Split

Chapter two

I pull the cap lower over my eyes as I enter the airport.

It's not that I'm some celebrity who's followed around by the papzz on a regular basis. But I will likely be recognized by a fan or two on home turf. And while I normally don't mind writing autographs or taking pictures, I have very little mental energy to spare today.

I was so jittery this morning that I poured coffee on my oatmeal.

I refrain from checking my phone for the seventeenth time after leaving my apartment as I head towards the arrivals hall.

My eyes are instantly drawn to the large digital monitors displaying flight departure and arrival times. The plane from Amsterdam should have landed five minutes ago. Passengers are waiting for baggage right now.

That doesn't really guarantee anything, though.

The space around me is filled with people waiting for their loved ones. Three girls who look like sisters are standing just in front of me with a sign between them, a name spelled in glittery letters, arguing about who gets to hug her first.

I smile to myself, grateful that Maya, my best friend since childhood, decided to fly straight here instead of taking a layover in Lake Magdalene, where we grew up. In Michigan, there is no one I have to fight for her affection.

I'll get to hug her as much as I want to.

That idea still makes me dizzy, and I have to rein myself in before I get too excited. Pulling out my phone, I check our messages to ensure she hasn't texted me yet. No such luck.

We haven't had a lot of contact for the past few months. As usual, we've texted most weeks, which primarily consists of sending British Bake Off memes back and forth with little to no response and Maya forwarding me unsolicited smutty fanfic about me from AO3 - of which there is a disturbing amount.

But we haven't spoken much. Normally, we talk on the phone one Sunday a month for an hour or so, catching up on recent events, but I've made up excuses the last few times, and whenever we have spoken, I've kept it short, averting any mention of her imminent arrival.

I didn't want to spook her.

It's the same reason I've been lunging for my phone every time it's buzzed with a notification for the past twenty-four hours, like a junkie waiting to hear from their dealer.

All visits Maya has planned for the past six years have been canceled at the last minute. I've only managed to see her on neutral ground whenever I had time off to fly out or she made it to one of my international meets.

She's been adamant about not coming to the US for some reason. And suddenly, I'm supposed to believe she made a one-eighty and is perfectly happy moving back here?

Come on.

I wouldn't be surprised if I got a text in a minute saying something came up, and she'll be sailing around the Caribbean instead of attending college. Or whatever it is globetrotters do.