Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 70: Long Distance 

EMMA’s POV :

Thank goodness, lan’s mom’s all right.

She had a mini heart attack due to high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Turns out, Kirsten enjoyed the occasional smoke now and then, and that was a contributing factor too.

After her bypass surgery, the doctors said that they would like to keep Kristen for a few days for more examination and tests, so lan and Hailey stayed there with her.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious and she recovered fast.

She would need to stay on medication and do regular check ups though, as well as maintain a healthier lifestyle

"The timing couldn't be worse.We had to have Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital.We had a turkey sandwich and lime Jell-O for dessert,"lan sighed on the phone.

"Aw, that sucks,"I replied.

"Lime is the worst too, we all know strawberry’s best,"

"They ran out of everything.Anyway, how was your dinner?"

"The usual.Grandma made the turkey, mom and I helped.My dad and grandpa watched the game.It’s boring out here without you,"

Thanksgiving dinner at my house was very tame.

My parents were disappointed that lan couldn't come, but they understood why.

Grandma even complimented him, saying lan must be a wonderful son to his mom.

"I'll make it to up to you for Christmas, I promise,"lan said reassuringly.

"Ooh, what do you have in mind for Christmas,"I said as I played with my hair, thinking of all the ways we could spend Christmas together.

"It's...a surprise.But I promise you'll love it,"he replied.

"Okay, I'll clear my schedule,"I said and he let out a chuckle.

"Oh, the doctor’s back.I have to go.Talk to you later?"

"Sure, tell your mom hi for me,"

"Will do, bye,"he said and he hurriedly ended the call.

I threw my phone on the bed and lay my head down on a pillow.

Carrie soon followed after me, laying her head down next to mine.

"Thanksgiving without Tiff is weird, huh?"she said.

"Yeah, this is the first time I'm having Thanksgiving with so many important people in my life missing,"I agreed.

Carrie and I were back in town for Thanksgiving, but Tiff was still out and about in Europe, enjoying her gap year.

"She’s having the time of her life, though.Eating pasta and riding a Vespa,"

"Ha, that rhymed,"

"Why are we so miserable?"she sighed.

"You must miss Tiff a lot, huh?"

"I miss both my best friends.California people are nice, don't get me wrong.But they're not Tiff and Emma,"

"Aw, Carrie,"I said and I pulled her into a hug.

"You have Mark too over there,"

"He's a guy, it's not the same thing.I can't talk to him about girl stuff and feelings.I mean, do you tell lan about your period cramps?"

"I tell lan everything,"She glared at me and said

"Okay, you two are weird,"

"What?"I glared back.

"We're just very honest with each other,"

"Don't tell me you're one of those couples who pee in front of each other,"she gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

"Ew, that's nasty,"I shook my head violently.

"You two are perfect for each other, though.I'll admit that,"she said.

"We are, aren't we?"

"Tiff and I’s proudest work,"she smiled victoriously.

"That's right,"I nodded in agreement, "We would never happen without you two,"

"So, what’s going on with his mom?"

"She had a small heart attack, but she’s okay.

The surgery was a success.

lan and Hailey are with her now, she just has to stay in the hospital for a bit,"

"Ah, that’s good news.So, why the long face?"

I let out a deep sigh and said, "lan and I haven't seen each other in over three months.We're supposed to see each other on Thanksgiving, but now we have to wait until Christmas.And yeah, we're the perfect couple, sure, but doing long distance is a lot harder than I thought.I miss him so bad, I'm dying out here,"

"Aw, you poor thing,"Carrie cooed me.

"I made a whole scrapbook and everything.Now I have to wait for another...twenty four days before I could see him again,"

"Hmm..."

Carrie tilted her head to the side and started thinking hard about something.

"What?"I asked her.

"This feels familiar..."she said meaningfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember Thanksgiving two years ago?"she asked.

"When you and Tiff drove me all the way to New Jersey to see lan? How can I forget?"

