Chapter Seventeen Jamie
Rewind - Jamie
The day Jamie leaves Florida, he plans to do it without saying goodbye to Nix. It’s cowardly, but they had both spent the last week oscillating between the determination to get every minute out of their last few days together and crying their eyes out. Just thinking about driving away with Nix standing in his driveway, sobbing like he’d done the night before, had Jamie feeling nauseous.
There had been promises, of course. Promises that when Nix graduated, he would go to university in Nashville, move into Jamie’s fancy apartment, and they could finally “start” dating. “I’ll be waiting,” Jamie had whispered into the top of the smaller boy’s head as he cried.
He’s trying to save them both from the torture of a long goodbye and himself from the lasting memory of his mate’s tear-stained face. So he’d lied about leaving early, reassuring himself that he’d text Nix on the way to the airport and beg for forgiveness. It was better this way.
He shouldn’t have been surprised that his mate knew him better than he knew himself because, as he’d been throwing the last of his suitcases into the trunk of his father’s car, Nix had walked right up to Jamie and punched him in the stomach. The tiny human hand barely made an impact, but he was furious just the same.
“Fuck you , Jamie. You were going to leave me without saying goodbye.” Just as Jamie feared, his mate is sobbing and fuck, he feels his heart crack open in his chest.
Jamie pulls him into his arms, glad his father is still finishing his coffee. Nix’s mom is in the car parked on the road, pretending to look at something on her phone. When she catches his eye, she smiles and blows him a kiss.
The Renas had been so welcoming, even after it had looked like their fourteen-year-old was in love with a much older boy. When they’d seen how respectful he was and Mr. Rena had made sure they were “just friends” for now, they had opened their hearts and home.
Jamie finds he can’t stop himself from letting his tears fall. “Hey, baby. Hey, look at me.” He tilts Nix’s chin up until Nix meets his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
There’s nothing more he can say to make any of this better, so he doesn’t; he just holds his mate as they both cry. Nix’s hands are under his shirt in the small of his back and his nose is in his neck. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the boy was Were, considering how tactile he’s always been.
The front door slams and the scent of annoyed wet clay overtakes Nix’s subtle vanilla. “Junior, say goodbye, and let’s go.” Jamie hates that his father being rude to Nix is nothing new.
When his parents are finally inside the car and the doors click shut, the nausea resurfaces, clawing its way up Jamie’s throat. It’s sharper now, paired with a dull, insistent ache in his chest as if his body itself is begging him to stay. Telling him he shouldn’t drive away. But Jamie has never let what he wants to do outweigh what he should do.
He takes a shaky breath, steadying himself. “Okay, baby. I gotta go. But I’ll text you when I get to the new place.” His voice wavers just enough to betray him.
Nix doesn’t respond with words, just tightens his grip, fingers digging into Jamie’s jacket like it’s the only thing keeping him upright. He shakes his head once, a silent plea that doesn’t need words. It rings in Jamie’s ears anyway. Don’t go.
The blare of the car horn cuts through the heavy stillness, and they both flinch, the spell broken for just a moment. Jamie’s jaw tightens as he glances over his shoulder. He decides right then that they will not be rushed, so he shoots his father an uncharacteristically sharp glance over his shoulder.
“You’re going to make him mad, and your flight doesn’t leave until 11:00. It’ll be a long wait.”
“Do I look like I care? Fuck. We’ve got time.” It’s not true, not at all.
“I’m going to miss you, Jamie.” Nix presses his nose into his shoulder and breathes in, goes up on his tip-toes so he can turn his soft mouth against Jamie’s neck, and with a soft kiss, he steps back. “I’m going to go. I—don’t want to watch you walk away. So…uhhh…” His voice breaks as he whispers, “Bye.”
Nix makes a break for his car, his hitching sobs trailing behind him. Jamie can’t let him go so easily despite his earlier misguided attempts to save them both from this torture. “Wait!”
Suddenly he’s chasing after him, he spins him around and pushes him gently up against his mother’s car. “Wait. Please. Nix…” Jamie is afraid that the life of an up-and-coming artist won’t allow for long-distance romance, especially when Nix is so young and—so, so human. But he will be damned if he doesn’t at least kiss him one time, just to get them through the hard parts over the next four years.
Nix’s lips are soft and wet from his tears, and it’s more of a press of their open mouths, but it’s the best kiss he’s ever had. With one last look into his mate’s eyes. He whispers: “Love you, Nix.” He boops him on his tiny nose and shows his best-dimpled smile as he walks backward toward his father’s car so he can keep his beloved in sight for as long as possible.
He’s got the car door open, and he’s sliding in when he hears Nix shout: “I love you, too.”
His father backs the car out, and he can see Nix trying to smile, raising his hand to wave. Jamie watches until he can’t anymore, the pain in his chest making it hard to breathe.
The rest of the time before his flight is spent listening to his father lecture him on how the life of a famous musician will leave no room in it for a young human boy. His mother takes a more philosophical approach about how it’s unlikely a human boy like Nix is his fated mate, and wouldn’t it be better to have a clean break for both of them?
He’s not sure if their arguments would be any different if he’d told them what he already knew: that Nix really is his mate. He’s known it since the very first glance and every minute since. The distance between Florida and Tennessee will not change that, and neither will anything they have to say to the contrary.
So he pretends to listen and bides his time until his flight, trying to battle the nausea, the ache in his chest, and the urge to cry. Or worse, to give up on his dreams, miss his flight, and go get his mate. He doesn’t, of course. Even though his parents are wrong about a lot of things, they have something right: Nix is young and knows nothing of the Were community. But once he is an adult? Jamie has plans. So. Many. Plans.
All he has to do is wait.