FINALE Part II

By Talyn Gray

The days passed with silence among the three of them. Benji had talked to Alex a couple of times in class, though he and Bryce had yet to reconcile. Her father had been flying back and forth from Japan, getting the new house ready and even moving things. He’d taken pictures and emailed her the home they would be in. Japanese houses usually ran smaller than the American standard, but it was actually rather big; or at least a bit smaller than the one they were moving out of. Their flight was changed to leave a day before the actual time—Saturday instead of Sunday.

The school was excited for summer break and the graduation of the seniors, but one would be sure that neither of the three were anything near happy. Benji had spent the majority of his time at the bakery in the back. Hina came to visit him more often, and since his eye had gone from black and blue to yellow and green, his mother wouldn’t let him greet customers. Hina was a good companion when he was bored, but he missed Bryce. He had been trying to figure out a plan to smooth things over, though he wasn’t sure whether or not he resented the idea.

Bryce had thrown himself into studying for the finals. With the math equations, grammar, scientific formulas, and other such things circling in his mind, it allowed him to think of things other than Alex or Benji. However, when he was lying in bed without the comfort of textbooks in front of him, he thought of the two people he felt he had lost. The world seemed dim without a best friend to talk to, and life seemed lackluster without Alex. He knew he’d made a mistake, but he had also meant what he said. Her reasoning from the beginning, before they’d gotten together, when she pushed him away… it made sense to him now. It had made absolutely no sense before, but he understood now. To get close and then leave was painful; even now he wanted to be with her, but could it really change anything if they still had to say goodbye in the end?

He felt guilty. He knew that he hurt her, mostly because he’d been the one to say from the start that he didn’t care whether or not she was going to move. She’d trusted him to stick to his words, and he had fallen away from them. Bryce didn’t know how to apologize, didn’t know how to approach her; wasn’t even sure if he wanted to.

Finally, on Wednesday of the last week of school, his phone rang with Benji’s name as caller ID.

“Hello?”

There was a pause. “Hey.” There was another pause. “Can we meet somewhere?”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, where?”

“The park?”

Bryce hesitated, but said, “At the benches toward the end.”

“Alright.”

“Bye.”

He hung up and paused for a moment, stared at his phone, and swiftly stood up and walked out the door.

x--x--x

Bryce was almost surprised that they didn’t run into each other on the way to the end of the park. He didn’t walk quickly, nor did he go unnecessarily slow. He didn’t know what he would say; he wasn’t even sure how he felt about anyone anymore.

Benji was already sitting on the single bench that waited at the end of the park near the exit gates. It was away from the houses, and Bryce had offered it because he hadn’t want anyone, least of all, Alex, to see them talking. He looked up when Bryce came into sight and didn’t stand up. Instead, Bryce took a seat next to him. They were quiet for a good five minutes before Benji finally figured out what to say.

“I’m sorry for kissing her,” he began uncertainly, “I know that most of this mess is my fault, but I’m not sorry for most of it.” Bryce licked his lips, staring at a tree that was tall in front of them. “Encouraging you two getting together and then getting bitter about it later is my fault, but even knowing that… I guess in the back of my mind I still wanted to think that maybe it wasn’t real. I really did just start out having a small crush on Alex. Falling for her while you two were together was never something I counted on.”

“I’m so pissed off at both of you,” he admitted, “Or more…the situation we got ourselves into. I don’t think any of us expected anything like this to ever really happen. As much as I want to pin you for being a bad friend and kissing my… Alex, I knew in the back of my mind how you felt about her—more than a crush or just a liking. Like you said when we fought—I know you well enough to be able to tell when you’re head over heels for a girl.”

Benji glanced at him out of the corner or his eye when he heard Bryce pause, but returned his gaze to the tree. “In my dreams, the time when I asked her out, she says yes. Instead of saying she likes you, she admits she likes me. But in reality, I know that you’re the one she wants to be with, and I know that you need her.”

They stared at the tree some more, for it seemed they were talking to the tree and asking it to be a mediator before Bryce said, “Going out with Alex, even with your blessing was wrong. Knowing that you liked her…love her… and having me, your best friend wanting to go out with her is still wrong. I guess that makes me a worse person for being with her when I know how you feel.”

Benji cracked a small smile. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

“But I guess in the end, I don’t know what it was all for,” he admitted. “She’s moving and leaving both of us here. We’ll be back to square one.”

“I don’t think so,” Benji replied, sounding surprised. He ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve changed a lot in the past months, even if you can’t see it. You’re happier… at least, you were happier, and I think that she was the reason. If Alex wasn’t the sole reason, then she was at least part of it. It sounds like you regret meeting her. If that’s true, then maybe you really aren’t the person I thought you were.”

“If I had never met her, I wouldn’t know what I was missing. I think she was right from the very beginning that it would hurt too much in the end.”

“Moron.”

“What?”

He paused, and he could tell that Benji was biting back his words. “Just talk to her,” he said simply. There was another long stretch of silence before, “Hey, Bryce.”

“Yeah?”

“Stand up.”

Confused, Bryce stood up and faced him. Benji stood up, rolled his shoulders back and tilted his head from side to side.

