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Dedicated to @mahgadahling for the amazing cover art. Not gonna lie— I saw it, immediately thought of this chapter, and teared up quite a bit. Thank you. I am in awe.
The weekend came before I could even realize it and I was on my nonstop flight from Florida back to the Big Apple. I had sent Grant a text when i boarded my plane so he could see it and know that my flight hadn't been delayed or cancelled. While I was in the air, he responded because I didn't receive that text message until I had landed on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Cam at 10:23 AM: Just landed!
I hopped out of my seat to stretch my legs. Though I could comfortably stand straight up under the overhead bins, I still got stiff after sitting still for prolonged periods of time. I tugged at my jeans that had managed to stick to my thighs after sitting for so long and took my place in the aisle when the traffic freed. I pulled my carryon and only bag down from the compartment and headed to the jet bridge to take me to the airport, the city, and Grant. I followed the signs and took the escalator down and looked around at the people at the bottom. There, I saw him. He was dressed casually with black Converse, dark jeans, and a gray hoodie visible under a thick jean jacket. He wore a grin that I could spot from a mile away and was still clean-shaven from work, but I could see a little five o'clock shadow growing in.
I smiled widely at him and gave a wave as the escalator carried me down. He chuckled to himself before looking down bashfully. Our eyes met again as I was on the same ground level as him and went over to him with my arms wide. His arms engulfed me and I held him tight not wanting to let me go. He held me tighter like he needed to never let go. We were wrapped together as his arms wrapped around my waist and slightly raised me from the ground. My arms went around his neck where my face went as well, inhaling his scent. I was seemingly going on sensory overload just trying to take in all of the Grant things that I missed out on with only text messages, calls, and the occasional FaceTime session. He put me back on the ground though his arms never left my waist, "Hi," he greeted, exhaling with nervousness apparent in his voice and on his face.
"Hi," I smiled softly up at him. We probably looked into each other's eyes for no more than five seconds but it felt like five minutes. I used that time to memorize every fleck of gold I his eyes; the place of every soft, gentle dimple; and mentally trace the outline of his lazy smile. "Um, we should probably get going," I suggested.
"Yeah, no doubt, we probably should," Grant agreed as we each returned our arms to our sides. He grabbed the handle of my suitcase for me and wheeled it outside on my behalf to the hired car.
Once inside the car, it seemed like all of he awkward small talk that had been pent up just exploded all over the backseat of the car. There was a ramble about my flight and how I felt about airplanes. There was another discussion about how Grant's "good" day is different from his "great" day and how he prefers to delineate the two. I think our driver even cringed a couple of times during our conversation. If the driver didn't, he definitely cringed during the exchange of where we were going and where I would be staying for the remainder of my Thanksgiving vacation.
"Here's a key to the hotel room," Grant said as he held the plastic card out to me.
"Oh, I don't need one. I was just going to stay at home-- in my dorm," I answered nonchalantly.
"Oh, ri-right, ye-yeah," Grant stammered. "I- I just figured you might want to stay with me and that the-- the dorms might be closed, you know?"
I clearly missed his struggle getting that sentence out and glossed over it, not realizing that Grant had wanted me to stay with him. Whatever context he meant with my staying with him was unknown because it just wasn't going to happen. "Yeah, no," I started. "The dorms aren't closed-- it's just most people go home so not many people are around."
"Oh, right," Grant said, in a somewhat deflated and dejected voice.
Though I didn't catch on to the hints then, I dropped my luggage off at my dorm and made plans to meet up with him at his hotel following. He had plans for us to spend the rest of the day together and, though I wanted them to be thoughtful and amazing, I was just happy to be walking beside him. The next couple of days would hopefully be fun but interesting to say the very least.
