~~~~~~The next morning~~~~~~

“Mom, you swore you weren’t going to cry,” Mark said laughing while hugging his mom.

“I know, I know.  But what am I supposed to do?  My baby’s leaving me!” She sobbed into his arms, drawing the attention of passerbyers.  There were only a few more minutes until Mark’s plane started boarding.  His mom, still sobbing, made sure that he had everything packed and that they hadn’t left any bags behind, made him promise to call her whenever possible, and hugged him goodbye four times.

It was finally time to board and Mark said his last goodbye to his family.  Before walking through the tunnel, he turned around and looked for Jackson one last time.  No sign of him anywhere.  With a sigh, Mark walked through the tunnel, got on the plane, and waited for take off.  

Mark stared out the window of the plane and watched the clouds float by.  He checked his phone again but Jackson had still not replied.  Mark texted him again asking if he was okay, if they were okay.  Since Jackson hadn’t gone to say goodbye to Mark at the airport, they didn’t really get to say their last goodbye.  It saddened Mark to think of even the slightest chance of them breaking up.  They said they were going to figure it out, they were going to make it work.  He wanted to be mad at Jackson for not coming to say goodbye, but he couldn’t.  All he could feel was sadness.