Chapter Seven: Farewells
Gordon shifted from one foot to the other. He had half an hour left, before Virgil was going to come pick him up in Ladybird. And Addie was nowhere to be seen.
"Come on, girl, where are you? I wanna see ya!" He looked around. They'd arranged to meet by the small air strip where Gordon was leaving from. His bag was packed and leaning against the fence. Still, there was no sign of Adelaide. Five minutes dragged by. Gordon was starting to get anxious.
"Gordie!" Gordon turned, grinning, relieved.
"Addie! What took you so long?"
"Stupid car broke down," she panted as she jogged up. "Had to run the rest of the way."
"Damn technology," Gordon said good-naturedly.
"I know what you mean. On time, we were on an assignment to get to the base at Liverpool, and..." Addie started off on a tale from WASP days. Gordon laughed.
"Girl, you'll never change. Tag, you're it!" He darted off. Addie pouted.
"That was totally cheating, Gordon Tracy! I'm out of breath!"
"You have to get it back then!" For the next ten minutes they mesed about, before flopping down on the grass. Both laughed and panted, trying to get their breth back. Gordon threw his arm around Addie's shoulders.
"I'm going to miss you." He drew her into a close hug. She was more than happy to hug him back.
"Me to." They stayed like that for a while. Addie buried her face in Gordon's sweater, breathing in his scent- sweat, mixed with cologne and a slightly musky smell that was all his own. She sighed. Gordon pulled back a little and looked into her face, then laughed quietly and pushed her hair out of her face.
"You haven't changed."
"Niether have you." She smiled and leaned forward to hug him again, but this time she felt Gordon's lips on hers, kissing her tentatively at first, unsure as to whether she would slap him or not, but when she responded by kissing him back, he kissed her deeper, with more feeling. Finally their lips parted, but their faces remained close.
"Sorry," whispered Gordon.
"For what?"
"Kissing you."
"So? I don't care."
"Don't you?"
"Well, yeah, okay, I do. Please kiss me again."
"Okay, if I must," Gordon sighed, leaning in. Just then, far off, could be heard the sound of a plane's engines whining. Both frowned and pulled apart. Gordon rose and shaded his eyes.
"Yep, that's him alright!" He ran to the centre of the runway and waved his arms, then ran back. "Listen, I'm sorry it's so soon, but call me, i gave you my number and email, yeah, email a lot, don't tell my family about that kiss, they'll be so jealous, I'm gonna miss you heaps-" he pulled her into a tight hug for a second "-and be careful at WASP, okay? Be good, I expect you to be an Admiral in a year, okay?" He snatched up his suitcase at the small red "Ladybird" landed perfectly beside them and taxied to a stop. "Farewell, fair lady." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, waved and dashed to the plane. Addie felt a little swept away by his rush, but remembered he always talked like that when he didn't want to cry or show negative emotion. She smiled and waved.
"Good bye, Gordon Tracy! Behave for your brothers!" All she got back was a call of, "Aww, do I have to?" before Gordon jumped into the plane. She sighed, stepped back and watched the plane take off.
****
"Hey, Gord, good holiday?" Scott grinned at his younger brother as he clambered in. Gordon gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"You betcha! Now home, Scott, and don't spare the horses!" Gordon settled in the back seat, buckling in. "I thought Virgil was coming to get me?"
"Any more complaints and you can walk home," Scott replied. Gordon grinned. Scott revved up the engines and sped up for take off. Gordon waved out the window to Addie as the plane soared into the air, taking him away from his holiday, but not his feelings.
"That Adelaide?" asked Scott from the front seat.
"Yeah," replied Gordon. Scott grinned.
"She's a looker, aint she?"
"Keep your eyeballs in your head, loverboy, she's married," Gordon lied deftly, glad Scott couldn't see his face. Gordon was a convincing liar in most cases, although he hated to do it sometimes. Unfortunately, Scott had learned to pick the lies from the truth many, many years ago. It wasn't often Gordon sucked him in these days.
"Oh damn," Scott said good-humouredly. Gordon sighed silently. It'd preobably be a useful lie, actually, and if Scott did the lying for him, he wouldn't get caught out. And he could talk to her and Jeff wouldn't get worried, and no one would suspect anything at all. Just the way he wanted it.
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A/N: End of another chapter! Aww, Gordie and Addie are in wuv! But they don't know about it yet, much. What will Jeff say when he finds out? Will Scott hit on her when he realises he's been duped? Is Virgil really the second eldest, or the middle boy? Find out all this and more, in up-coming chapters!
(P.S. Virg is the second eldest, that info is more likely to my mind, and if Alan is 21, Gordon 22, Virg 24, John 25, and Scott 26, that means their poor mother would have been constantly pregnant prectically for 6 years! Nightmare! No, I go by the original info, which is Alan 21, Gordon 22, John 25, Virgil 27 and Scott 30.)