The plane ride home had been smooth, and once we were in the air, we both fell asleep turned away from eachother, our hands entagled together because we were selfish and craved each other's touch. But our touch wasn't intimate, it was purely for greed. We needed someone, and we just happened to look at the same time.
Sure, I'd felt the pull of him once before, noticing how attractive he was the first time I met him but that was it. That pull was purely lust, there was nothing beneath that layer and we both knew it yet here we were. In New York. Together. And yet neither one of us had ever felt so alone.
I had left the Practice suddenly, leaving a note on the desk that I was taking a short break, meaning Brick couldn't take over and it was now, as I lay in bed, I realised how glad I was that I had done that. I missed it; not only the practice but the whole town. In a strange way I missed those people who had isolated me, and pryed into my private life. I missed Lavon, my friend and confidant. I missed Rose, the girl who had shown me the way. I missed Lemon Breeland, the psychotic blond who had been out to get me from day one. I missed home.
"Why are you still awake?" His voice mumbled against his pillow from the opposite end of the bed.
I turned to look at him. "What are we doing here?" I asked, making him look up at me in shock.
"What do you mean what are we doing?" He replied, confusion clouding his voice.
"What are we doing in New York?" My voice came out hollow. I suddenly felt like I'd lost everything. He sat straight up in bed, staring at me in shock.
"We are escaping that God forsaken town and it's crazy traditions. We are breaking the mould of that place and starting again, Zoe! Are you really questioning this?"
"No," I replied, swinging my legs out of bed and stanging up, my lace night dress lapping lightely at my thighs. "I'm not questioning anymore. I've been questioning in my head all night and now I can see what we've done and I know it's not right for us!"
"Not right for us?" He shouted, getting out of bed as well. "What do you mean by that? My fiancee cheated on me and you're thinking we should run back to that place so I can see her face every day?" He was sneering his words, allowing them to blur together.
"Once again, no. I am leaving, this isn't right for me, George. It might be for you but I need to go back. Bluebell is my home now, New York just doesn't feel the same. I'm sorry but you can factor me out of your plans from now on, I'm returning the Bluebell in the morning."
I snatched up my suitcase, pulling it into the bathroom of the hotel room we had booked while we searched for a suitable place to stay. Locking the door, I heard him shout through the wood, "Don't do this to me, Zoe!"
Once I was dressed I reopened the door, suitcase in hand, and looked him in the eye. "It's already done. We aren't right together. There is someone else out there for you, just as I'm sure there is someone else for me. I wish you luck, George, I really do." And with that I opened the front door once more, allowing it to shut quietly behind me and for once in my life, I didn't look back at the life I'd just left behind, the life in New York where I could never be truly happy. Instead I looked forwards, at the life to come. A life in the quirky little town of Bluebell.