I said as I pulled the scrapbook to my lap, opening it to the page where I took that road trip with my friends to surprise him.

Thank god for cell phone cameras, I got everything documented.

"What do you say we go over there and surprise him again?"Carrie said suddenly, causing me to gasp.

"You're not seriously saying that, are you? We're not sixteen anymore, Carr,"

"That's right.We're eighteen and we have more money now,"she giggled.

"There’s busses and planes and trains, if there’s a will, there’s a way,"

As crazy as that sounded, she was right.

I grabbed my phone and did a little google search.

Turns out, New Jersey was only 3 hours and 40 minutes away with a plane and it would only cost me $45, or $90 for a round trip ticket.

"That's a good price,"Carrie nodded when she looked into my screen.

Thank God for all those shifts I took at the diner, I was pretty much loaded with cash at this point.

"Who are you and what have you done to my Carrie?"I couldn't stop myself from smiling real wide when I successfully booked the flight online.

It was fairly simple, took me less than five minutes.

"I guess I’m channeling my inner Tiff,"she laughed, pausing for a moment and said, "She'll be proud of me,"

"Yeah, she will,"I nodded.

"Come on, get your stuff and I'll drive you to the airport,"she said as she got up on her feet.

"Wait, my parents..."

"They will think that you're sleeping over at my house.Come on now, we've done this a million times already.You don't even need to ask,"

Carrie smiled mischievously.

At that moment, I really was seeing Tiff in her.

I guess it’s true what they say, you morphed into the people you love.The plan was simple.

Carrie was driving me to the airport and I would land in New Jersey at around 7 PM.

I would then take an Uber to the hospital where Kristen was staying and surprise lan there.

I had my overnight duffel bag with me and the scrapbook I wrapped neatly in wrapping paper.

I also brought him a pack of strawberry Jell-O as a little joke.

I was giddy and excited as I walked into the hospital building.

I was probably the only weird person that was excited about going into a hospital.

I passed by the gift shop on my way in, and I thought about getting something for Kristen.

I remembered seeing lilies back at her house the last time I came there.

After getting her a nice bouquet of lilies, I made my way to the elevator.

I had texted Hailey for the room details.

I told her I was coming, but I made sure she'd keep it a secret from lan.

When I finally reached Kristen's room, my heart was racing so fast.

The thought of seeing lan’s face again sent butterflies up and down my stomach.

Bracing myself, I knocked on the door and waited in anticipation.

I heard the doorknob rattle and I was picturing lan, opening the door for me.

I was thinking that I would I lunge myself at him, I couldn't wait to have him in my arms again...

"Hey...Oh!" ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

my breath was suddenly caught in my throat.

Instead of lan, Ally was standing at the door.

Yes, Ally.lan never told me that Ally was around the hospital, but I guessed that she would.

She was one of lan’s best friends after all.

"Hey, you're Emma, right?"she said as she tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, is lan here?"I said, peering into the room.

There was no one else in there, only Kristen sitting on her bed, eating something from a plate.

"lan’s getting coffee downstairs,"Ally responded.

"Oh..."

"Emma, is that you, dear?"

Kristen spoke up when she noticed me standing at the door.

Ally finally moved away from the door and I let myself in.

Approaching Kristen's bed, I smiled at her and said, "Hey, Kristen.How are you doing?"

"I'm good, despite everything.Are these for me?"she smiled at the bouquet of lilies in my hand.

"Yes,"I handed it to her.

"Thank you, you can never have too many lilies in the room, that’s what I say,"she smiled brightly.

That was when I noticed that there was already a large vase filled with lilies on the table next to the bed.

On the vase was also a note with Ally’s name on it.

She knew that Kristen liked lilies too, and she got the biggest possible vase available.

Did I just get upstaged by Ally...? "I'm so glad to see you.lan didn’t tell me you were coming,"she said again.