“What are you—” He was violently interrupted by Benji’s fist. Bryce stumbled backwards, and stared up at him. “What the hell!” and lunged forward to sock Benji in the face as well. He fell back on the bench in a sitting position, looking a little dazed with his arms spread along the back rim of the bench. He chuckled, and then laughed.

Bryce gaped at him; watched as his best friend was reduced to nothing more than a fit of unmanly giggles and guffaws. Finally, he heaved a sigh and collapsed next to him unceremoniously before letting out his own fit of unmanly giggles and guffaws.

x--x--x

Alex lay on her bed, face down in the covers with her eyes closed. Her father had just come back from the airport and was sleeping. They already had him doing a little business in Japan, and that along with the time changes were taking a bit of a toll on him. She heard a faint buzzing noise coming from her nightstand, wondered if a bee had wandered into her room before looking up and realizing it was her phone.

Her heart jumped to her throat and she quickly picked it up to see who was calling. It wasn’t Bryce, but the ID startled her for a moment.

“What time is it over there?”

Kouki laughed. “Why, hello, Aki, Genki?” (How are you?)

“Maa…anata wa?” (Eh… you?)

“Mm. Maa,” he echoed. She could hear the smile in his voice. “You’ll be here in about… two weeks…deshou?” (right?)

“It’ll be two weeks at the end of this one,” she answered, “Doushite?” (Why?)

“Jaa, aitai.” (Well then, I want to see you)

“Don’t you have class?”

“The semester ended today,” he replied. “Besides, I went to your soon-to-be hometown for a little bit in this past week, so I could show you around.”

“When?”

“I’ve got work most of the week, but I can see you after I get off on Monday. When do you leave?”

“Saturday around 9 am,” she replied. “When would I be arriving in Nihon?”

“Hm…” he said. He was quiet for a moment, and they raced to see who could figure it out first. “Sunday around three or four pm,” Kouki replied triumphantly.

“And see you the next day on Monday? That’s a little too soon.”

He sounded slightly offended, “You sound like you don’t want to see me.”

“I do, but I’ll be tired because of the time change. And if I walk around, I think it’ll just make it more real.”

“It is real, Aki.” He paused, “Besides, I kind of want you to meet my girlfriend.”

“Oh.” She stopped. “Wait, what?”

x--x--x

Another couple of days passed full of finals and awkward schedules. Talking to Bryce or Benji was pushed out of her mind as she dove head first, arms outstretched into the last couple of days of school. If she wasn’t taking an exam in one class, she was studying for another, or at home sleeping, packing, and barely eating.

Kei called them several times, mostly speaking to their mother or calming Rei when he was throwing a tantrum. He apologized for not being able to bid them farewell in person—he was on the road again.

She was still mad at Bryce, but it didn’t keep her from missing him. She didn’t want to leave with them being on bad terms. Even with that in her mind, she was starting to feel relieved about moving. Knowing it was going to happen had forced her to accept it. Instead of looking at it as a sentence, she tried to think of it as a new experience. There wouldn’t be any drama; no Bryce to drive her crazy, no Benji to worry about. Not even Kouki could cause a rise in her life now that he had a girlfriend. It would be a new beginning; a clean slate in a new country. Perhaps leaving without any romantic strings attached would be better? Maybe even seeing that even the almighty Bryce couldn’t withstand the separation was some sort of twisted sign?

Leaving would also force her to forget about her feelings for him. Without seeing him, knowing he’d be over an ocean would make it easier to get over him. But in the meantime, she’d have to deal with the dull, painful thud in her chest whenever she thought of him. It would leave in time. It would have to leave in time.

It almost surprised her that she didn’t talk to them; not even the last day of school as she stared at the gates one last time. She’d said her goodbyes and thank you’s to the teammates if she passed them in the halls; went and saw Wieman to bid him goodbye and thanked him for giving her a chance. She didn’t see Deuce and didn’t care. They’d run out of yearbooks for her at the office, but people had written on a plain white T-shirt instead. Benji signed it when they ran into each other taking the garbage out, but Bryce’s hands didn’t touch it.

His words still stung, and she didn’t think she’d be able to approach him without being hurt again. Alex didn’t like the thought of leaving with the way things were, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to call him. Perhaps just leaving things like this would be for the best.

Another week passed in near silence. She packed and readied things to go until the only thing that was left in her bare room was a handful of clothes and her bed. Her house was almost empty. There were a few things they were selling, some they were keeping, and other things they were trashing. The house wasn’t her home anymore; nor was Bailey.

Mark, Yuka, Pepper, and some other members of the team called her and asked her whether or not she was getting an international cell phone plan. She answered that she supposed she was, since Kouki could already call her from Japan. Yuka had been relieved and said that she would visit her over the summer when she would be seeing some family in Tokyo.

They visited her grandparents for a last time, and her father offered to take them with them, in which both gave a no, and her Baa-chan said with a small smile, “It’s because you’ll be back.”

x--x--x

He couldn’t understand what was wrong with him. Bryce had gone through the motions for the past two weeks, and before he’d known it, Alex was going to leave. They were on the last thread of time and he couldn’t bring himself to call her. It was currently Friday. Benji had only encouraged him to call her once more after the park.

He didn’t want her to leave and have them never talk again. He didn’t want her to leave and never see her in person again. He just didn’t want her to leave. He knew he was being childish—for some reason he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that she was actually, truly, and completely leaving.

