Passionate Exchange

Chapter Seventy-Three

I rush around the house, making sure that I've got everything I need. I open all of the drawers in my room to check if there's anything in them I need despite only looking in them moments ago. I'm sure nothing will have appeared in them in the space of two minutes. If there was something in them it would have been there the last time, but I can't help myself.

Once I've concluded that I've definitely got everything, I sit cross-legged in the centre of my room. It's crazy to think that last night was the last time I'm going to be sleeping in this room. I'll no longer go to bed each night and see the fairy lights strung across the walls or the burn mark on the floor from one of my futile attempts at curling my hair. Don't worry, Sophie knows, and she forgave me for it.

I won't be sitting in my room each night, knowing that Archer's only metres away in the room opposite. I won't be able to knock on the wall behind me and have Penny knock back to me. They won't be there when I go home. They'll be here and I'll be thousands of miles away.

I make sure to turn the lights off before zipping my suitcase closed. I drag it out of the room and close the door behind me. Closing the door feels like ending a chapter of my life that I don't want to end. I want nothing more than to rip the door off its hinges so it can never be closed again but that's not possible. Metaphorically and physically.

Penny's pacing the hallways in front of me. I study her with furrowed eyebrows. What's she doing? I open my mouth to ask but she says something before I get the chance. "Do you have your toothbrush?"

"Yes," I trail off still confused as to why she's asking me that.

"Hairbrush?" I hum in response. "Phone?"

I pull my phone out of my back pocket. "Right here," I respond.

"Charger?"

I realise why she's asking me this and step closer to her, placing her hands in mine. "I've got everything. Don't worry." I reassure her. It seems she's going as crazy as I am because I'm leaving soon. I think we have different ways of showing it though.

"I just don't want you to forget anything because you're not coming back." Once she realises what she said she slaps a hand against her mouth. "Sorry." She cringes at herself.

I shake my head, squeezing her hands to show her that it's okay. "No, it's fine. You're right. It would be bad if I left my phone here and had to buy a new one." I laugh lightly causing her to visibly relax. She joins me in laughing. I think we're both laughing to prevent us from crying.

I give her a tight-lipped smile. "Let's save the goodbye for the airport," I suggest, and she nods her head in approval.

The truth is, I want to put off saying goodbye for as long as possible. Saying goodbye means acknowledging that I'm leaving without knowing when I'll be coming back. It could be years from now but, right now, I'm oblivious. I'm not ready to accept it yet.

"Are you guys nearly ready?" Sophie calls up the stairs.

I grab my luggage before taking it to the car. Sophie helps me get it in. I mutter a quick "thank you." Penny climbs in the back and Henry's already sitting in the driver's seat waiting for us to set off.

I find myself looking around for Archer and am disappointed when I don't see him. I start to wonder if saying goodbye is too hard for him and he's chosen to leave for a while until I've gone. I brush the thought away. He wouldn't do that. I understand that it will be hard, but we can do it.

The sound of his motorcycle pulling out of the garage confirms that I was wrong to worry. He's here. He hops off of it and walks over to us, holding his helmet in his hands. Our eyes meet causing a smile to take over my features.