Sky Full of Stars

Thankfully Charlie agrees to let her go back to BC for at least the rest of the week as a trial run to see how smoothly things would go if she were to stay longer. Jamie finishes cleaning out his locker and doing all his captainly interview duties shortly after noon, so he swings back by their building to pick her up before they head straight to the airport. They're both still in somber moods so they don't talk much as they eat a leisurely lunch and then they sit quietly in the terminal for the next while waiting to board, scrolling through their various social media accounts.

Calista finds herself reading and rereading her entire iMessage thread with Tyler, dating back to the very first message she ever received from him in November, just a bunch of winking emojis. As recent as a few hours ago, there are several more messages starting with good morning accompanied by a photo of her favorite fluffy brown ball of fur sprawled out at the foot of Tyler's bed. The most recent ones are time stamped just twenty minutes ago and she kind of wants to cry just reading them.

Can we have lunch or something so we can talk?

Calista i'm begging here

Please talk to me

She sighs heavily and slips her phone back into the pocket of her cardigan without responding, ignoring the look Jamie shoots her from his seat next to her. He hasn't said anything else about Tyler since last night, but she knows that he's trying really hard to restrain himself from doing so. He clearly has more to say on the subject but he's biting his tongue because he knows she's not ready/doesn't want to hear it yet.

Finally, the announcement is made that their flight is beginning to board so she and Jamie both rise from their seats and grab their carry-ons before heading over to the gate agent with their tickets in hand. A sense of relief washes over her the moment she flops down into seat 8E even though she hasn't even actually left Dallas yet, but she's this close to doing so. There may be a tiny bit of guilt settling in the pit of her stomach too, but she's electing to ignore that part for now and instead focusing on the fact that she gets to see her family again in just a few hours.

Her phone begins buzzing loudly in her pocket and she quickly pulls it out, expecting it to be Felicity, who didn't answer when she called a couple of hours before to tell her she was going home, but instead she's met with a photo of the exact smiling face that she's been avoiding talking to since he left her apartment yesterday. She sends the call straight to voicemail and takes a deep breath as she leans back in her seat, fingers drumming against her thigh. "Do you think I'm overreacting?"

"Yeah," Jamie responds automatically and she snaps her head over to look at him, feeling a little bit betrayed as he tries to backtrack. "I mean, a little. I know it was shitty and that picture sucks. I wasn't actually there but I really don't think Tyler would be stupid enough to take it any further than that. He said nothing else happened, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you believe him?" he presses.

She frowns, turning back to glare at the little screen in the head rest straight in front of her. "Yeah."

"Then is that something you wanna break up over?"

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," she pouts, because him being all cool and level headed about this is really cramping her attitude. Even though she doesn't want to break up with him, not even a little bit, and even though she's actually in love with him, she feels like she's entitled to be upset about the situation. She's allowed to be angry that he made those stupid decisions and that he got himself into that situation at all. It's impossible for her not to feel embarrassed for herself for two reasons: that was her boyfriend out there grinding on some random girl, and of course that girl happened to be the complete opposite of her. It feels a lot like it used to every time Jordie would introduce her to his newest modelesque girlfriend and the completely hopeless feeling of inadequacy would consume her.

"I'm always on your side," Jamie insists seriously, bringing her back out of her thoughts. "I told him I'd fuck him up if he ever did anything like that to you, and I meant it. I just don't think he did."

"Yeah but even though he didn't, it's not fair to expect me to just be okay with what did happen."

"No one's expecting you to be okay with it."

"It kinda feels like it," she mutters defensively and Jamie frowns, realizing that he might be coming off as too nonchalant about this whole thing.

"Liss, you're allowed to be upset," he says, reaching over to grab her hand. "Of course you are. I'm sorry if I haven't seemed supportive of that. Tyler's my friend and my teammate....but you're you and I am always on your side. I feel how you feel."

Her eyes are a little teary as he squeezes her fingers with his but she just sniffles and shakes her head, cracking a smile at him. "Well, I hope you don't feel exactly how I feel."

He chuckles at that and throws his arm over her shoulders to pull her to him in a short hug before they both settle back into their seats. People are still boarding the plane and there's at least one that's passing by them who definitely recognizes Jamie and gives them a strange look, probably wondering what the hell is going on; Calista just averts her eyes from the line of strangers and looks down at the set of earbuds that Jamie is holding out to her because of course he knows that she never remembers to bring hers on flights. She thanks him quietly as she takes them from his hand and plugs the cord into her phone, the screen lighting up with another text at almost exactly the same time.

What can I do to get you to talk to me? Anything, I'll do it

She stares down at the screen with a frown, debating on whether or not to reply because she does feel a little bit guilty about just up and leaving Dallas without telling him but at the same, she's still mad, still not ready to talk, and now is not the time anyway, what with her about to be on a long flight. She stares at it for a long time, until the flight attendants begin making their way through the aisles to take their positions for the pre-flight demonstrations, and then she types out a hurried response, her first since the morning of that last game.

Just give me some time to be upset.