“I think you went through anger first,” Benji commented, “Maybe even depression and bargaining. You might be down to denial. You went in the wrong order, but if you’re stuck in denial, you two are never going to make up.”

“That’s the stages of grief and death, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Bryce wondered what might have happened by now if he hadn’t yelled at her. He wondered how it would have been different. Part of him wanted to believe that they would have enjoyed the time together. The more sensible part of him felt like what had happened the other night had been inevitable.

He took a walk down to Benji’s bakery. Now that Benji’s eye had healed, he was allowed to work the front. They’d talked for awhile about trivial things, not once did the topic matter land on Alex. After that, he left and went to the cemetery, sat, but didn’t talk. He was being stupid. He knew it. He missed hearing her voice.

x--x--x

Alex paused outside of the glass doors of Benji’s bakery. She’d gone to talk to him, but stopped when she saw that he was talking to the waitress from the pizza place, Hina. He was smiling, and it was a smile she’d wanted to see on his face since what had conspired at the championship game. The store was otherwise empty because it was closed. He was wiping off the front counter while talking, looking as though he were enjoying himself. She couldn’t help but smile a little herself. Seeing him happy lifted a small amount of pressure from her shoulders.

But being a girl with pasty white legs in shorts, standing outside of doors that were see-through in the late evening eventually grabbed his attention and he looked up. She saw his lips form her name and Hina turned around to see her. Alex licked her lips and finally walked to the door. It was locked, and he went over and opened it for her.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hi,” she answered. “Um, can I talk to you?”

He turned to glance at Hina, who had seemed to magically conjure a magazine to look at. Benji nodded and closed the door behind him as they stood out in the warm summer evening. “What’s up?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” she replied, fiddling with her thumbs. He looked surprised.

“Wow… I hadn’t even realized……I thought you were leaving on Sunday?”

“The flight was changed… It’s tomorrow.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. It’s been two weeks since school ended, so…”

“What time is your flight?”

“Around nine,” she answered, “So I’ll be leaving by six to get there by seven… to sit around and deal with all of the security by eight thirty,” she said.

“I see,” he answered. “And you came to say goodbye?”

“Something like that,” she told him with a hesitant smile. “More than that, actually. I really wanted…” she trailed off, looking back at her hands and picking at the dirt beneath her nails. “I really wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“Because… when I came here and tried out for the team, you were really the only one who was nice… you were the only one that gave me a chance without hesitation… and you made me laugh and smile, and you understood me and you still do,” she told him, “I know that one of these days I’ll be coming back to the states, most likely for college…hopefully for college… and when that happens I can’t wait to see you and how you’ve changed. I don’t think you really could get any better as a person, and I just… I really…” she was starting to ramble, “I’m really glad I met you, and you really do deserve a girl that’s just as amazing as you are. I really do… from the bottom of my heart thank you for being who you are and being my friend.”

Her face was beet red by the time she’d finished talking, and she was still picking at her nails when he leaned over and enveloped her in a tight hug. He smelled like sugar and all the things soft and sweet that was who he was. She pulled her arms out and reciprocated.

“It was my pleasure to know you,” he said into her hair, “and it will continue to be my pleasure because just ‘cause you’re moving doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. And if you’re going to say thank you, I want to thank you, too, for being yourself.” He pulled back and gave her a quick, soft peck on the forehead. “And if you aren’t going to come back for baseball, at the very least, I’m going to drag you by your hair and throw you on the pitcher’s mound, you got that?”

She laughed and fought back the tears. “Ok.”

He pulled back for a moment, and then leaned in to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing the side of her cheek. “Have you talked to Bryce?”

“No,” she replied, averting her gaze to the floor.

He looked thoughtful, “What are you two going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, “I’ve been thinking that maybe leaving without any attachments would be good. That way we won’t drive each other crazy any more.”

He frowned, “Are you sure Bryce wants that?”

“He’s the one that who said he wished he never met me,” she told him with a sigh.

Benji’s expression didn’t change, and he sighed and shook his head. “You two are going to drive me to the brink of insanity one of these days,” he informed her.

“I didn’t come here to talk about him, you know,” she said, licking her lips. He chuckled.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry,” Benji answered. He leaned over and gave her another hug. “Are you getting an international cell phone plan?”

“I think I already have one,” she replied.

“Good. ‘Cuz I’ll be calling you, Milady.”

x--x--x

“I’m sorry,” Bryce said, “I didn’t mean what I said. I’m really glad to have met you… I’m sorry for being so stupid and childish. I love you, Alex, and the fact that you’re leaving drives me crazy. I really want to make this work.” He paused, collected his thoughts, and continued. “I said those things because I was frustrated with everything happening—Benji, the rain out, you moving, finals… everything was piling up and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. Being with you makes me want to be a better person…and even though there’s going to be an ocean between us, I think we can still be really good friends.”

There was a long silence and Bryce heaved a sigh before leaning forward and banging his head on the bathroom mirror. He’d been talking to himself for over an hour, trying to figure out just what to say to her. It was especially hard to figure out what to say when he couldn’t even figure out what he wanted. Bryce didn’t want Alex to leave his life. If he could have her as a friend, then he would take that. He just wasn’t sure if they could really survive a long distance relationship.

