Popular Nerd

Chapter Forty Five// Nathan?

I hunch my shoulders further forwards, my eyes stinging with the threat of tears. Then something touches my shoulder... or someone. My eyes brighten with the palpitation of my heart. I relax at the touch and turn around.

Nathan?

But no.

The lady with red botox lips stands behind me, her hand withdrawing from my shoulder. Displaying no expression, I raise my eye brows with complete optimism that she is about to tell me Nathan is here after all.

But as I scan my surroundings, the entire room dead with silence, a nasty feeling rumbles my stomach with doubt.

"He's not here... is he?" I gulp, my eyes down casting towards the floor, my foot scraping across the titles. A wash of dismay drowns the life from my face as I glance up to catch her head facing the other way with a shake.

"I'm afraid not," she speaks, her voice resembling the same solemnness as her pierced lips. "The guy we were missing has just turned up." She points over to an older gentlemen handing over his pass. "You need to leave," her arm extends to the exit.

My eyes follow.

With a tired and neglected sigh, I stand to my feet and face the door.

The lady, her name badge reading: Cheryl, doesn't part her eyes from me as I trail to the other side of the room. Once I open the door, she leaves her stance.

My attention then drifts to the window, vertically beside me. I take a long look at the plane not so far from the wall I am od by. The hundreds of tiny windows on the side of the plane are transparent, allowing me to see straight through. A familiar looking figure is sat with his head phones on, by the window closet towards me.

I take out my phone and type a text.

Send.

I relocate his appearance and notice his head bow. After a few seconds his face becomes visible again, my phone vibrating in my hand. I peer down to the screen with an unknown race of my heart.

Bye Paige.

Restraining a tear, I look back out of the window. By now the plane has wheeled half way down the track. The sky's once colour of vivid blue is shaded with a dark cloud. My eyes stare at the door, no hesitation made as I leave the airport with a swift motion, my pace quickening as I begin to run to my car.

With the rumble of the unsettled sky, the clouds open and a downpour of rain showers from above, drenching me within minutes. As I reach the car I fling open the door and climb inside. With my phone placed on my lap, my hair straggly from the rain, I contemplate whether to send him another message.

But what can be done now?

He's gone.

By the time I return home, the lights are dimmed with the curtains drawn. The TV is muted with late night news being reported in the background. The tapping of mom's slippers against the wooden flooring in the kitchen echoes to my ears.

"Hi dear," she chirps, walking out from the kitchen into the living room. Her face is uplifted into a permanent grin, her cheeks raised and eyes sparkling. I respond with an unenthusiastic grumble under my breath while I kick off my pumps, soaked from the puddles I hadn't avoided on my way up the drive.

"Hi mom," I eventually reply, joining her on the sofa.

"Good time at Lacy's?" she asks with genuine interest.

"Huh? Oh yeah, Lacy," I mentally slap myself for forgetting my lie that saved me from questions of where I had been to this hour, which, estimated by the glow of the moon, was after 9pm. "She's good, yeah."