Laura had never regretted drinking before, but after her night of whiskey with Jamie, she was starting to see how easy it was to regret her life choices. The hangover had lasted days. It was the worst Laura had ever felt; the combination of mental, emotional and physical pain fueled with far too much whiskey had taken almost a week to go. Jamie had stayed with her until Emily had arrived, taking care of her in ways she had never expected from a man she barely knew. Laura couldn’t help but feel a new sense of friendship with the lab tech; he was always going to be Amy’s friend, but the way he had looked after her was more than most would do.
Since that night, she had allowed the new information to wash over her, mingled with the grief and heartbreak she was already feeling. It had done nothing to dampen her feelings towards Amy; if anything it had only made her heart yearn for the woman more. Now knowing all the reason behind her actions, the horrors she had experienced, this made Laura realize she wasn’t weak but the exact opposite. Amy Love was the strongest person she knew.
She threw her head back in a groan. This was not what she needed to be thinking about right now. After a few days off work, she really needed to get her head in the game before she got behind. Jason had covered for her but he couldn’t keep doing the work of two people. But no matter what she did, her mind was still full of Amy Love. Laura rubbed her eyes and looked back at the computer screen. The lines of code blurred in front of her. In a moment of anger, she slammed the lid of her laptop closed, causing Jason to jump opposite.
“Woah!” he feigned a yell at her, throwing his hands up in defense. “What did that poor computer ever do to you?” His shaggy dirt blond hair, combined with his athletic frame and heart of gold, made him a real catch. He just struggled keeping hold of them past the first few dates.
“Existed.” Laura crossed her arms and pouted.
“Ah, that age old problem of inanimate objects just existing.” He let out a small chuckle. “Could there possibly be another problem here?”
Laura cracked a small smile. Jason was such a goofball, but he always knew what to say to cheer her up. He flashed her a sympathetic smile in return. “You know there is.” She sighed and threw her head back again, hoping this time the tears wouldn’t betray her. “I just can’t get her out of my head.”
“Maybe you’re not meant to.” Jason shrugged as he dug around in his desk drawer before pulling out a Wunderbar and throwing it over the desk at Laura. “Like what if she is The One.”
Laura looked Jason dead in the eye as she unwrapped the candy bar. She couldn’t quite believe he was saying this to her after the weeks of crying at her desk; weeks of talking about nothing but Amy and most recently the failed sexual encounter with a literal goddess – this was his big answer. “Fuck off, Jason,” was all she managed around a mouthful of chocolate and peanuts, before opening her laptop and attempting to return to work.
It was at least another hour before either of them spoke, Laura mentally accepting the candy bar peace offering, inwardly admitting that it had made her feel a little better. But it was going to take a lot more than a Wunderbar to get her to forgive Jason’s next move, as an email pinged in her work inbox – the shrill chime pulling her out a moment of concentration. Before she could gravitate towards her inbox Jason started apologizing.
“Now before you get mad, I have already finished QAing the code for today. Secondly, think about it before biting my head off ok?” He once again had his hands up in apology as Laura narrowed her eyes and found the email.
From: Jason.B@globtech.org
Subject: Flights to SNT London
Laura scanned the email. It was a list of flights from Canada to England: times, changes and prices, all laid out next to a booking link. Her eyes shot up to meet him again – anger bubbling inside her.
“What is this?”
“Look, Laura, you are miserable,” Jason started, his tone measured like he was laying out a business case. “Amy is the woman for you, and if I was in your position, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for the woman I love – I wouldn’t let her go.” Jason rolled his shoulders back, a faint smile settling on his face, wistfully thinking about his perfect fictional woman. He was going to make someone the happiest in the world one day.
“She already left.” Laura sighed, her heart still so heavy.
“Then go get her”. Jason beamed as if it was the most obvious thing to do it the world.
“What?” Laura couldn’t quite put together what he was suggesting here.
“Get on a plane and go get her back.” He pointed at the back of her laptop, where the email was still open detailing all the flight details she needed.
“I can’t do that,” she stuttered. It was absurd to even think like this. No one just got on a plane across the world for love! Especially not Laura.
“Why not? What have you got to lose?” He crossed his arms in defiance. “You have the money for flights. Ok, not business class but you can slum it in coach.” He was frustratingly right, she could afford it now she wasn’t paying rent. A flicker of hope caught in her chest, the first hope she had felt in weeks. Allowing herself to look in detail at the email, there were four options, the cheapest left from Hamilton Airport in thirty-six hours. Could she really do this?
“What about a return flight?” She tried to let logic form some part of this. She would need to find out where Amy was and travel across a foreign country and then what? Knock on her door and tell her everything she had wanted to tell her? Hug her? Cry at her.
“Book it when you are over there. Say you are visiting a friend for the holidays. Hey, maybe you will choose to stay out there and not come back,” he joked. “Please come back because I need you here with me to fix this awful code.”
Laura looked back at the screen. Was it really that simple? Could she just go?