Day 15 Prompt: Direct WC: 469 Rating: Gen @hollanovmicrofic
Shane picks up halfway through the first ring. “Hey,” he says, hushed, soft, like you’d speak in a library. Or at a funeral. “That was quick.”
“No line,” Ilya replies, and if Shane sounds a little subdued, he sounds smothered entirely. Still, it’s an improvement over the state of him half an hour ago, when they pulled into the airport loading zone and all his set-jaw stoicism crumbled like the foundation of chalk it was built on. When goodbye abjectly refused to come out from behind his teeth. When ripping off the band-aid seemed like ripping out his lungs.
Then Shane - practical, logical, surgical Shane - said, “You wanna call me when you get through security?” and that was a near enough goalpost to shoot for. And now, here he is, wrung out empty but in motion. One foot in front of the other.
“What are you doing?” Ilya asks, from his back corner retreat at the gate.
“You know what I’m doing,” Shane says.
“I know,” Ilya agrees. “Tell me anyway.” That there’s well and truly nothing to be said is beside the point right now.
Shane, humouring him, says, “I’m driving, Ilya. What are you doing?”
“Watching people go by,” he says. “How’s traffic?”
“Fine, I guess. It’s moving. How’s peoplewatching?”
“Boring,” Ilya says. “Worst airport in North America.”
Shane laughs quietly. “Two weeks ago it was your favourite.”
“Well life moves fast Shane,” Ilya jokes, serious as a heart attack. “Try to keep up.”
“Yeah, okay,” Shane says, and then they lapse into silence. It doesn’t matter, the connection’s open. Ilya recognizes it’s a flimsy line to cling to but he clings to it, fast, by the skin of his fingernails. Hopes it’s strong enough to hold until the next goalpost comes into view.
For a minute or two they just breathe together. Then Shane, delicately, asks, “How are you doing?”
“Great,” Ilya snarks, “Never better.” He rolls his eyes, and then he hates that he did so, and he mentally takes it back again.
“I thought we were being honest about our feelings,” Shane says.
“Yes, that was the deal. For two weeks at the cottage. Contract’s up, Hollander.”
Shane huffs. “So what, we just go back to -“
“No,” Ilya interrupts, and his voice comes back strong again. “No going back.”
At the gate, the PA crackles to life. “Flight 817 direct to Boston is now boarding Zone A.”
Ilya takes a deep breath and says, “That’s me. I guess it’s goodbye for real now.”
“Not for real,” Shane says, and it sounds like I’ll miss you. It sounds like I love you. “It’s just goodbye for now.”
“So corny,” Ilya replies, and slings his bag over his shoulder. I’ll miss you too. I love you too.