He was planning on talking to her the following morning. At the banquet, she’d said she’d be leaving on Sunday. He knew he should talk to her now, but he wanted to talk to her when he knew what he would say—when he could clearly say how sorry he was he’d said such horrible things to her.

Bryce needed to figure out what he wanted. Even at that, he didn’t know if she would accept. Alex would most likely accept his friendship at the very least. He knew that his heart wanted more—he wanted to be with her, but his brain fought valiantly to have things platonic. Even if his heart won the internal battle, Bryce didn’t know if he’d hurt her so deeply she wouldn’t even want to be with him anymore.

He took a deep breath and backed away from the mirror, wiping away the grease mark his forehead had left. “Hey, Alex… no, don’t shut the door…”

x--x--x

Alex was once again lying in her bed. Her room was dark and stripped bare, save for the bed itself, old sheets that were to be thrown away, and her suitcase and carry-on sitting on the floor. She held her phone in her hands and stared at Bryce’s name until she had to close it.

If you don’t talk to him, there’s no chance to reconcile. If we reconcile, then I know I’m going to end up wanting more, she thought, Maybe it really is for the best if I just leave things the way they are. He hasn’t called since we fought; I guess it’s clear how he feels…

She swallowed, hard, set the alarm on her phone and set it next to her bed. Alex closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

The sleep was a restless one, and she began to dream, but kept waking up when she thought she heard someone calling her name. She woke up and fell asleep arbitrarily during the night, sometimes with her chest hurting like when she’d spoken to Bryce last. Somehow, she managed to finally fall into a fitful sleep when her phone rang, marking her to wake up a 5 AM in the morning.

With a heavy breath of air, Alex climbed out of bed, halfway hateful and halfway grateful that her futile attempt at sleep had ended. She changed quickly, zipped up her suitcase, and headed downstairs.

Rei had tears in his eyes, and her father looked grim. Her mother looked like she was about to fall asleep standing, and Alex felt like she was a nice, emotional combination of all of them. Ronald Matherson wordlessly threw their suitcases in the car, grunting slightly as he lifted them. Her mother put Rei in the car and Alex followed. She paused before getting in the car and looked up at Bryce’s house. She took in a shaky breath and entered the car.

She held Rei’s hand when her father started the car and closed her eyes when they pulled out. She opened them and stared at the house. It was a place that they’d stayed in for a few months, and she was sad to say goodbye to it. There were more memories attached to the house than she would have ever expected.

Seeing as she wasn’t really about to move, Bryce walked over to the small brick wall and sat on top of it, hands still in his pockets. “So what are you going to do? You can join a team of all boys, face prejudice and hazing, but not walk into your own house?”

Alex granted him a sharp glance. “Baseball is different.”

“That’s not what I was saying.”

She heaved another sigh, “Whatever.”

“Are you going to go inside, or am I going to have to push you?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t push you. I’d sling you over my shoulder.”

“…you wouldn’t dare.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No.”

Alex didn’t particularly want to test him, so she lifted her foot and took a step forward. Then halted.

“Oh for the love of--” he got up and moved closer, as if threatening to throw her over his shoulder. Alex squeaked and slid out of his grasp and up onto the porch. He raised an eyebrow when her hand touched the knob but didn’t enter. “You going in?” he called, putting his hands back into his pockets.

“Shhhh!” she hissed back. “My family is still asleep.”

He shrugged and walked over to her. Alex pressed her back against the door to make sure that he didn’t try and be a Neanderthal. Bryce was smirking with an evil glint in his eye and came a little closer to her than she expected; well within her comfort bubble. She looked up at him, feeling her heart beat faster from their close proximity and he rest his hand over hers on the door knob and leaned forward so that his face was only inches away from hers, and that infuriating smirk was still on his stupid lips.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” he asked with smugness in his voice. That stupid moron…

“No,” she answered blatantly. If he wanted to play that game, she was not going to let him win. Alex let go of the door knob, making him almost fall on her, but he regained his balance just as Alex put her arms loosely around his neck. His blue eyes widened, and she mirrored the smirk he had given earlier. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” she mimicked, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck with her fingers. His eyebrows drew together, as if debating what to do next. Then that stupid smirk was back on his face.

“Not at all,” he answered pleasantly, placing his hands on her hips and resting his forehead on hers.

HEY! she thought, WATCH THE HANDS!

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

That had been one of the first times Bryce had opened up to her. At the time it really had surprised her a little, how nice his smile could be. If she remembered correctly, that had happened a few days before…

“Who do you think it is?” Benji asked conversationally.

She managed to stutter out something that was indecipherable, hoping he wasn’t about to come out of the front door for some any particular reason. There was a loud shout that came from her house, and Alex dully and hopelessly hoped that Kouki hadn’t returned, and that her brother and ex-boyfriend weren’t—

CRASH!

—hurting each other.

“Konoyarou, koko de nani shiteru?!” (You bastard, what are you doing here?!) she heard her brother’s voice yell.

“Keijiro, yamete!” she heard her mother’s voice scream. “Soto de yari!” (At least take it outside!)

Oh, hell no.

