I was 6 in the morning and there was a knock at Mary’s door. She dragged herself out of bed and opened it. “Oh hey Justin. What are you doing up this early?”
“Sorry if I woke you.”
“It’s fine.”
“Ok. Well I’m leaving for the airport in about 20 minutes and I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“No! I wanna go to the airport with you and say goodbye.”
“Ok, you have to hurry and get ready.”
“I’ll be out in 10 minutes...tops.”
The drive to the airport in Austin, Texas was long and silent.
“Last call for flight 691 to Orlando.”
“Call me and keep in touch,” Mary told him.
“I will, I promise.”
“Good. And if you don’t Timberlake, I’ll track you down and-”
“Ok, I get it!” he laughed.
“Ok.”
“I’ll miss ya,” he said embracing her.
“I’ll miss you too. I had a lot of fun while you were here. I’m glad I got to meet ya.”
“Same. Well, I gotta get goin. Bye.” Justin said braking away from their hug.
“Bye.” Mary watched as he walked through the gate.
As she turned to leave, she was startled by the cell phone ringing in her purse.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“Good morning to you too, Brian.”
“Sorry. Hi! Where are you?”
“Geez, I’m at the airport, relax.”
“Why?”
“Justin just left.”
“Oh. I woke up and had no idea where you went this early in the morning.”
“Sorry, I guess I should have left a note or something.”
“It’s alright.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Ok. Luv ya.”
“You too. Bye!”
~*~*~A FEW DAYS LATER~*~*~
“I can’t believe you’re leaving in 3 days!” Aaron stated as we ate lunch on Aaron’s bus, along with AJ.
“I know! I’ll miss you guys all so much!” I said.
“You have to promise to call at least once a week, even if you can only say hi,” AJ said.
“I promise I will.”
“Pinky swear?” he asked as he leaned across the table and held out his pinky.
I took his pinky in mine and laughed, “Pinky swear.”
“Call me too!” Aaron said.
“I’ll call you too,” I stated.
“Ok,” he smiled.
“So who exactly is replacing me on this tour?” I asked.
“No one. I’m just dropping that song and adding ‘Please Don’t Go Girl,’” Aaron told me.
“Oh.”
“You’re just irreplaceable,” AJ joked.
“I know,” I sighed dramatically.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The day had come for me to leave. Everyone was at the airport with me, except Nick, being the jerk he was lately, suddenly had other plans. I gave Howie, Brian, Kevin, Nikki, and Mary some hugs before I walked over to Aaron.
“Hey kid.”
“Lindsey, I’m gonna be a teenager in about a month..”
“I know, I know. Anyway, could ya give this to Nick for me please?” I handed him a small box wrapped in paper.
“Sure, what is it?” he asked, curiously eyeing the package.
“Just talk to Nick.”
“Ohh...” he whined.
“I better get going. I’ll see ya when I get back to Orlando right?”
“Yep! I’ll come see you when I visit Nick.”
“Ok. I’ll miss ya...bye.” I hugged him.
“Bye..”
I went over to AJ, who was leaning against the wall by the gate. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
“I guess this is goodbye until next year.”
“I guess so, even though I wish it wasn’t.”
“Me too. Stop by the school if you’re ever in Kentucky or Indiana.”
“Ok we will. Or....I will.”
“Kay.”
“Bye,” he wrapped his arms around me for a long hug.
“Bye.”
“AJ released his embrace and I stepped away. I walked towards the gate, then turned my head, I saw all the sad faces. I finally learned why people always say, “Go and don’t look back.” It makes it so hard to leave. I smiled weakly before getting on the plane.
~*~*~THAT NIGHT~*~*~
“What’s that?” Nick asked Aaron.
“Oh, it’s for you from..Lindsey,” Aaron handed Nick the box. Confused, he slowly unwrapped it. His eyes got big and a smile began to play across his face.
“What is it?” Aaron asked excitedly.
Nick silently held up a very rare video game that was in the box. “Wow! You can’t get that ANYWHERE!” Aaron said in awe.
Nick sifted through the box until he found 2 envelopes. He opened the one marked ‘open first.’
Nick,
I bought this when we were in Kansas. I was saving it for your birthday, but since I won’t see you, I figured I’d give it to you now....just a little too early! Anyway, Happy Birthday!
He set that note down and opened the other one. It read:
Nick,
I’m sorry for all of this, I really am. I wish things had turned out differently. But you must understand this one thing. This is my dream, a dream is a wish your heart makes, and I ALWAYS follow my heart.....
~*~*~*~THE END~*~*~*~