Author's Note: If you've read or are currently reading this story at Archive Of Our Own-Dot-Org, know that the story is undergoing revisions and the fully edited version of each chapter is posting here at Fanfiction-Dot-Net first.
Chapter 2
"Claire!" Ciara yelled as she grabbed her keys. "If we don't leave in 10 minutes, I might as well tell Tripp to walk home because we're never gonna make it to pick him up on time!"
"Alright, Ciara!" Claire called back. "I'm coming give me just 2 minutes!"
"You'd be late for your own funeral!" Ciara huffed in amused exasperation, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
There is no small amount of truth to our squabbling. If there is anyone that I know better than anyone else in this world, it's easily narrowed down to 3 people: my Mom, my best friend since she was born, Claire, and my boyfriend for the past 4 years, Tripp.
I've been best friends with Claire for as long as I can remember. There's a pretty huge age gap between me & my big bro, Shawn, so when he and my sister in law had Claire shortly after I was born, it's safe to say they guaranteed we would become BFFLs—best friends for life.
When Shawn and Belle moved away to Hong Kong with Claire, there were quite a few years we missed together, but when she came back to Salem to finish high school, we picked up right where we left off. Nothing and no one could ever get in between our friendship. We've been through it all—the ups and downs, the highs and lows. And we'd gotten through it all together. She's more than a friend to me, she's been the sister I never had, especially since my Chelsea is much closer to Shawn's age than mine.
We know each other inside and out, but one area where we are polar opposites is procrastination. I don't do late. I'm never late for like anything—appointments, dates, whatever. You tell me to be somewhere, and you can count on me being at least 10 minutes early. I'm known for being the first to arrive anywhere. Claire, on the other hand, is a total procrastinator, and never on time for anything. Until today.
What, you may ask, makes today so different? Well, it might be the fact that I'm supposed to be at the airport at 12:00am to pick up Tripp, but I told Claire 11:30pm so we'd have a shot in hell of leaving at the time I want so we get there appropriately early time. Her flaw of procrastination will not defeat me this time.
"Claire, I'll be in the car! Hurry up!"
"I will be down in one minute! I promise!" she yelled from the top of the staircase.
Rolling my eyes, I spin on my heel, slip out the front door, and down the staircase to my car. Hopefully, that will help her hurry. Lord knows how much she hates when I do this… mostly because she knows what comes next is me honking the horn. I have no sympathy though since Claire knew how important today was supposed to be.
Tripp had been gone for almost 2 months. Well, if I was being honest he was kinda always gone since he was majoring in Criminal Justice a few states away at Tennessee State University. But it's been months since his last visit. And it's not like I'm bitter about it or anything. It's everything he's ever wanted since before he moved to Salem over four years ago. He never hid that from the day we met.
And it makes sense, after all. Nashville was his hometown. Of course, it made perfect sense that TSU was where he always wanted to go for college. Of course it did. Tripp only even ended up to Salem because his biological dad, Steve Johnson, found him. Just so happens that Steve—or Patch, as most call him—is married my dad's sister, Kayla. Small world, right? Well, Salem is a pretty small town, actually.
Anyway, Patch & Kayla are very well-respected here in Salem. Kayla is Chief of Staff at the hospital here, while Patch works for the ISA. He was really close friends with my dad, too. When Steve found out he had a son, he made it his mission to find him—and he succeeded.
They had a pretty rough start... especially once Tripp found out Kayla and Steve's son, Joey, killed his biological mother, Ava. Unfortunately, she was an evil, vindictive woman, who wreaked havoc on many of the residents of Salem, unbeknownst to Tripp. So full of misinformation, he tried getting revenge on Kayla, which thankfully failed. And when it all unfolded and he was found out the truth, Kayla decided against pressing charges. She saw that he wasn't a bad person so she set out to show him the life he never had with his adoptive family in Nashville. His adoptive mother had died two years before he moved to Salem anyway, & he didn't have a relationship with his adoptive father. So, he had lived with close friends following her death.
We met when he first arrived in Salem during our senior year at Salem High. My mom told me the whole story about him, so, at first, I kind of kept my distance from him. I mean with everything I had been was it any surprise. Since I always had my guard up after Chase, it was easy for me to keep people away so I figured he would be no different. I mean, he was the new guy in school with a reputation, and despite the fact that rumors quickly spread about him. No surprise there with a small town. Instead of it scaring people away, it strangely enough intrigued people. All the guys wanted to be his friend, and all the girls wanted to date him. Hell, even Claire herself wanted him at first. But Heavens know, I wasn't interested at first.
From the beginning, it was him who kept approaching me—pursuing me really. I could never figure out why me over everyone else, though. Maybe I was just more of a challenge. But as luck would have it, we had 6th period lunch together so that's what led to us meeting for the first time.