She turns off the phone before he has a chance to respond and stuffs it back into her pocket before leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes, willing herself to not think about it or him for the duration of their flight. It doesn't work of course, because she can't help thinking about how torn she is, feeling like she might be acting like a brat but at the same time feeling like she's justified. Jamie's already halfway through some podcast by the time she shakes herself out of her thoughts and looks over at him and he's got his eyes closed with his head resting against the back of his seat so she just pushes up the armrest that's separating them and then leans over to rest her head on his shoulder, letting her own eyes slip shut and a light sleep overtake her.

It's completely dark by the time they finally land in Victoria. Calista must have slept harder than she thought because she missed the entire descent and only just wakes up in time for the wheels to touch the ground. Jamie appears to have been awake for awhile, if he ever even fell asleep at all, and she mumbles her apology for using him as a pillow for so long as she sits up in her seat and looks around. People are already standing and grabbing their bags from the overhead compartments but she and Jamie are in no rush and so they wait for the most impatient people to get off before they stand to grab their stuff and deplane themselves.

Neither of them told their families that they'd be coming home so there's no one there to pick them up once they've made their way outside. Instead they take a cab out to Jamie's lake house, despite the fact that it's way out in the middle of nowhere and is a hell of a fare to pay. The house stands tall and proud in a small clearing with thick forest on either side, much bigger than what Jamie actually needs, but he'd been determined to buy only in that certain area and it was a really good price so he bought it anyway. The porch light and at least one lamp inside are both on so she assumes he must have let the caretaker know that he'd be coming in.

They kick off their shoes as soon as they walk in the front door and then they head straight upstairs, exhausted from the journey and just the past few days in general. Jamie says goodnight as he passes by her when she stops at the door to one of many guest rooms but when she calls his name, he stops in his tracks and turns back to look at her, brows raised. "Yeah?"

"Thank you," she says quietly, and she doesn't have to elaborate for him to know what she means. He gives her a small smile and says goodnight again and she just watches him make his way down to the end of the hallway and disappear into the master bedroom before she heads into the guest room to collapse face first on the bed without even changing into her pajamas first.

The midday sun is pouring in the windows when she finally squints her eyes open again. At some point throughout the night, she had managed to shed her leggings and cardigan and wriggle herself under the covers but her phone is sitting on the nightstand, still turned off from the flight. She yawns as she sits up to stretch and then grabs her phone to turn it back on, not anticipating the multitude of text messages that flow in as soon as she does so. They're all from Felicity, starting with a simple shit, sorry i missed you and becoming increasingly worried mother hen as Calista continues scrolling down through the thread. The most recent one is a threat of actual bodily harm and that's when she realizes that, oh, it's been a good 26 hours since she first called Felicity and her friend is probably worried sick about her.

She hits the blonde's contact in her favorites and puts the phone to her hear as she climbs out of the bed and bends down to unzip her suitcase. Felicity answers within the first ring. "How fuckin' DARE you do that to me, bitch, I thought you were dead!""

"Sorry," Calista groans. "I turned my phone off on the plane and then we just kinda collapsed when we got here last night."

"And that best friend of yours didn't answer his phone either, so I called fucking Tyler and he had no idea because he said he was giving you space but he went to check on you at your place anyway and you didn't answer the fucking door and then it freaked him the fuck out too and we both called Jordie only for him to tell us you went back to fucking Canada?!"

"I'm sorry," she says again, more insistent. She really didn't want Tyler to know she'd come home but she also feels bad that she'd apparently worried him and Felicity both. "Jamie and I both just...really needed to get out of Dallas for a few days."

"Well you scared us half to death," Felicity scolds, but she's done being mad now and after only a short pause, she sighs. "But I guess I could understand. You didn't even tell Tyler you were leaving though? He was pretty upset when Jordie told us you were gone."

Calista frowns, sitting back on the edge of the bed with her toiletry bag in hand. "I know, I should've told him."

"And you asked him to give you space."

It's not a question, more of a prompt for an explanation, but she doesn't really have one so she just shrugs her shoulders, even though Felicity can't see her. "I just want to not think about things for a few days. I want to be home. I want to see my family and-"

She's interrupted by a knock on the door and she looks up just as Jamie peeks his head into the room. "Hey, I'm going over to Mom and Dad's in a few if you want to come."

"I just need to shower really quick," she says and he nods before ducking back out and closing the door behind him. "I should go, Fifi. Jamie's gonna be waiting for me."

"Enjoy your trip," Felicity says simply, instead of about ten more things that she had ready in her mind. "Lemme know when you get back to town."

"I will," Calista promises. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Just don't let it happen again."

"Never."

She ends the call and sighs heavily, tossing the phone onto the bed beside her before going back to digging through her suitcase for her jeans and a comfy tee shirt to wear. After sleeping on it and then having that conversation with Felicity immediately after that, she's feeling even more guilty than before. She sits there chewing on her bottom lip and thinking for a few more minutes before she picks up the phone again and types out a quick message to follow the one she sent him yesterday on the plane.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving but I'll call you when I'm back in a few days