Don't Wave No Goodbye

It’s only once Darcy is off the crowded train and waiting outside the station for her cab to show up that she realises she should’ve called Nick by now. She spent the entire train ride trying not to be crushed by the large elderly man sitting beside her and rehearsing what she could say to Harry, only to come up with absolutely nothing.

When she pulls out her phone, she can see the amount of frantic texts Nick’s sent along with all the missed calls and instantly feels guilty for making him worry so much. Nick answers on the third ring, sounding anxious.

“What the hell, woman! What’s going on?” Nick says in greeting, making Darcy smile.

“Nick, sorry, sorry, I should’ve called you earlier, it’s just a lot of things have happened and I got a little distracted.”

“Yeah, I guessed as much! I got a text from Fiona a few hours ago saying she has Lex and to not worry, but she’ll be looking after him until I get back. Strangely enough, I’m worrying! Where are you?”

“I um, I’m in Cheshire,” Darcy offers, followed by a nervous laugh when there’s nothing but silence from Nick’s end. “Err, Nick?”

“Cheshire? As in Cheshire?” Nick splutters, sounding so confused and beside himself.

“Aah, yeah, the one and the same!” Darcy responds meekly before sighing. “Look, Nick everything’s fine, I promise you. I’m just finally doing what I should’ve done a long time ago. There’s not really enough time for me to give you the long version of events but just know that I’m okay and no matter what happens from this point on, it doesn’t matter.”

“I just – Christ,” Nick pauses, huffing a laugh. “I leave for a couple days and suddenly all this goes on? The exciting things always happen when I’m not around. How did you even get to Cheshire? All the airports and train stations would be fully hectic by now, there’s no way you could’ve got a ticket!”

“Well, I have your boyfriend to thank for that,” Darcy says through a smile. “Seriously, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even be here.”

“My boyfriend – oh! The envelope! God, he’s a little sneak!” Nick responds as realisation dawns on him. “He was being so secretive those last few days before I left and I honestly started to wonder if perhaps there was something I should be worrying about but wow, that’s brilliant!”

“I’d say, there’s no way I could’ve made it here if it wasn’t for him. Or Nate who’s covering for me tomorrow or Fiona who’s on dog-sitting duties. It’s all a bit much, really,” Darcy murmurs, her voice fond and she can hear the smile in Nick’s voice.

“So Darce, know what you’re going to say then? I assume you’re on your way to his now?”

Darcy sighs, looking around once more for her cab. “Almost, just waiting on my ride. God, Nick, I don’t even know. I spent the entire trip here going over every possible emotional monologue I could say and nothing seems right and I don’t want to get there only to freeze up and stare at him like an idiot!”

“Whoa, slow down there, hey? Look, you don’t need to rehearse a bunch of phoney lines because then it’ll sound exactly like that, a bunch of rehearsed phoney lines. The moment you see him, I can guarantee all the right words will come to you and it will be all emotional and physically nauseating and perfect!”

“What if nothing comes to mind, Nick? What if I stand there like a complete twat waiting for something to say?”

“Then sing a Christmas carol or something to pass the time,” Nick teases, hearing Darcy’s annoyed huff at his unhelpful answer and laughing. “Okay, okay, maybe don’t do that but I’m telling you now, you’re going to be fine. Things always work out the way they should, trust me on that. Just… do what feels right, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” Darcy agrees slowly before spotting her cab pulling up. “Nick, I’ve got to go but thanks for the pep talk.”

“Good luck gorgeous, I know you won’t need it!”

“Oh, Nick, one more thing! When I give you the prompt, could you text Harry and tell him to come outside? I just… I don’t want him to see that the text is from me and like, lock me outside or something.”

“That is absolutely ridiculous; you know he wouldn’t do that to you. But fine, yes of course, yay I’m a part of this!”

Darcy grins at this. “Alright Nick. Merry Christmas, yeah?”

“Merry Christmas to you too, babe.”