Darren was packed and ready to go. He was truly going to miss his Boo Boo. At least, that's what he called her, and she hated it. She was sweet, silly, and carefree, with an extra side of "don't mess with me." He was definitely going to miss her smiling face. Her cursing him out and her falling asleep on his chest. Singing every song they heard on the radio together; him doing the male lead and her the female. He'd miss them having pillow fights, even at their ages, and busting them. He'd miss getting into trouble with her. And he'd miss all of that and more because she was always there, they were always together, and they'd done all of those things in a day or less plenty of times before.
Karina was miserable and ready to thoroughly convince Darren that he shouldn't go. She knew she'd never do the latter because she cared too much about his future to hold him back. She wasn't ready for him to go. They'd just established their more than friends relationship, and she didn't want him to be away from her so soon and for so long. Five days might not have been long to some people, but to them, it would seem like an eternity. Every aspect of their relationship and what they'd been through made her want to cry her eyes out.
They remained in Darren's room after they took their showers and got dressed. Karina donned only the denim shorts she'd worn to his house late last night, a thin t-shirt, and an extra big sweatshirt that now belonged to her. She knew he wasn't going to get it back, and so did he.
As usual, Darren stayed fresh and wore baggy shorts and a well-fitting Ed Hardy shirt. Karina sat with her legs out in front of her, Darren resting his head in her lap. She stroked the side of his face affectionately, trying desperately to hold back tears. To anyone else, this would've seemed extremely dramatic, but this was Karina and Darren, and they'd never consider it dramatic.
Darren turned sideways and sadly drew circles on the inside of her thigh. It tickled, but it was a comforting gesture, so she let him continue. He couldn't help but feel sad. It was like finding something you tried like hell to get, then to have and treasure it, only to have it snatched rudely away from you.
He felt a warm, wet drop of water fall on him and he turned around to see Karina wiping roughly at her eyes with her sleeves. It made her face red and broke his heart. Darren sat up and kissed her forehead, cradling her slender body onto his lap. More tears fell, but this time, she didn't hold back. She cried hard, wetting the sleeve of his shirt.
"Please don't cry, K," he pleaded softly. He hated to see her cry, and knew what he'd have to do to make her stop, but couldn't. "Don't cry, boo. I'm'a be back before you know it," honestly trying to convince himself. The only thing he could do to stop from shedding tears himself was to think about how happy they'd be when he returned.