The front door was almost wrenched open, and she saw Kouki stomping out, closely followed by her brother, who, thank her lucky stars, was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

“Well, uh, see you later!” she said quickly to Benji and Bryce before running over to her house. Kouki had just landed a punch on her brothers’ face, and Kei was about to return the favor. “OI!” she screeched as she touched the driveway with her heel. They didn’t hear her, and Kouki tackled her brother to the floor, and they unceremoniously rolled down the driveway. Her mother appeared at the door, looking grievously stressed with a hand over her forehead.

Alex ran up to the two fighting boys before thrusting her hands forward and pushing them apart with all the strength she had. They parted momentarily and stood up fast as lightning before going at each other again.

“YAMETE YO!” (STOP IT!) she screamed and reached forward to slap the closest one to her—which was Kouki. Alex wedged herself in between them and placed her hands on her both of their chests to halt further assaulting. “Nani shitteruno?!” (What are you doing?!)

Miraculously, Kei’s sunglasses were still intact, but one of the lenses looked a little cracked…

“Kyuuni boku wo naggutta,” (He just came out of nowhere and punched me) Kouki told her as he threw his head to the side to spit up some blood. Alex looked back at her brother, a warning and dangerous look glinting in her eyes.

He was about to take off his mutilated glasses, but Alex knew that Benji and Bryce were still watching, “Keep them on,” she muttered.

That had been a close call, she thought to herself. Alex dully wondered what would have happened if Bryce and Benji had figured out that Kei was her brother before he actually showed up after one of her games. Would they have reacted any differently? Probably not, she thought with a bitter smile.

“Alex,” Benji called as they made their way up the porch.

“Hm?” she responded as she hopped up onto the last step and pivoted on her heel so she could face him. He smiled and climbed up as well.

“I was wondering…” he began, hands in his pockets. “If you were going to the dance?”

“Dance?” she questioned quizzically, “What dance?”

He laughed—she wasn’t sure if it was directed at her, or if it was from nervousness. “Spring Fling Formal? Are you going?” he tried again, and it clicked.

“Oooooh,” Alex answered. That thing ASB’d been talking about for the past few days. She paused to think about it, “I don’t know… I can’t dance, there’s no point in me going,” she told him, clueless and oblivious. “Why, are you going?”

“I don’t know,” he replied with a smile, “Would you go with me?”

If only she really had liked Benji at the time, it would have made things easier. She wondered what her response would have been if she and Bryce hadn’t kissed at the stadium—that had been when she realized she liked him. If she hadn’t realized it, would Alex have learned to like Benji instead?

I guess I’ll never know, now.

Her father drove by the places she’d been on the way to the airport, the pizza place, the arcade she’d went to once, Benji’s bakery. She even thought that she spied the French restaurant that the initiation dinner had been held.

Alex sighed and closed her eyes, leaned back against the seat and said goodbye to Bailey.

x--x--x

For some reason, Bryce hadn’t been able to sleep. He’d gotten a few hours worth of sleep, but was almost glad to get out of bed at 7:00am to wash up. He took a quick shower, shaved, and got dressed. He stared at himself in the mirror.

You’re gonna go and talk to her, he said to himself, you’re going to go and talk to her and tell her that you’re sorry.

He hadn’t quite figured out what he wanted yet. He didn’t know. With a heavy heave, he went back into his room to grab a jacket when his phone began to ring.

“Hello?” he asked when he picked it up.

“Please tell me you guys talked and made your peace,” Benji’s voice answered. In the background, Bryce heard Benji’s cousin call for another batch of muffins.

“Not yet,” Bryce replied, “I’m going to go over to her house around ten.”

There was a long pause and Benji asked, “What time is it?”

He glanced at his digital clock, “About a quarter to eight, why?”

“You MORON!”

“What?”

“She’s leaving at nine today!” Benji replied, sounding much more impassioned than Bryce had ever heard him, “She’s not even at her house right now!”

“WHAT?” he nearly yelled, though he didn’t worry about waking his parents since he’d already heard them leave for work an hour earlier. “She said she was leaving on Sunday!”

“The flight was changed,” Benji replied quickly.

“What?! But I need to talk—I have to see her!”

“Did you parents leave already?”

“Yes.”

“Did they take the cars?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want a ride?”

“Please?”

“Fuck. Okay, okay, I’ll be at your house in two minutes—MACK! I’m leaving!” he bellowed. He heard Mack start screeching in the background, but Benji ignored her. “You better be standing outside of your house by the time I get there, Brycey Boy, or I’m going to have my own passionate love scene at the airport.”

x--x--x

“Flight 52 boarding first class in twenty minutes,” the speaker said, “Flight 52 boarding first class in twenty minutes. Please have your boarding pass ready.”

Alex spit out her gum in a napkin before disposing it in the trash can to her right. She saw the obvious first class goers shuffle through their pockets and purses, making sure they had their passes. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

“Do you have your ticket, honey?” her father asked. “You know we’re first class, right?”

She blinked. “What?”

He smiled and patted her head, “The company gave us first class tickets,” he explained, “So we get reclining seats.”

“Oh,” she answered, “That’s nice.”