**Flashback Begins**
The place was packed because it had rained, but there were still a handle full of empty seats, not the least of which was the one at the popular table that Claire always kept open for me in case she could talk me into joining her that day. But for whatever reason, of all the empty seats in the cafeteria, he chose the one right next to me.
"Is this seat taken?" he had asked me.
At first, I didn't even realize he was talking to me because I was focused on getting my homework finished from third period trig. I always did that so I knew if I would need to sit in with a tutor on a free period. Math and I tended to have a love/hate relationship back then. On any given day, I could either totally understand it or be completely baffled by it & there was never any in between. "Huh? What?"
He pointed to the chair with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh!" I responded, grabbing my bag. "No, it's open. Sorry." But feeling inconvenienced & noticing several other empty spots, I couldn't help grumbling, "And it's not the only one."
He had smirked at me with that smirk that could make any girl at Salem High stumble for words. He sat down, extended a hand to me and said, "Hi, my name is Tripp Dalton."
I nervously eyed his hand, which I'm sure he expected me to take because he smirked again. "Yes, I'm fully aware of who you are," I huffed trying to refocus on my trig which had actually been making sense before his interruption. "Kayla is my dad's sister. I'm Ciara Brady."
"Yeah, I've heard a lot about you as well," he replied, finally dropping his hand. "I'm glad we finally met."
"Yeah, great. Nice. Wonderful." I remained mostly silent, focused on regaining my train of thought in hopes that I could keep my free period free instead of having to see the tutor again.
"So Kayla's your aunt," he tried again.
"That's usually what it means when I say she was my dad's sister," I snapped, frustrated that my focus had been shot & the big blonde beside me clearly had no inclination to shut up and let me get it back. But I had to make one last effort to shut him up. "Look, this has been great, and I appreciate your attempts to socialize the loaner or whatever this little exercise in small talk was about, but some of us are not interested, hence choosing to sit ALONE so we can focus in some semblance of peace. Now, if you're interested in getting to know the extended family, Claire over there always keeps an open seat for me & I'm sure she wouldn't mind you sitting with her. So please either use it or sit quietly & stop being distracting. Thanks."
He was silent for a beat, and then replied, "So you find me distracting."
I stared at him for a long moment in frustration before, refusing to rise to the bait, I grabbed my things, stuffed them into my bag, and stormed off. I must have turned so red because as I walked away, I noticed he smirked again. And despite myself once I was sure he couldn't see it, I smiled back.
**Flashback Ends**
After that, things were rocky, but we eventually became friends. Friendship grew into a relationship. Every step forward in our relationship was a huge battle for me, but he was tireless and determined. I never thought I'd be worthy of love, or find someone who seem to understand what I'd gone through so it took me a really long time to open up to Tripp, but when I did, his reaction, while not perfect, made our love grow. So 4 years later, here we were in love in long distance relationship.
I look down at the clock, and it read 10:45pm. Claire and I lived in a loft between the university & the financial district, where companies like Titan Industries and DiMera were housed. We had wanted our independence after we had graduated high school, especially since Claire had just been through a pretty nasty breakup. So, we had decided to find a place together. Tripp even had his own space there and he always just stayed with us when he came in town.
Getting to the airport was sort of a drive from our house, and I didn't want to be late. With it being such a late flight, I hadn't wanted to go alone. I hit the horn, but lucky for Claire, it was too late at night for me to really lay down on it like I usually would. A few seconds later, Claire came running out. As she hopped in and buckled up, she looked at me and sighed, "Sorry, Ci."
I put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway, shifted into drive and took off. "I'll forgive you for now, but if I'm not at that gate in time, you better have on comfortable shoes because you'll be walking home."
"You'd never."
I look at her with my raised eyebrow and scoffed, "There's a first time for everything, you know."
"Love you," she chirped sweetly as she pulled her mirror down to finish up her makeup.
"Love you, too." I replied dryly back, somehow I could never stay mad or upset with her. And seeing as she thought we had to be there at 11:30, I reminded myself, I have nothing to worry about anyway so I decided to let her off the hook. "Don't worry about it, Claire. Tripp doesn't even get in till 12 anyway." I giggled at the look on her face.
"You rushed me that whole time knowing you had time to spare?!"
"Umm, duh!" I shot back. "We would have been super late if I didn't."
"I guess you have a point," she sighed dramatically as she added another coat of mascara.
"I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner!" I snickered.
"The thought did cross my mind," she huffed, trying to keep the humor off her face, "but I just figured it was just you being you and wanting to be there like 10 hours beforehand."
Thinking about what lay at the end of the trip, I sobered. "Thank you for making the trip with me so last minute. You know I hate driving alone at night."
