PART 7
The next morning Angelina woke up at 5:30am. She showered and got ready to go to the airport. The she made a mental checklist to make sure that she had everything that she wanted to bring. Straightening her shirt and khaki pants, she walked down to Joey's room to wake him up. To her surprise, when she got to his room, he was already awake and dressed. He looked at her with sad eyes.
"Hey. I didn't think you would be up. So, are you ready?" she asked him.
"Ange......I......umm....I can't take you to the airport," he said softly.
"What?"
"I'll call you a cab or something if you want me to....."
"But why?"
"It would just be too hard for me, Ange. So I figured I can just say good-bye to you here."
"But......I...."
"Please. It would just make it easier for me ok?"
"Umm.....ok. I guess. Whatever you want to do," she said feeling disappointed. "Well, I'm going to go call a cab." She walked out of his room and back to her room.
After making the phone call and placing her suitcases in front of the door, she went back up to Joey's room.
"Well, the cab is on it's way. So I guess this is it," she replied.
"Yeah I guess it is," he got up and hugged her. She blinked back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "You take care of yourself ok?"
"Ok," she said nodding her head. "And don't forget me ok? I'll call you when I get there."
Joey gently put his finger underneath her chin and raised her face so that she was looking directly into his eyes. Then he quickly leaned forward and captured her lips and kissed her. Angelina jumped slightly in surprise. She pulled back and looked into his eyes, confused at what had just happened. And not knowing what to do or say. "Ange...... I..... umm.......," Joey said, his voice trailing off. He was cut off by the sound of a car in the driveway. Angelina walked over to the window to see what it was.
"That's my ride," she said turning around to face him again. "I gotta go. Good-bye Joey." She turned and walked out of the room. Without another word spoken, he heard the front door close and the cab drive off. Angelina was gone and he hadn't even said good-bye to her.
PART 8
The ride to the airport was both long and short for Angelina. She was still confused.
"Had Joey really meant to kiss me? If so, does he want to be more then friends? No, of course not, " she tried to convince herself. "He was just caught up in the moment. Yeah thats it."
Once she arrived at the airport, she got her bags checked and then headed to the gate. At the gate, she set her carry-on bag down and looked around. She observed all the people in the airport, families hugging from their reunion, men in business suits talking on cell phones, and couples saying their last good-byes. Suddenly, Angelina felt extremely lonely. She had no one to say good-bye to. No one to wave to right before she boarded the plane. She struggled to hold back the tears that had formed in her eyes.
"Do you need help miss?" a voice said intrupting Angelina's thought.
She turned around to see a middle aged woman that worked at the airport. "Umm.....no thanks....Anne," she said after looking down at the woman's name tag. "I'm just waiting until I can board the plane."
The woman gave her a kind smile then said, "Oh ok. Well I hope you find what you are looking for." Then walked off.
Angelina stood even more confused. What had the lady meant by that? "Yeah I hope so too," she said to herself.
"Flight 558 now boarding, " she heard come over the loudspeaker. Angelina took a deep breath and picked up her bag. She took two steps forward when she heard something.
"Ange! Ange!" she heard. She turned around to see Joey running towards her. Without even giving her a chance to speak, he quickly grabbed her and hugged her close. "Look Ange, I have to say this," he said trying to catch his breath. "I didn't know it then but I love you. I love you Ange. And I can't imagine my life without you in it. Whoelse would stay up with me until 4 in the morning watching old cartoons?" he laughed slightly. "Anyways, the point is, is that I can't live without you and I need you in my life," he took a deep breath and pulled back slightly to look into her eyes.
She said nothing but just stepped back from him. Joey suddenly got confused. He stood looking at her.
"Joey, I can't do this. Not now. Sure I love you and I always will love you. But I can't deal with this right now. I can't deal with anything anymore. If this was another time, another place it would be beyond perfect. But it's not. And you can't change what has happened in the last few days," she told him. Tears were running down her face.
He stepped forward and gently wiped her tears away. "But.......I......," he started to say.
"Please, don't make this any harder than it already is ok? Joey nodded in response. "Look, I gotta go. Or I'm going to miss my flight." She stepped forward and hugged him. "And I love you too Joey. Bye," with that she turned and walked towards the plane. "Don't look back. It will only make it worse. Don't look back," she told herself. She slowly turned around to find Joey walking away from where he had been. She turned back around and walked onto the plane.
Joey turned around to see Angelina walking towards the plane. He still couldn't believe that she was leavin. He wanted so badly for her to turn aroud and run back into his arms. But he knew it wasn't going to happen. He watched her walk onto the plane. Then turned around, wiped the tears from his eyes, and started to head home.
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