist. Jared shook his head and let them in, before we all made ourselves comfortable in the living room.

“I wish we didn’t have to go back tomorrow,” Liza sighed, playing with a few pieces of popcorn. Brett nodded, keeping his eyes on her hand while he played with her fingers. They were both incredibly quiet, and neither Jared nor I knew what to say to help lighten the mood, because we were in the same boat.

“Same here,” I agreed, and felt Jared squeeze me tighter for a second, letting me know he also agreed with me. After that we settled into comfortable silence as we watched another movie. I looked over to see Liza and Brett not paying a lick of attention to the movie, instead curled up together. And while they weren’t talking, it was obvious that they didn’t need to. I glanced up at Jared, whose eyes were on the TV even though he wasn’t paying attention to it. As if he knew that I was looking at him he dropped his gaze to me, managing a part-smile for me before kissing my forehead. I knew I’d upset him by not wanting to try and make a long distance thing work, but I knew it wouldn’t work out. We’d try and call and text and miss each other ridiculous amounts but when it ended there’d be more memories, more pain, and more heartbreak.

“Um, we’re going to spend the night at my place – closer to the airport that way. We, uh, didn’t know what you two wanted to do,” Brett offered once the movie had ended. I knew Jared’s eyes were on me, and I swallowed hard.

“I, uh, think I’m going to stay here, as long as that’s all right,” Jared managed a laugh then, his eyes lighting up.

“Of course it is, don’t be silly,” he told me, kissing my cheek before nuzzling my neck softly.

“I’m going to take my stuff to Brett’s – then I don’t have to worry about going back for it,” Liza told me. Jared sat up properly again, and I felt his fingers lace with mine.

“We’ll go get Cheyenne’s stuff too and check out – then we can just meet you guys at the airport in the morning?” they both nodded and soon after left. Liza hugged me, saying that she’d see me first thing in the morning, and Brett gave me a quick one-armed hug and a sad smile before they were out the door.

“Well, let’s go get your bag,” Jared took charge, putting his coat and shoes on. I followed suit, following along behind him to his truck. He rested his hand on the console, and after internally arguing I took his hand and laced my fingers with his, bringing a smile to his face. Maybe he’d expected me to totally pull away and not want anything to do with him after turning down the attempt of a long distance relationship.

I packed up all of my things, double-checked the room, before Jared and I went downstairs and checked out of the hotel. We went back to his apartment then, and Jared yawned. It was already eleven o’clock, and we were both tired.

“Do you want me to sleep on the couch?” he asked, absolutely flooring me. We’d slept together and now he wanted to sleep on the couch.

“No, why would I want you to do that?” I asked in reply. He shrugged, before running a hand through his hair.

“I figured that maybe, considering we aren’t going to try this… you know, it might be weird if we slept together,” he stumbled over the words.

“I um… would it be weird?” I really had no idea – I hadn’t thought of it.

“I don’t think so, but I want you to be comfortable,” he replied. I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around him, breathing in the now-familiar scent of his body wash mixed with his aftershave; a soft, fresh scent that reminded me of home somehow.

“I just want to enjoy the time I have with you Jared,” I whispered, and felt the air leave his lungs as he sighed.

“Same here,” he whispered, before tipping my chin up so he could kiss me. His tongue traced my lip before he deepened the kiss, pulling me tight against his hard body. I melted into him, wanting nothing more than to spend the night wrapped up with him.

Jared seemed to be thinking the same thing, picking me up and carrying me back to his bedroom. It didn’t take long for the clothes to come off and for us to be together. This time was different, though. This time Jared was taking all the time in the world, neither of us wanting it to come to an end; more touches, soft kisses, any way we could try and memorize each other we were taking it. When we finished Jared stayed on top of me, breathing heavily and keeping his forehead pressed to my temple. I pressed a soft kiss to his neck, letting my lips linger for a second before I let my head fall back onto the pillow. It was a few minutes before we pulled apart and Jared seemed reluctant to even do that.

Morning came far too soon, Jared’s alarm clock waking us up at six so we could get ready and get to the airport. Jared got me everything so I could shower, and then proceeded to scare the hell out of me when he got into the shower with me. Everything we could find to do together we did, any time we could brush against each other or hold hands or kiss the opportunity was taken. So when we were finally ready to go and realized we couldn’t really procrastinate much more I knew I was going to burst into tears at any given moment.

“Um, Cheyenne?” Jared asked once he’d got into the truck. I turned to look at him, glad to have my hand in his as he drove.

“Yeah?”

“How… how do you want to do this?” he asked, and I had no clue what he meant. “I mean, you said you don’t want to try this… so how do we do this? Am I the spring break fling you never talk to again? Do I call you every couple of weeks so we can talk? Do we text once in a while? I just… what’s the line?”

~*~

The thought of never talking to him again was painful. But the thought of keeping up contact with him and not being with him was hard too. I wish I’d put even the tiniest bit of thought into all of this.

“I have no idea Jared, I never thought of any of that…” I admitted, and he ran a hand through his hair when he’d came to a stop at a red light. “I want to be able to talk to you, but I don’t know what’s the right thing to do here.”

“Well then, we can text and whatever… but we have to promise that if it’s too hard or too weird that… that I guess we stop and let the past be the past,” he whispered, the thought obviously as painful to him as it was to me. I nodded, squeezing his hand as I looked out the window, watching the city go by so he couldn’t see the tear that had snuck out.

“Okay,”

“All right. I just… I wanted to ask you this now, not in front of Brett and Liza,” he explained.

“I’m glad you did,” he ran his thumb over the back of my hand, and we were quiet for the rest of the drive to the airport. Once inside Jared took my hand, insisting on carrying my bag for me. It didn’t take long to find Brett and Liza, who both looked like they hadn’t got a single wink of sleep last night. Liza’s eyes were red and she had dark circles beneath them, and Brett just looked exhausted.

“Hey,” Brett nodded, and Liza gave Jared a quick hug. Brett and I awkwardly waved, before we laughed and hugged as well. We stood around and talked for a little until we realized we needed to get through customs so we could catch our flight in time. I said goodbye to Brett, before turning to Jared. His hands were stuck deep in his pockets, and the corner of his mouth was all that lifted when he tried to smile. I flung myself at him, throwing my arms around him and burying my face against him just as he buried his face in my hair. I didn’t want this to be goodbye, I wished there was some way to stay here and be with him.

“It’ll be okay Cheyenne, we’ll be all right,” he whispered, kissing my cheek for a moment.

“I didn’t know it would be this hard Jared,” he quieted me and kissed my cheek again.

“Call me when you guys land, okay?” he straightened up, fisting any evidence of tears from his cheeks just as I was.

“Yeah, for sure,” I agreed, and we pulled each other in for another kiss before Brett put his hand on Jared’s shoulder and Liza gently tugged on my hand. I picked up my bag then and we started to walk toward customs. I refused to turn back, knowing if I did and saw the forlorn look on Jared’s face I’d break down completely, and I wouldn’t leave. I’d stay and find any way possible to transfer school, or god forbid just call it a year and stay. So I walked away without looking back, even though my heart broke a little more with every step I took.