Chapter 27

Richie spent the last night of his stay awake in his room. The party had finished around 10pm and he had gone straight to his room.

After midnight he had enough of staring into the darkness at his ceiling and got up.

He packed his bag, which he had left for the morning but he had nothing better to do now, so did it now instead. He got all his clothes together, finding them on his chair and on the floor in the bathroom. Neatly he folded them up and put them in his travel bag.

It didn’t take him long; he was a pro at packing and hadn’t brought much anyway.

When his bag was ready and stood by the door, it was an hour later. He hoped he was more tired now and able to sleep.

When he was in bed again, he kept on tossing and turning. He realized the last time he had slept perfectly peacefully was with Sarah. Now that his mind had drifted off to Sarah he knew he’d never sleep.

Would she be there when he walked out? Would he once again be able to put his arms around her and hug her? Those soft full, red lips, would he kiss those again? The beautiful sight that she was, every little part of her looked so perfect, would he see that prettiness again?



A few hours later, it only felt like a minute since he lied down in his bed again after packing but now he was standing by the door, ready to leave.

He said his goodbyes quickly and walked outside, ready to see Jon and hopefully Sarah too.



He pushed the door open, nobody, his heart sunk. He didn’t want to feel crushed when Sarah wasn’t there, but he was alone outside. He had hoped so much she’d be there but the walkway to the doors was empty, nobody but him. He could feel how his heart broke into a million tiny pieces.

Jon wasn’t there either, he realized. Jon had promised to be there, how was he getting home now?

A minute ago he was so excited, but that got replaced with sadness and loneliness now. How could Jon forget him and where was Sarah?

He moved to walk to the parking lot that was surrounded by trees, maybe they were waiting there. There was no use in standing in front of the doors; he had to get home somehow.

One of the trees behind the parking lot caught his eye as he walked towards it, did something move there?

Must have been leaves or a branch, he shrugged, what else would it be, just the wind.

As he got closer to the tree, he saw there were no branches that low where he had seen something move a minute ago. Confused he stood still and looked at the tree. He tried to focus his eyes; did he see someone standing there?

Why would anyone hide behind a tree? Unless paparazzi had found out where he was staying, but how could they? Nobody knew where he was except for Jon and Heather, even Ava didn’t know. And Carl, Fred, Jerry and Sarah, had one of them tipped the paparazzi? How could friends do that?

No, they wouldn’t do that. Carl didn’t even know him. Jerry might have had an idea but he never mentioned it so he might not know either. Fred and Sarah wouldn’t do something like that, he could trust them.

“Who’s there?” He finally shouted at the trees. He felt silly, shouting at trees in an empty space where clearly nobody else was but him.

He saw someone step out from behind the tree; he could see it much clearer now. It seemed like he only focused on that tree and nothing else around him. He took a few steps closer. He couldn’t see who it was yet so he didn’t want to get too close in case it was one of those paparazzi photographers.

“Sarah?” He thought it was her that he saw. Her dark blond hair became clear, her face, her beautiful eyes and gorgeous lips. There she was.

What was she doing hiding from him?

She didn’t move any further and stood by the tree, so Richie walked over to her, walking closer to all the prettiness he saw, he realized even more how much he had missed her the last few days.

When they finally stood facing each other, Richie embraced her in a big bear hug. “I missed you so much.” He hugged her tightly; he didn’t plan on letting her go for a few minutes.

Finally he just stood there, stroking her hair, wondering how it got to be so soft, he realized it was the first time he stroked her hair. He stood so close he could smell it.

She was there. She was really there.

He felt so relieved, his heart that had broken in millions of pieces was fixed the moment he hugged her.

He was so worried she wouldn’t be there and there she was. He’d probably die a year sooner because of all the stress he had the last few days, but he was sure all the happiness he’d have from now on and for years to come would extend his life by years. So the stress was worth it in the end.

Now he had Sarah, his life would be perfect, together with her. He couldn’t wait to get home now. But how was he getting home?


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