"No problem!" Claire reached for phone cued up her playlist already over it. She knew better than anyone how excited I was to see Tripp again. Me & Tripp would take any opportunity to see each other. Even if it's only for a day and a half, that was good enough for me.
Luckily, my job had a flexible schedule, which made it easier to make sudden changes. Well, less luck, more nepotism since I work for my uncle Roman at the family pub as a server, while taking a full course load at Salem U.
Since my uncle owns the pub, when things came up and I needed to take off, he'd get my shifts covered for me. Or he'd just cover it himself. Tripp surprised me with a call late last night letting me know he had exactly 48 hours between the end of his final tonight, a Tuesday, & Thursday night so he can make it back for his class Friday morning. Unfortunately, he called back this morning to tell me he was coming tonight, instead of tomorrow morning. So of course, I'd drop everything to make it possible. As usual. But as excited and happy as I am, a big part of me is nervous as well.
To say the long distance thing has been hard would be an understatement. He has a huge coarse load this year because he's hoping if he can get a lot of classes, he can take on an internship this summer. He's in major college with a long distance relationship. I mean, I've always been able to trust him, but it can't be a surprise that I struggle with it at times. It's not easy deal with all the little things that come up & plant seeds of doubts.
For instance, we've always made it work, but lately it's been... different. He hasn't called or texted as much & he's been missing our monthly Skype dates. And visits... well, they've turned into 'whenever he can make it out' visits. Don't get me started on all of the last-minute flight cancellations I've had to eat fees for. I'm still a lowly college student so I've definitely felt the burn enough times that I don't even bother to try to visit anymore. It doesn't help me fight my insecurities. So many times I've wondered and worried myself over if he's talking to or seeing someone else, but he's never really given me a concrete reason not to trust him.
But come on. Any girl in my shoes would feel the same. I've thought about moving to Nashville to make it easier, but everyone we know & love is here in Salem. Besides, I don't want to seem like some puppy nipping at his heels, either. I've tried to imagine what it would be like… but with him in classes or his internship and me working and going to school out there... and considering I've become more of a loner since Chase, it would be so lonely for me. I may enjoy my alone time, but I don't do lonely and alone very well. So I'm nervous because I never know when I will see him again after these mini trip ends. Or if I'll still want to when I do.
"Hello!" Claire's raised voice cut into my thoughts abruptly. "Earth to Ciara! Are you in there somewhere?"
"What?" I startled. "Huh? I'm sorry."
"I was just asking you if you were okay." Claire's tone softened slightly. "You're quiet, and looking at you, I know something's wrong."
"Yeah, no, I mean, I'm okay."
Of course, Claire knows me much better than that so she gave me her famous 'look'. The one she always gives me when she knows I'm not telling her the truth. "Ci, seriously," she asked earnestly, "What's wrong? Something is bothering you."
"I don't know," I sighed. "I'm just—I am so so happy to finally see Tripp. I am! But... I don't know. I'm nervous."
"Nervous?" Claire deadpanned incredulously. "What would make you nervous? You guys are like an old married couple. Or are you afraid he dabbled in cosmetic surgery or something crazy?" she chuckled teasingly going back to applying her lipgloss.
"No, Claire. That's not what I'm worried about," I assured her, laughing weakly. "It's… just… nevermind. It's hard to explain." And it is. I tell Claire absolutely everything, but lately, I'd just been so confused sometimes that I wouldn't even know where to start. So, I'd do what I always do: put on my happy face & bottle it all up. I don't like making people feel like they have to worry about me. I prefer being the one to fix things. The one giving advice. Nothing worse than being the one in need of fixing or advice. I know how ridiculous that sounds. I do. But especially after the smothering I got after what Chase did, I couldn't help how I felt.
I got so lost in my head that I didn't even realize I was teary eyed until a tear fell to my cheek. Ugh, I hated this.
"Ciara Alice Brady!" she gasped knowing how rare my tears were these days. "What's wrong? Please. Talk to me." She took my free hand and held it tightly.
"It's just so much," I finally managed. Her grip on my hand tightened. As I continued to drive, it hit me that I would be there in 20 minutes, and my butterflies suddenly felt like elephants. 'He's gonna know I was crying,' I thought even more worriedly. 'He always knows when I've been crying.'