Her father went back to talking to her mother and Alex idly picked up a magazine and flipped through the pages. She didn’t really look at the pages, rather, at the shininess of each page as she flicked it. She paused at one picture that looked like an ad for tomatoes. There was a bright, electric blue background and she thought of Bryce. With an annoyed huff, she closed the magazine.

Leaving without saying anything is for the best, she assured herself. Just forget him…

But telling herself to forget him didn’t make her forget him any more did saying a cow wasn’t a cow. She wasn’t making any sense. She would miss him. Alex knew that once they landed she’d start crying and wouldn’t stop for the next three days. Ignoring the throbbing in her heart had only served to make it more painful.

Another few minutes passed and Alex set her carry-on on the floor. “I’m gonna walk around for a bit,” she told her dad, “I’ll be back in time to board.”

He nodded his head and Alex took a small stroll around the waiting area and into the newsstand across from her. She looked at the various pieces of overpriced and under quality jewelry, the celebrity trash magazines and the backs of books. She contemplated buying a chocolate bar, but decided against it.

Don’t think of him, she thought as she passed another magazine that adorned a face that looked like Bryce’s. Just don’t think about him. Don’t regret this.

But in the end, she knew she was going to regret it. Alex was going to regret not talking to him before she left; she was going to regret leaving without saying so much of a goodbye to him. The least she could do was call him and say goodbye, right?

Alex glanced at her watch. Boarding in two minutes. She was going to have to make this snappy.

She began to walk back and took out her phone from her pocket. She found his name in her contacts list and hit the call button. She stopped against the side of the hall near the bathrooms, leaned against the wall with weak knees, waiting in baited breath for him to pick up the phone.

It rang…

And rang…

And rang…

“Hello?” her heart flew to her throat.

“Bryce, I—”

“Gotcha. You’ve got my voicemail, leave a message.”

There was the infamous ‘beeeep’ and Alex stood against the wall with her mouth open and feeling as if she were teetering on the edge of a cliff. She attempted to formulate words, but couldn’t, and closed her phone.

x--x--x

“Shit!” Bryce almost screamed when Benji swerved into another lane.

“Yeah, well, you were the one who decided to be a prick and not talk to her!” Benji answered with a grumble in his voice as he swerved and weaved through the various lanes of the freeway. “Going to the airport usually takes a good hour, and I’m trying to cut that time in half!”

“I’m no good to her if I’m going to be DEAD.”

“Love takes risks.”

“What?”

“Nothing. You know you need a visitor’s pass to get through security, right?” he asked, glancing in the mirror and swerving into another lane. He hit the gas and Bryce was almost forced back in his seat.

“What?”

“A visitor’s pass!” he said, “my mom did it when I went to my pastry competition the first time,” he explained, “you ask the ticket people for a pass and they give it to you and let you wait in the boarding area with whoever you’re seeing off.” He paused, turned on his signal, and got into another lane to cross another car. “You should call now and reserve one.”

“Okay, okay,” Bryce responded, going into his pocket to fish out his phone. Not in the left one. Not in the right. Not in the two behind… “I think I forgot my phone.”

“Oh, for the love of—” Benji quickly fished his phone out and threw it at his friend. “I don’t have a lot of battery, so hurry up.”

Bryce dialed 411 and asked to be connected to the airport. “Yeah, I’d like a visitor’s pass please?” It took him about five minutes, but they were able to put one on hold for him, and he heaved a gigantic sigh.

“You have your wallet with you’re ID, right?”

Bryce patted his pocket, making sure it was there, “Yeah, thank god.”

They lapsed into silence, and Benji made another swerve and continued to weave around the various lanes of the freeway. They were already more than halfway there. “Bryce,” Benji said finally, hitting the brake hard before jerking the car to the right lane and speeding up again. “Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems kind of pointless and a little cruel to go all this way just to tell her that you’re going to be friends with her,” he answered, not taking his eyes off the road and flying down the offramp. “What are you going to tell her?”

Bryce didn’t answer right away. He looked out the window and nearly crashed into it when Benji jerked the car to the right and nearly ran a red. What was he going to tell her? He was going to tell her that he was sorry, for sure. In the moment, he had wanted to hurt her, but he realized just how juvenile it was. He didn’t want her to leave without knowing how sorry he was, and…

She was leaving. There was nothing he could do to change it. Alex was moving to Japan and that was it. Was it really it? He was going to miss everything about her—her smile, her laugh, the way her hair moved, the way her expressions changed when she spoke. She was like a light in his life, a light that had shone on all the aspects of his life and made it better. He couldn’t have her physically—he wouldn’t be able to hold her, to kiss her, but maybe waiting would be okay?

He realized that he didn’t want to have Alex as just a friend. He didn’t want to randomly pop in her life and see how she was doing—if even that. He wanted to be with her every step of the way. He wanted to be with her whether or not she was in Japan, and using his fears as an excuse to say otherwise was just him being a moron. Bryce wanted to be her boyfriend, he wanted to be with her until time ended or until Benji crashed the car and they both died. He wanted to be able to have her jump in his arms when she came back; he wanted to be able to shower her in kisses when she was in his arms again.

“Bryce? What are you going to tell her?” Benji asked again as he drove up to what he hoped was the right terminal. Bryce opened the door and paused as he smelled the exhaust fumes from the other cars. Bryce spared a glance at the clock that read 8:35. He heard the sound of airplanes taking off and prayed one of them wasn’t hers.

