Page 112 of Chasing You

It feels like a sign, like something I was meant to see as I was sitting here. This job might just be my ticket to everything I’ve ever wanted. I could still fly, I could do what I love and teach others to do it too, and I could be here, stay here, give this life I’ve somehow created here a chance to truly be mine.

Adrenaline pumps through my body as my heart races at a hundred miles per hour. I can feel my face heating as I really thinkit through, imagining how my life could turn out. I feel sick just thinking about it, but the good kind of sick.

“Miles?”

I look up to see the physio looking at me with a warm smile. I stand up, quickly saving the job before I switch my phone off and walk into the room. There’s no more wondering after today; this appointment determines everything.

My phone ringsas soon as I step out of the doors into the warm day. Summer is right around the corner here in Italy, and the sun is making sure I know that as I walk to my car.

I answer the phone without even looking at who’s calling. “Hello?”

“Ah, so he lives.” Wes’s sarcastic tone floats through the line.

I chuck my keys in the center console with a smile. “Hey, dumbass.”

“So I didn’t realize when you left that we were going to become long-distance besties,” he says. “I really thought Marina was going to kick you to the curb and you’d be back within a week, but it’s been over two months, dude. What's going on?”

I lean my head back against the headrest, grateful to hear Wes’s voice right now. As much as he’s a class A dimwit, he’s got a clear head on his shoulders, and he looks at things in ways a lot of other people wouldn't.

He’s exactly who I want to be around right now, but considering he’s on the other side of the world, a phone call will have to do.

“A lot,” I say. I don’t know quite how to summarise everything that’s happened since I got here.

“I’m assuming she’s forgiven your sorry ass?”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, only after I nearly died in a boxing ring though,” I say.

“Sorry, after youwhat?”

“This guy,” I say. “Boulder. He pummelled the shit out of me so bad he fractured my collarbone in two places. Had to get surgery and everything.”

Wes scoffs. “And I’ve just been sitting here on my ass imagining you gallivanting around Italy with your girlfriend and instead you’ve been in the hospital? Why didn’t you call me?”

“What, so you could rip into me about it?”

“Yes!”

I just chuckle, shaking my head. My hand drifts into the center console to find the bag of sour peaches. The candy is slightly soft from the heat beaming in through the windshield. “Did you get the LAX peaches?” I ask.

“Yes. Rodney doesn’t share them with me though.” I hold back my laugh at the defeated tone in his voice that his co-pilot isn’t sharing his candies.

The line is quiet for a while, both of us sitting in the silence. “You’re not coming back,” Wes says after a moment, “are you?”

“I had my last physio appointment today,” I say. “I got cleared to go back to my normal work.” I close my eyes against the sun, not sure how to finish that sentence. I lose my nerve, even when talking to my best friend. I’m not sure how he will react.

“But?”

“I just saw this job, uh,” I run a hand down my face, “it’s a teaching job at a local flight school here.”

“You should go for it.”

I pause, opening my eyes. “Wait, really?”

“Of course you should, Captain,” he says. “I mean, if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t know,” I mumble. “I think it might be.” It feels foreign to say it out loud, to admit that I want things to change. It feels like I'm veering off track, but I think that's exactly what I need to do, even if it's scary.

“Then go for it, man. I mean, you might not even get the job, they might think you’re a little too Hollywood heartthrob for theirliking, but it can’t hurt to try." I just roll my eyes, not that he can see me.

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