*Susan’s POV (8am, Friday the 7th)

Well today’s the day. It’s time to leave France and go back home to Chicago. I spent the past two weeks preparing for this. Liam and I spent every day together and made the most of it all. Liam is taking me to the airport so he can see me off. This is going to be so hard. Hopefully I can just spend the nine hour flight sleeping so I don’t have to think about it. My flight leaves at 9:30am so I’ll be getting to Chicago at 11:30am central time. I’m gonna have horrible jetlag so I’ll probably go back to sleep as soon as I get home. More distraction from leaving Liam behind.

We get to the airport and we go through security and find the gate with 45 minutes to spare. Liam sits with me holding my hands and just talking to me. It feels nice and I’m enjoying every second. Unfortunately, the minutes fly by and before I know it, my flight to Chicago is being called to board. “Well I..guess this is it.” Liam says sadly. “Yeah I guess. I wish it wasn’t. I’m gonna miss you so much!” I say before I lose control and cry in his arms.

“Hey it’s gonna be all right, darling. We’ll figure out the perfect time for us to talk and Skype that works with the time zones and we’ll be fine. I promise, I will never lose touch with you, okay?” he says rubbing my back. “Okay…I have to go. I’ll see you.” “See you.” he replies.

We hug one last time and share one more kiss. I hand off my boarding pass and go through the gate waving goodbye to my Li. I get on the plane and find my seat. It’s at this moment, that I’m wishing I was Danielle. She and Liam both live in England and they see each other all the time. This is my last thought before I drift off…

***

I wake up with the voice of the stewardess. We’ve landed in Chicago. I really did sleep the whole time like I planned to. Hannah is supposed to be meeting me here and we’re taking a taxi to Sammie’s to surprise her. She’s gonna be so excited! I walk out of the gate and Hannah is sitting in one of the chairs and she looks a mess. Her eyes are red and puffy and she’s visibly shaking. “Hannah…Hannah what’s wrong?!” I say rushing to her side.

“Susan! Oh I’m so glad you’re here!” she exclaims before crying into my arms. “What happened? What’s the matter?” I ask confused. She tries to calm down a little before she answers saying “I met a guy in London. His name is Harry. He is the sweetest, most considerate guy I’ve ever met. And we’ve been dating now for over two months. And I had to leave him in England to come back home and I miss him already!!” she says before falling apart again. Oh my gosh…wait till I tell her about my summer.

I let her cry a little bit more before I say “Can I tell you something?” She looks up at me. “What?...” “I met a guy in Paris. His name is Liam. He is the most caring, romantic, loving guy I’ve ever met.” That is what I get out before I start to cry while saying, “…And we’ve been dating for over a month. And I had to leave him in France to come back home..although he actually lives in England too, but whatever I miss him already too!!” I finish before we both fall apart again and cry in each other’s arms.

After we calm down a little, Hannah says “Wow..I can’t believe we both left the country single and came back with a foreign boyfriend. We’re so cool!” “Yeah, but we’re both so miserable too. Do you think it’ll get better?” “Of course it will. Everything always gets better.” she says smiling.

We call a cab and it takes us to Sammie’s building. We’re both so excited to see her after months of being apart for the school year and now the summer and only seeing her two days in between. We go to her floor and when we get to her door, we see it’s cracked open. …That’s not normal.

We open it and we both jump. Her apartment is completely empty!! Where is all her stuff? And where is she?? We check the whole place and there’s no sign of her. I decide to call her. She answers, “Susan! Are you home? Is Hannah home too?” “Uh…yeah we’re home but a better question is where are YOU?!?” “What?” Sammie asks.

Hannah grabs the phone and says “We’re at your apartment and all of your stuff is gone!...What is going on?” “Oooooooh. Yeah see I have something to tell all of you girls. I wanna tell you all together so would you guys be able to maybe wait for a day when all of us can be together whether it’s online or in person?”

We can’t believe it. “Oh c’mon, Em and Kenz don’t even know?” I ask. “Nope! I wanna tell you all together. Pleeeease?” “Fine.” we say together. “Great! Well do you guys wanna do something before I have to go to work?” “Sure. Let’s catch a movie.” I say. “Awesome, I’ll meet you guys at the building! Bye!”

“Bye!” we say before hanging up. Well this is weird. “I wonder what she could be keeping from all of us..” Hannah says. “Yeah I can’t imagine what. Whatever it is, at least we know it’s good news.” “Yeah she sounds really happy for her only friends in her life being far away the whole summer.”

We both think for a minute. “Maybe she got promoted at Hollister and she was able to afford a bigger, nicer apartment.” Hannah suggests. “Maybe…that’s probably what it is. Probably just a new better place she’s living. Well wherever it is, I can’t wait to see it.” “Me either. Let’s head downstairs. She’ll probably be here soon.”

We head downstairs to wait for Sammie. We haven’t even been home for half the day and I’ve found out that Sammie most likely has a new place, and that I’m not alone in this long distance relationship thing. I’ve got Hannah to help me through it. Maybe things won’t be so bad after all.

Notes