I rolled my suitcase to the front door and ran back upstairs to Emma’s room. While the past couple of days I had stayed closed up in my room, I was determined to enjoy the one on one time with Emma. I was still trying to come to terms with the paternity results and hadn’t talked to Austin since we had found out.
The whole situation had really thrown me for a loop. But, the fact that I had genuinely fallen in love with Austin, had put me in an extremely tough spot. I was stuck between wanting to make things work and wanting to just forget about all of it. After all, how in the world would this baby affect our relationship, or our lives in general?
“Emma? We’ve got to go,” I exclaimed, pushing open her bedroom door and walking in. “It’s a 45 minute drive to the airport!”
She was attempting to zip her suitcase, which seemed well over packed for the short trip we were taking.
Emma looked up at me before letting out an exasperated sigh and sitting down on it, “Come help me, please? This is all I have left to do.”
I walked over and zipped the suitcase shut, which I still struggled to do, despite the fact that she was sitting on it. Once I was done, Emma stood up and slipped on her shoes before grabbing her things to take them downstairs.
I ran back into my room to grab my pillow and backpack and then back downstairs to the rest of our family waiting for us.
“Now, ya’ll be safe! Call me if you need anything, you both have your credit cards right,” my mom questioned as she pulled me into a hug.
I smiled and stepped back, pushing my hair behind my ear, “Yes ma’am, and I’ll call when we arrive at the airport, and between our flights, and once we get to Orlando and then once we arrive at the resort.”
My mom blushed, letting out a small laugh, “Hey, hey, you know I just like to know that you’re alright.”
Soon enough, we threw our bags into the trunk of my Toyota Camry and quickly hopped into the car.
Emma was pretty quiet on our drive out of the neighborhood but once we reached the gates, she spoke, “Are you sure you’ll be okay this weekend? We can reschedule this trip if you think you need more time to process everything.”
While I still hadn’t told my parents about the results of the paternity test, I had told Emma. But then again, I didn’t have much of a choice to tell her as I would be spending a lot of time with her the next few days.
I nodded and glanced over at her, “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. And honestly, I don’t think the timing could be any better. Disney will be a great distraction.”
Emma smiled, seeming to be slightly relieved, “Well, since we’ve got all this time, if you decide you want to talk about it all, just let me know.”
I turned my attention back to the road and Emma connected her phone to the bluetooth. We sang at the top of our lungs all the way to the airport, which really helped me get out of my head more.
When we arrived at the airport, and after we made our way in, we went straight to the Delta desk to check in. We turned in our suitcases, then headed to security to go through TSA. While we waited in line, I shot my mom a quick text to let her know we had made it there and which parking lot I had left my car in.
Surprisingly, security moved pretty fast, but we still had to rush through the airport as our gate was all the way at the other end of the terminal.
Something about being back at the airport made my mind rush with thoughts of Austin. Thoughts of when he had picked me up the night I came home from school. How in those few moments, how everything just seemed perfect. But now, only a month later, after what seemed like the whirlwind romance I had always dreamed of, everything was crashing down.
Rather than let my thoughts take over, I turned to Emma, attempting to fake a big smile, “Let’s run!”
I took off, faster than I had ran in a good while. Emma chased after me, laughing as she caught up to me.
When we reached our gate and we had both come to a stop, I bent over trying to catch my breath in between the fits of laughter.
“Next,” the gate agent called, slightly annoyed at us for holding up the line.
I stood back up and pulled my ticket from my bag to hand to the woman, who upon seeing that we had first class tickets stood up straighter.
“You missed the first class boarding call, just let one of the flight attendants know when you get down the jetway,” she smiled as she handed our tickets back to us.
I gave her a small nod and Emma and I exchanged a quick glance before moving on.
Soon enough, we had made it to Atlanta and then our connecting flight to Orlando. I had managed to get a small nap in on the flight to Orlando, which might I add, was probably the best sleep I had ever gotten on a flight. Then again, prior to now, we had always flown economy or business class.
Once we had picked up our suitcases from baggage claim and our rental car, we headed to our resort. After checking in and getting our things unpacked, we decided to head to Disney Springs to find something to eat.
Upon entering the restaurant and sitting down, my phone began to buzz. And sure enough, like normal in my life, good things always come to an end, and always at the most inconvenient times.
I looked down at the caller ID to see who it was- Austin.