If Time Stands Still

80 - miracle

Aylin's POV

"Luke!" I jump excitedly as he makes his way towards us, grinning from ear to ear upon seeing me.

He speed walks as fast as his bags allows him to, looking as good as ever with a fresh haircut and his iconic tropical shirt to signify he's on vacation mode.

"Aylin!" He lifts me up as he hugs me, spinning me around.

"What are you doing?" I laugh uncontrollably, "Put me down! I just ate!"

"Sorry." He stops, allowing me to hug him properly, "I just wanted to do the airport hug."

"You're ridiculous." I pull back slightly, unable to stop smiling now that a piece of home is with me here.

"I'm so happy to see you that I'm not even going to lecture you about how you abandoned me without notice." He teases, "I'm just here for a good time."

I punch him jokingly against the arm, "Shut up. It was a rash decision. I didn't tell anyone I decided to leave early."

"I know, I know." He looks over my shoulder and pushes me back slightly, "Hey, I'm Luke."

I roll my eyes, "My ex coworker and best friend. And Naija's my current coworker and only friend here."

"We need to work on that." Luke jokes, "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." She shakes his hand, "I've heard a bit about you."

"Only a bit?" He looks my way briefly, an exaggerated shocked expression on his face.

I take a backseat as the two of them get acquainted, my gaze lingering over Luke's shoulder just to see if by chance, anyone else might have showed up today.

I know, it's ridiculous and it's a long shot. It's not that I expected it, but I was just hoping even though I knew it was close to impossible. At the very least, I would've liked to know that he wanted to. Basically, I was hoping for some sort of miracle.

We begin walking, so I force myself to look away from the entrance and bring myself back to the present.

I don't mean to be ungrateful. I'm more than happy that Luke is here, but after the conversation with Zayn last week, I made the mistake of getting my hopes up, only for us to go back to talking every other day for less than an hour... and that's just over text.

I took his schedule into consideration, made the effort of setting alarms too. When I reach out during his free times during the day, he'd only respond when it's about 9 to 10pm his side. Albeit, the conversations are never off, but he almost always falls asleep too.

I know that he's most likely just really busy, but missing him became harder when I got my hopes up. Maybe I'm being too needy, but a lot has changed since the distance. I never thought of myself as a clingy person, but all I want to do is be with him, and it's all I can think about when I'm not.

"You alright?" Luke nudges me.

"Yeah," I nod, "I am. Are you tired?"

"No, I'm ready to take on Auckland." He rubs his hands together, "I wanna hit the beach! I got pale."

"You're always pale." I comment, making Naija laugh.

...

"Which one of you girls are getting in the water with me?" Luke stands in front of us, blocking our sun as he applies sunscreen to his chest.

"I'll be watching the bags." Naija responds.

"I'm getting my tan on." I add.

"You guys are so boring! I'm gonna make friends on my own." He threatens, "See you in a bit."