Krista woke up at seven in the morning to the alarm buzzing in her ear. She looked over and noticed that Katelin was already awake. The bathroom door opened and Kate walked out, towel-drying her hair. “Hey,” she said, seeing Krista sitting up in bed.
“Morning,” Krista replied. “How long have you been awake?”
Katelin shrugged, glancing at the clock next to the bed. “About an hour. I couldn’t really sleep any more. So I decided to get my stuff together and take a shower.”
Krista nodded. “Well, I’m going to get a shower and then we can get going.” She walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on, while Katelin got the rest of her stuff together.
An hour later, both girls were ready to go and were waiting on Dave to take them to the airport. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Krista got up to answer it. “Hey Dave!”
Dave smiled and walked into the room. “Morning girls. You ready to go? I’ve got the van out front.” They gathered Katelin’s stuff together and made their way down to the lobby. While her stuff was being loaded into the van, Katelin glanced up at the hotel.
“Are you sure you don’t want to say goodbye?” Krista asked, coming up behind her.
Katelin turned around with tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m positive, Krista. It’s over. There’s nothing left to say.” Krista nodded, in understanding, and followed Kate into the van. The hour-long ride to the airport was relatively silent, as was the time that they waited for Katelin’s flight to be called.
“Flight 622 to New York, Laguardia, will be boarding at gate 17,” the announcer spoke over the loud speaker. Katelin slowly stood up and grabbed her backpack. She turned around and gave Dave a hug, before turning to Krista. She swallowed hard, trying to keep herself from losing it. “Bye Kris. Thank you so much for everything.” Krista’s own eyes welled up with tears as she pulled Katelin into a hug. “Bye Kate. Make sure you keep in touch.”
Katelin smiled, slightly. “I will. I promise. You better keep me up to date about the baby.”
“I will,” Krista promised. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Katelin nodded and gave her one last hug before turning and walking onto the plane. She sat down in her seat and waited patiently for the plane to take off. When it was finally in the air, her tears spilled down her cheeks, knowing there was no turning back now.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Carter!” Elise called through the closed hotel room door. “You ready yet? Everyone’s already in the vans. We need to get to the airport.”
He opened the door and dragged his luggage out into the hallway. “I’m coming.”
Elise helped him get it all in the elevator and down into the lobby. When they reached the outside, Elise pointed to the second van. “You’re in that one with the rest of the guys. I’m with the dancers. See you at the airport.” Nick nodded and climbed into the van.
The guys van reached the airport about fifteen minutes after everyone else did. They were ushered past the screaming fans, who had made the mid-afternoon trip to the airport, and into the VIP lounge. Nick walked in and looked around for Katelin. He didn’t see her anywhere and he leaned towards Brian. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” Brian shrugged. “I haven’t seen her all day.”
Krista looked up from her magazine. “She’s gone.”
Everyone stopped and looked at her with wide eyes. “She’s what?” Ang asked.
“She left,” Krista replied, dryly. “Probably half way to New York by now.”
Nick slowly sunk down into a chair. “Why would she do that? Just leave like that?”
Krista glanced at him. “She’s moving on. She quit the tour. She’s going back to New York, back to her school, and back to her old life. She wants nothing to do with this, or us, anymore.”