A/N: It's been a while, folks. I apologize. One should never be without Ledgeacy for so long.
MacKenzie
His hug was worse than the plane ride.
I hated flying alone, I really did. If I was going to die, I'd rather it be with someone that could deal with my bullshit. Being alone meant I was going to die alone, and no one wants to hear about that on their five hour flight home.
The old lady was pissed she couldn't knit, so I had to distract her somehow.
"And Adam... that's his name. Adam." I made a face. Not because I didn't like his name but because I had to do something to keep the tears from falling. "He was so... Okay, he's usually calmer than me. The rational one. He went to college and got smart while I tried to balance training and two part-time jobs at the same time, and—"
She wasn't listening.
It didn't really matter, though, because I kept talking.
If I didn't, I would cry.
Or the plane would go down.
Adam
"You're quiet."
Six hours in a car with two Canadians that, if you put their brains together, did not form a completely sound human being.
"You guys are just loud."
"I LOVE THIS SONG!" Jay mashed his way into the front to spin the volume button to the max, and his bottle neck hit my ear.
So it wasn't just Bonnie Tyler that was making my head ring.
"How do you guys think Kait and Becky are doing?" Jericho looked in the rear-view mirror, adjusting it like he knew what that would do. "I can't see their car anymore."
"I bet it's weird, just the two of them."
They were baiting me.
I didn't want to talk about it.
Jay cleared his throat (loudly, I might add, since I could actually hear it over the shrill of Total Eclipse of the Heart). "Mack leave today?"
I didn't answer.
I'd just blame the music later.
MacKenzie
"See, Jay really loves cats, and Adam's allergic, so whenever we had to book a hotel room, Adam would just stay with me because Jay liked to smuggle Felix in sometimes—Oh, Felix is his cat—and then one night Adam and I were just talking about something and then all of a sudden we were—"
She'd put headphones on.
I guess no one wanted to hear my life's story.
But if words stopped flowing, I'd have nothing else to do.
Except think.
And believe me, I'd rather babble than let my brain wander.
Adam
Eight hours.
I told them we should've taken a plane.
But if we took a plane, we couldn't stop to eat at those seedy diners Chris loves so much.
The seat was ripped, and Kait made me sit between her and Jay because she didn't want him to talk about anything related to spending the rest of eternity together.
Even Jay could talk over the Berlin wall.
"Kait, my mom wants to know—"
She was good at changing the subject. "Look at that cloud! Doesn't it look like a cat?"
Poor choice of words.
Jay was in my lap now, face pressed against the smudged window. "WHERE?"
I just wanted coffee.
Oh, and my girlfriend.
Becky hit my shin under the table. She didn't say a word, but I knew what she was asking.
"I'm fine," I said tiredly.
"We're not."
I frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
Becky nodded at Kait. "We're miserable without her. Stop pretending."
"I'm not pretending."
I was just a liar.
MacKenzie
I felt like Forest Gump.
"So then Eve—she's a diva—she landed on my neck because she's never done her finisher before... actually, she's never even wrestled before, so I had no idea why she was fighting me for the number one contender—"
The old lady took her headphones off.
"But anyway, she landed on my neck and that's when I decided that I just couldn't do it anymore. So as much as it hurt, I packed up and left."
The woman glanced at me. "But what about your boyfriend?"
She'd been listening to whole time.
And even though I spilled my heart out to her—gave her every last detail—she still questioned my logic.
The seatbelt light came on.
Please let the plane crash.
Adam
My own room. I don't think I've had my own room the entire span of my career. It was always someone: Mack, Chris, Jay, Terry, Amy...
But I opened the door and saw the King size bed made up with just one chocolate on the pillow.
Chris insisted we at least get adjoining rooms—just in case I got scared during the night.
I fell back onto the mattress and just stared at the ceiling.
I wasn't scared.
Just alone.
MacKenzie
The house was dark.
He always liked to turn the lights off. I had no fucking idea why, but it always bugged me. Now I wished I could stay in the dark forever, because it was the only thing that I still had of him.
He would be home on Wednesday.
It was a mantra. It was a curse.
Wishful thinking.
The house was always too cold, and full of furniture he never sat in.
He would be home on Wednesday.
It was like living in a museum.
I just hoped I wouldn't be pushed back into the shadows with the rest of this stuff.
Adam
The phone was ringing. It was in my hand before I even opened my eyes.
"Hello?"
There was silence.
I knew it was her.
"I'm here," she said quietly.
Her voice.
"I know."
But I didn't.
I just wished she was.
MacKenzie
There was so much to be said, but the phone blinked two hours and twenty minutes and we'd only said three words.
"I have to get ready for the show," he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I loved him, but I couldn't take the pressure.
"Be careful."
I meant stay away from the divas.
"I will be."
He meant he'd try.
We were apart for nine hours and already we were imploding.
"I love you."
He meant it.
The bomb stopped ticking.
"I love you, too."
So did I.
The countdown reset.
And then I cried when he hung up.
Because I knew he was crying, too.
We were safe.
If only for a while.
A/N: It will get LESS EMO I SWEAR TO EDGE. Or maybe it won't. Review.
