Page 14 of Fast Track to Forever
“I am going back to Europe in a few days. You will be going back to your aunt. It's for the best if we don't see each other again at all.”
I can't look at her. I'm grasping the steering wheel like it's a lifeline.
“Right. Well, in that case, it was great catching up with you again. Wishing you the best.”
I'm still dazed, and we've already got to her house and I stopped like on auto-pilot. She kisses me goodbye on my cheek leaving a searing mark, grabs her bag with those blasted ornaments and exits the car.
I stare at her going in. When she closes that door, it will be a closed door on us. Not that there ever was an us. Why does it feel like she’s leaving a hole inside my chest, then? It’s for the best. Four days until Christmas. I could even go back on Boxing Day, I don't need to stay until New Year's.
I accelerate towards the house in Sunshine Bay, speeding like I'm on theautobahnto nowhere, enveloped by Kat's perfume permeating the car's interior.
The lake viewis worth a million dollars. Or in this case three million. Peaceful, serene. Twinkling Christmas lights in the distance. I think I can make out the shape of the giant Christmas tree from the town centre in the distance.
In the past hour I've done exactly what I said I wouldn't do. I wrote various messages to Kat in the Notepad app on my phone.
I stalked her Instagram, careful not to like any posts. I lied to Daryl that I'm fine.
I made a hundred scenarios in which I would whisk Kat away with me to Monaco. Or I could even move to York. I've never been, but surely it must be nice if Kat likes it.
I take a deep breath in the fresh mountain air. Somewhere on the left hand corner of the lake is Kat's house. A ten minute drive but somehow miles and miles away.
The walls are closing in, so I grab my phone, wallet and keys, and bolt out the door. An evening run after dinner is just what I need to forget. To put aside these thoughts.
I run in the fresh summer air, my lungs expanding and a sweet poisonous pain blooming in my chest. I run aimlessly on roads I know like the back of my hand until my legs burn. I stop, wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, and take stock of where I am.
Kat's street. Of course, my traitorous legs would carry me this way. I shake my head. I can't keep doing this. I need to see her.
At that moment, a dog barks, the light turns on in Kat's bedroom upstairs, and she appears at the window.
“Kat?” I shout.
“Will? What are you doing here? Did you… run here from Sunshine Bay?” She seems incredulous.
“Yes.” I own up to it. There's no turning back now.
Kat
Will is dripping in sweat,standing outside on the path under a street lamp. His red curls are plastered to his forehead and his hands are shaking. Anger washes over me first. Then confusion follows.
“Surely not even you can run back all that way! Let me take you back.”
Instead of protesting like he usually does, he just says, “Thank you.“
In a split decision, I throw a change of clothes in my backpack. One last try, Kat, one last try.
I pick up my water bottle and car keys. My parents are already in bed so I text mum on the way out the door that I'm going out, but I may not be back until the morning.
Once outside, I throw Will my water bottle. “Have a drink, need to stay hydrated. “I point to my old Suzuki Swift that my parents have stubbornly held onto. “Carriage, my lord.”
He squeezes in the passenger seat and extends the seat as much as possible. He still looks uncomfortable, like a giraffe in a box. I burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
“I've rescued you twice today now. You owe me. “I wink at him and set off.
He fiddles with the battered air con and gives up. “You need a new car.”
“I don't live here, remember. I have another car in England. Though not that different from this one.”
“Listen, about earlier…”