"Yeah, he doesn't know.It's a surprise,"

"Oh, he'll go nuts.He’s gonna be up here soon,"she said, pausing for a moment before saying

"You must be starving after all the travel.Would you like some pie? It's cherry and it's delicious.Ally made it," Kristen gestured to this beautiful looking pie next to the vase of lilies.

"Oh, no, thank you.I'm good,"I replied.

"I've heard you guys were having Jell-O for dessert yesterday.It's Thanksgiving, so I can’t let that happen,"Ally interjected.

She looked mighty proud of herself.

My eyes darted to the pack of strawberry Jell-O in my hand and my heart sank to my feet.

I just got upstaged by the best friend.

"Emma?"a familiar voice suddenly pulled me from my thoughts.

I whipped my head up to see lan, Hailey, and AJ standing at the door.

He stopped in his tracks with his eyes wide open and his jaw on the floor.

"Emma? You made it!"

Hailey squealed and ran across the room, giving me a hug.

AJ followed behind her, but lan was just standing there.

"Oh, he’s surprised alright,"Kristen whispered to my ear.

I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling too much as I stepped closer towards him.

He didn't move an inch, but his gaze was stuck on my every move.

"Hi..."I breathed when I was an arm's length away from him.

"What are you doing here?"he said finally, his voice came out so softly.

"I came to surprise you,"I said, looking up at him.

"Oh my god,"his lips were shaking as he pulled me swiftly into his arms.

He was holding onto me so tight, my whole body was squished into him.

It felt so good to be held by him, it felt amazing to be able to inhale his scent like this.

I wrapped my hands around him and gripped onto him tightly.

"I can't believe you're actually here.I missed you so bad,"he murmured to my ears.

"Me too,"

I said, pulling away slightly to get a glimpse of his beautiful face.

I couldn't stop smiling when I saw his face directly in front of mine.

He looked as gorgeous as ever, with a little stubble growing along his chiseled jaw.

My fingers went to trace his face instinctively, marveling at the real-life features of my fiancée.

His hand went to grip mine, and he noticed I was holding onto a brown paper bag.

"What's this?"he asked.

"Oh, it's just something dumb..."I said, pulling out the wrapped gift from the inside.

"Is this for me?"

"Yeah,"I nodded.

He looked like a kid in a candy store, his eyes lit up as he opened the wrapping paper, revealing the scrapbook on the inside.

He flipped the book open, starting from the first page.

I wrote down our story, the story of how we met and how I fell for him.

I filled the pages with pictures of us and other things like the stubs from the first movie we saw, or the fortune cookie notes that I got from our takeout dinners.

"This is so cool.I can't believe you've kept all these..."he said as he continued going through the pages.

"There’s a bunch of blank pages in the back, we'll continue filling it with more memories.Like this one,"

I said and I snapped a picture of him on my camera.

The picture turned out to be so cute.

lan’s eyes were glassy as he was holding onto my scrapbook.

"This is the coolest thing ever, thank you,"he said again.

"I'm glad you like it,"

"Is that strawberry Jell-O?" his eyes darted to the brown bag and the only other thing inside it.

"I know, it’s stupid..."I scoffed, rolling my eyes at it.

Ally made a whole cherry pie for everyone, and all I did was get a pack of Jell-O from the convenience store at the airport.

"Give me that,"

lan forced my hand to open, releasing the pack of Jell-O.

With the pack of Jell-O in his hand, he planted a soft kiss on my cheek and said, "You're the sweetest girl ever, Emma Sinclair,"

I was blushing red like a boiled lobster.

Kristen and Hailey were smiling and giggling in the background.

That didn't help.

I pulled away from lan slightly, but he pulled me right back in.

"Stop it, lan,"I hissed lowly under my breath.

"Your mom, sister, and your friends are right there,"

"So?"he laughed.

"They all know I love you more than anything in the world.

You're the best thing that’s ever happened to me,"

Everyone in the room started cheering, oohing and aahing at us.

It was impossible to hide my embarrassment anymore, so I just buried my burning face into lan’s chest.

He laughed as he pulled me deeper into him.

And oh, it felt like home.