"Claire, I love him so much," I finally said. "I swear I do. He's all I really have besides you and my mom, with Shawn & Chelsea off living their lives overseas. But—but I feel like I'm losing him. And I know this is what I signed up for. I knew when I met him that this could be his life—our life. He was always honest that he wanted to go back to Nashville for college, but for all of his reassurances over our senior year and the past 3 years of college, lately, it's been… I don't know... different." I paused. "I was prepared to miss him. I knew would it be hard & that it would take work. I expected being solo at parties or unescorted for events. The air miles & endless hours on the phone or over Skype. I was prepared for all of that, but... I guess couldn't fully prepare myself for this feeling." I swallowed heavily over the pit in my throat. "So yeah, I'm nervous about how it'll be when I see him or that after the next couple of days come to an end, I don't have a clue how long it'll be until the next time I will see or even really speak to him again. I'm terrified that the whole time he's here, it's all I'm going to be thinking about." I paused again, but continued quickly when I saw Claire's mouth open to respond, knowing if I didn't get it all out I never would. "Did you know that in the past week, we've talked on the phone once. He texts me every few days, if I'm lucky, and we haven't Skyped in 2 weeks. I don't want to sound clingy or selfish or bitchy... but it really feels like I'm los—"
Claire cut me off. "Ciara, one, you're not selfish or bitchy or clingy, for that matter. And two, you are going through so much. How could this is not be hard on you? No matter how strong you are. And Ci, you're the strongest person I know. You have every right to feel this way. God knows I could never because I am selfish, clingy & bitchy."
"You're not!" I argued.
"Oh, I absolutely am. In all of my relationships. Ci, ours is the exception, not the rule. I am an insecure, needy mess & without you in my life, I would be worse," Claire rebutted. "But this is not about me. This time. This relationship with Tripp has been a huge adjustment for you. I mean, it all happened so fast even from the start." I felt the knots in my stomach loosening with every word she spoke. "I'm sorry you're going through all these growing pains, but Ciara, he loves you so much. Please! Tripp is head over heels for you. God knows I would share you with him otherwise. Selfish, remember?" I couldn't help laughing at the truth in her words. "And I know he would never make you feel this way on purpose, but it is the end of his junior year, he has to be so busy prepping for senior year. I know we are. You know that he calls, texts, Skypes and visits every chance he gets. I mean, come on, he could have easily went back to his dorm tonight after his test, and came tomorrow morning, but nope! Not Tripp. He jumped on the first flight he can just to get to you. You're not going to lose him, Ciara."
I wiped my eyes and looked at her. That's my Claire. She always knew exactly what to say to make me feel better. "Thank you. You know how much I love you, right?"
"You better!" she shot back with a snort. "I love you, too, Ci!" she gushed back squeezing my hand again. "And you don't ever have to thank me, silly. It's what I am here for. Now, you better dry your eyes and touch up your makeup, or he's gonna know you were crying."
"You guys both know me too well."
"Yeah," Claire agreed. "Probably even better than you know yourself. Although, no one knows you better than me!" We shared a laugh before she grew serious again. "Just talk to him about it; tell him how your feeling. He'll never know unless you tell him."
"You're right." I sighed. "And I'm going to. It'll help to get it off my chest."
The exit came moments later & we were off the expressway & headed toward the airport ramp. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take us that long to get in, and find a spot. Plus, he was coming in through the main terminal so it wouldn't be hard to find him late at night. I put the car in park, took my seat belt off, & pulled down my mirror. One glance confirmed that I badly needed to touch up my makeup, before I got out if I had any hope of him not immediately knowing I had been crying.
"Claire, can you hand me my purse, please?"
"Way ahead of you, Ci." She handed it over before I could finish the question. "You know you're just gonna start crying off again when you see him anyway, right?"
I looked at her and rolled my eyes. "Um, no one asked you to be that honest or that right," I joked, earning another laugh. "But at least this way I can remember the waterproof mascara & hopefully minimize the damage this time. And hey, when he sees me from a distance, I'll look okay, right?" Our light teasing always helped calm my nerves.
"Don't worry. Ciara, everything really will be okay. " Claire leaned over and gave me a hug. "Especially if you ever manage to do a decent wing with your eyeliner. Give me that."
I couldn't help laughing as I handed my new eyeliner over, hit an extra light, and closed my eyes. "Thank you. You're right. Don't you ever get sick of hearing that?"
"Nope, never," she giggled. "Hold still, almost done."
I took a deep breath feeling the nerves returning. "And really, I'm so happy to see him. I'm probably not even going to want to let him go."
"True. All done. Take a look."
"Perfect," I agreed & set about finishing my touch-ups.
As soon as I finished, we headed into to airport. On my schedule, we still had up to 30 minutes to kill. Unfortunately, I couldn't go into the main gate so I had to wait for him by the security check gate. The nervousness gave me the shakes, and as each minute passed, I grew more anxious. Claire & I found a seat close by and held hands while we waited. We didn't say much, but that was alright she knew when I was feeling this way it's best not to bother with conversation so she pulled out her phone and started playing some game or another. I must have been more in my head than realized because before I knew it, it was midnight. There wasn't even a delay so he should get to the gate within 15-20 minutes.
I stood up and walked closer more anxious than ever. "OMG, Claire! He'll be here any second," I squealed nervously. As I took a deep breath looking toward the gate, my phone vibrated with a message from Tripp.