“I’m going to tell her that I love her,” he answered, and closed the door.

x--x--x

Alex checked her father’s watch. It was 8:45am, and ten minutes to take off. They were running a little late, and the attendants were helping to seat coach passengers. She didn’t mind. It meant she got to stay in the states a few minutes more; a few minutes closer to Bryce and all the things that felt like home.

Sitting in first class was interesting. She got to see all of the other passengers board the plane and watched as they walked by, some smiling, others, like her, looking a little grim. Rei had already fallen asleep on his end, seatbelt in place.

She closed her eyes as her mother sat up and looked around. “Akina, you have the water in your carry-on, right?”

“Mhm.”

“Where is it?”

Her eyes opened and paused for a moment. Her carry-on? “Don’t you have it?”

Her mother shook her head with a little bit of a squint in her eye. “Did you leave it near the seats?”

“I think so.”

“Then you better hurry up and get it.”

x--x--x

It had taken him a minute to find the right flight, another to obtain his visitor’s pass, and another ten minutes to hurry past security. Once they let him go he ran as fast as he could to flight 52. He shoved past people, quickly apologized to a woman whom he made drop her suitcase, and sprinted down the hall, his eyes only on the numbers that decreased.

60…59…58…56…

He felt panic well in his chest when he read a clock he passed, marking it 8:48. He had to see her. He had to reach her, if he didn’t, he’d run after the plane until it stopped.

54…53…

He arrived at the beginning of terminal 52, still running, and looked wildly around for her. His eyes searched the small crowd that was left sitting there, not one of them looked like Alex. Bryce saw that the plane was still there, perhaps he could muscle his way through the two feeble ladies standing at the door? He thought about shouting her name, when he saw a figure pop up from one of the seats to his right holding a bag. She began to walk away.

“Alex!”

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. She had been heading for the plane, but halted when she heard his voice. He could feel his heart squeeze and wondered if she felt it too. He was panting, but it didn’t stop him from running over to her.

“Bryce—”

He didn’t stop running. He nearly threw himself on her, arms automatically wrapping around her body and holding her as close as humanly possible. Through his panting he was able to smell the soft scent of her hair and nearly cried when he realized how much he’d missed her. He’d missed the feeling of holding her; her body against his and the way her heart beat against his.

“I’m sorry,” he said fiercely, burying his head in her hair. “I’m sorry, Alex.” He’d wanted to say so many things to her—had rehearsed it a million times in the mirror, but everything went blank and he was left to run on nothing other than what he felt.

“Bryce,” she said again, voice muffled and desperate, “Let go of me.”

“No.”

She couldn’t take it. If he was going to keep holding her, she wasn’t going to be able to leave. Alex had never expected him to show up at the airport, calling her name. She’d never thought that he would hold her again like he was holding her now. She’d missed him so much and she felt the tears she’d kept down so valiantly well in her eyes. Alex didn’t know what he wanted to say to her, but she knew that her flight was leaving soon, and all she wanted to do was ignore it and leave with him. Her home wasn’t with Bailey, her home wasn’t in Forester, and her home wasn’t in Japan. Her home was with him.

He was arm around her, his heart beating like a thousand fluttering butterflies, and her own heart not far behind his. To be in his arms was a sensation she’d missed.

“I love you, Alex,” he whispered to her as her fingers dropped her carry-on and reached up to curl in his jacket. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she answered, heart splintering as she said it. A tear fell. “But I have to go.”

“I know,” he answered. He pulled away just enough to see her face. “Alex, I didn’t mean what I said the other night, I was just being a moron, and I—I,” he stumbled, couldn’t remember what he was supposed to say. “I want to be with you, even if you’re in Japan. I can handle it.”

She shook her head and another tear fell. She couldn’t keep them in anymore.

“You said you could handle it before,” she told him with a tremble in her voice. “What makes you think you can do it now?”

“Because I realized that my life is completely empty without you in it,” he replied, a hand coming up to cup her face. His thumb wiped away a tear track that had fallen from her glassy shattered rainbow eyes. “There’s not point to anything if I don’t talk to you, if I don’t kiss you or hold you when you get back. I can’t stand the thought of you coming back with some pretty boy Japanese boyfriend. I want you Alex, as my girlfriend, as my other best friend. I want you there and I want to be there for you. I know this sounds corny, but please…”

She looked up at him, her heart slowly falling apart because she knew she’d say yes, and at the same time, her brain screamed no. Alex didn’t want to open her heart again for another chance at him ripping it apart, but there was such sincerity in his arctic eyes. Being with him would hurt—being apart emotionally would be even worse. “It’s going to be hard,” she warned him.

“I know and I don’t care anymore.” The eyes that she’d wanted to stare into for the past weeks now begged her. His brows were furrowed and he was looking at her, pleading her to say yes. “Be with me, Alex.”

Water flowed from her eyes; all the tears she had forced down over the months came back with a vengeance. Her promise to herself was broken and useless. She opened her mouth to answer, found that her voice wouldn’t let her and shook her head yes.

“Yes?” he asked her, his mouth forming into a small smile. She kept nodding her head.

“Yes,” she finally managed, voice strained and already hoarse. “I don’t know why I fell for such a stupid jerk like you.” He would have taken offense had she not had another waver in her voice.

He smiled bitterly and leaned in. Her eyes fell shut and his lips softly fell on hers. Her tears made the kiss bitter, but she didn’t care and neither did he. Her mouth opened easily under his, and his tongue slid by without a second thought, arm around her waist and the other on her cheek. One of Alex’s hands made its way behind his neck and the other cupped his defined jaw in her hands, gliding lightly over his soft, freshly shaven face.

Her stomach exploded into butterflies while her heart still broke, her toes curled and when he finally pulled away, she didn’t want to let go. She couldn’t stand the thought of leaving. She didn’t want to go. Her legs were weak, and had he not been holding her, she would have fallen. He seemed to know this, and didn’t completely step away.

“I love you,” she told him again. He kissed her once more, a hand tangling in her hair.

“Last call for seating on Flight 52. Last call…”

“We’ll see each other again,” he told her, “if not sooner than college.” Alex nodded and closed her eyes.

She rested her forehead against his. “You’ll call me?”

“Of course.”

The speaker spoke again, “Last call for Flight 52, departing in approximately five minutes.”

Her chest hurt and it pained her even more to say, “I have to go.”

“We’ll make it work,” he told her. “I promise.”

She wanted him to grab her and refuse to let her go. Instead, he retracted his arms and she felt like grabbing them again. Her body teetered slightly on its own, without him there as a pillar for her to lean on. He nodded and she bent down to pick up her forgotten carry-on and wiped her wet face.

She looked at him and he looked just as sad and aggrieved as she was. She leaned over and pecked him on the lips one last time before Alex turned around to make her way over to the entrance.

“I’m happy I met you, Alex!” he yelled suddenly, as if making up for what their last parting sentiment had been. “I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

She stopped and looked back, smiled and mouthed, “Me, too,” before she inevitably turned around and disappeared from sight, the door closing behind her. Bryce didn’t see her stumble back to the airplane, didn’t see her collapse to the floor as soon as the door was shut. He didn’t see her being helped by the attendants into the aircraft, nor did he see her collapse into her seat in sobs.

x--x--x

Benji stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked over to Bryce, who was still standing where he’d last touched her. He’d parked and gotten a pass, waited at a newsstand and bought two candy bars. He took one of the candy bars out of his pocket and shoved it in Bryce’s shoulder.

Bryce turned and looked at him, looked at the candy bar, and wordlessly took it in his hands.

The two of them stood and watched mutely as the plane began to start and the engine roared. They watched through the glass walls as the plane made it’s way to the runway, and finished the candy bars when the plane began to speed down the long strip of pavement and started it’s ascent in the air.

Benji reached his arm up and waved at it, as if Alex could see him, and continued to wave until the plane was no longer even a speck in the sky.

“She’s gone,” he said with a deep breath.

On the way back to the car, Benji reached up and put an arm around his friend with a little bit of a jerk and said, “Hina taught me something last night.”

“Yeah?” Bryce asked, voice shaky and he gave a little bit of a sniff.

“This may be completely pointless, but she told me how to say goodbye in Japanese.”

“Sayounara?”

“No,” he shook his head, “another one, more appropriate for this occasion.” He stopped and looked at Bryce with a smile.

“And what’s that?”

“Jaa mata—until we meet again.”

Fin.

x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x

A/N: throws confetti it’s over! I’m sad and relieved/happy at the same time :3 There’s really not much else I can say. Lots will be a changing in the final draft, so I hope you all stay tuned for that! :D

I want to THANK YOU all for everything! After more than two years (good god…) this story has had nominations for awards and won one (which I’m very proud of), reached over a THOUSAND REVIEWS (which I’m totally astonished and flabbergasted about), reach well over 150,000 hits, almost to 200,000, 9 c2s, over 300 favs, and about 230 alerts!! THANK YOU FOR STICKING BY AND READING!

I’m completely at a loss for words (almost), THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED (AND THOSE WHO DIDN’T). You guys always make my day. Seriously. You guys are amazing. The fact that this story is being read makes me the captain of the happy train.

A couple of notes…

Kouki’s name is still under debate…in my mind. If I do end up writing a sequel, he’s going to have a much larger role to play (I think…). It really depends on what happens in the final version. The correct way to pronounce his name is Koh-oo-ki (oo sounding like uu. Like… mood). Not exactly… but that’s the closest I can get to breaking it down. I might just end up shortening his name to Kou and have Alex call him Kou-kun or something…

Seeing Doublewill be appearing in my final draft account soon. Along with this note, I’ve decided that all of my stories are going to take place in Bailey City. Therefore, there are going to be some light crossovers. Benji’s already made a small appearance in the final draft of SD (which may be renamed).

Alex looks most like Kristin Kreuk from Smallville with some minor differences in the face, but that’s the closest real live person I can find that looks like her.

Fp has taken away my page breaks…so I’m going to have to eventually go through the whole story in place them where they’re supposed to go…. –annoyed-

There will be no epilogue….for the time being.

An additional chapter will be added to this to show deleted scenes and my ORIGINAL plot. (which is really different)

So… in the words of Benj and Hina, Jaa mata, everyone!